i write almost always from scratch in the score editor. and i step time almost always. so my method is for making the performance sound right and also to speed up correct display of complex n-tuplets.
How do you do this for 7:16? This isn't obvious to me unless I crank up the quantize grid and break out a calculator.
don't use a calculator, musicians don't when performing them. go by eye and using modifier keys for fine control sliding the notes around in the matrix. there are ways of making it exact, but exact enough should be enough.
if you don't plan to use many n-tuplets, don't use this method. instead, assign key commands for nudging notes. i use nudge by +/- 1 frame and +/- 1/2 frame is sufficient, plus it is useful for my media work. my example of 7:16 isn't really a good one is. lets say 7:8. i would then step time 4 quavers and then a crochet triplets, and nudge the notes around visually in matrix, or if it wasn't displaying right and i wasn't to fussed about how the performance of it sounded, i would nudge them in score.
Why not just write them in the score, then create a dna groove from that?
simply because it easier to see the exact positions with relation to the beat in matrix. this is the great advantage logic has over dedicated notating programs, these various methods of editing. it creates so many neat efficient, time-saving (and for me most importantly) brain-saving work-flows.
Also, when I started from scratch and wrote notes in the score they sometimes played correctly, and sometimes they would play incorrectly. I think when I wrote in the first note as a 1/16 then put the n-tuple on it, I think that fixed the problem. Is that total nonsense?
yep. 'fraid so. putting an n-tuplet on the notes will not change their position in time. logic is aware of what position in time they should be, but won't actually change them for you, and that's probably a good thing since often these things are performed by musicians inexactly. you might expressively stress the first note or a note approached by leap, depending on the character of the music. it might also get annoying if logic "helpfull" shunts the notes into positions you don't intend because it thinks you want it quantized. in any case that is what the dna groove templates are for.
in my head, i like to make the distinction between "display" and "physical position" within score. this particularly important when you are assigning marks of expression or moving them around. if you don't get their midi positions exactly right before adjusting their visual position you will get a mess when you are formating your score. boy - i learnt that the hard way. big tip that one. keep your hair.
