How do I make fades in MIDI tracks without recording the track first

Question

I have "RTFM";s and spent 2 hours at an Apple store with their resident "Logic Pro specialist" who was also unable to use the transform window to, basically, make [assign] a tool for, in this case, fading every dotted quarter note in the whole song, there must be a Widget wiz out there who could make one that could be used as a dedicated tool for adjustable MIDI fades. Yes, I could bounce[record]the track and edit the Audio file but almost all options as far as tempo, key,etc. are lost-wasn't this the reason for MIDI as opposed to analog? no, the degradation of copy/cut in analog sound opposed to digital mode is the reason, it's a pity no one from Apple seems to care about their own products enough to read these forums, stuck in traffic probably, crying all the way to the Bank. Thanks in advance for all the help!

Answer 1

Hi,
From what I read in your post, there is a MIDI performance which contains dotted quarter notes, which you would like to fade out before the note ends. Am I correct?
What I have done in the past, and I do this to an AUDIO track... is to use a gate. I set it so that it closes x milliseconds aftdr opening, and closes at a rate of X milliseconds.
So I recommend you render the dotted quarter notes and use an audio gate to accomplish this task.
Or, you can spend hours trying to do it in MIDI-land. And fail. This will get you there in about 3-5 minutes of fiddling.
I have tried before to do it with a MIDI gate, but... they are not as flexible or good-sounding as the audio one.
Of course, you'll end up "losing" your ability to change the tempo etc... BUT, you can always keep the Midi performance, and re-print a version at a new tempo if that is what you need to do. I do this alll the time, with one caveat: I find the key and tempo FIRST, before doign the basic tracking. Then that is no longer an issue. But you can do it any other way you like.
Cheers