When Prefs/Editing Behavior/Tab through MIDI notes is checked and a take containing MIDI is selected, can OSARA play note previews?

[ScottChesworth]

A neat REAPER preference got mentioned on RWP recently. When it's checked, tab navigates through transients with a take containing audio selected as per usual, but when a take containing MIDI is selected, REAPER tabs through notes instead, even while the MIDI editor is closed. We already have speech feedback for the cursor position changing, I'd like to add note previews as well. Gonna need some advice.

1. Is there a way to learn whether a take contains MIDI without parsing its state chunk? If not, I can ask Cockos for another API addition.
2. How would we find out whether that preference is checked? My simple mind says ideally we need a toggle action for it.
3. Assuming I can get to a point where previews play, do you think this navigation should respect "Report position when navigating events in MIDI editor" and "Report MIDI notes in MIDI editor"? I feel like it should, but then, those configs specifically say "in MIDI Editor". This navigation will be happening with the editor closed.

Any thoughts/advice welcome. Commits that get this done faster than I'll manage to even more so.

[jcsteh]

In terms of equivalent UX, how do sighted folk visualise this? I assume they must be able to see the notes somehow lest this preference be rather useless to them, but I don't really follow how. Understanding that will probably help in making decisions regarding what we should and shouldn't report here.

[mattymc2]

Apart from navigation what purpose does this serve? Great reference for knowing where you are in the item but i assume it isn’t selecting the note to manipulate  them like you would in the midi editor? Would make expected behaviour a bit unexpected? EG if i tab to a note then hit delete its going to delete the item and not the note? Am i overcomplicating the thinking on this? Sent from my iPhoneOn 26 Jul 2025, at 8:30 am, James Teh ***@***.***> wrote:jcsteh left a comment (jcsteh/osara#1294) In terms of equivalent UX, how do sighted folk visualise this? I assume they must be able to see the notes somehow lest this preference be rather useless to them, but I don't really follow how. Understanding that will probably help in making decisions regarding what we should and shouldn't report here. —Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[jcsteh]

per the discussion on RWP, I think it can help with splitting items or something? 🤷‍♂️ And yes, deleting will delete the item. To be fair, tabbing to a transient and pressing delete deletes the item, not the transient. :)

[jcsteh]

1. Is there a way to learn whether a take contains MIDI without parsing its state chunk?

if (auto* source = (PCM_source*)GetSetMediaItemTakeInfo(take, "P_SOURCE", nullptr)) {
  const char*type = source->GetType();
  if (type && strcmp(type, "MIDI") == 0) {
    // This is a MIDI take... do the thing...

2. How would we find out whether that preference is checked? My simple mind says ideally we need a toggle action for it.

If there's no toggle action, you'll need to use get_config_var (if it's exposed there) or read it directly from the ini file with GetPrivateProfileString. It'd be helpful if you can work out what ini file, section and key this is.

3. Assuming I can get to a point where previews play, do you think this navigation should respect "Report position when navigating events in MIDI editor" and "Report MIDI notes in MIDI editor"?

IMO, this depends somewhat on what sighted users see. I can live with a minor discrepancy in the setting name if it provides an equivalent UX.

[ScottChesworth]

I can live with a minor discrepancy in the setting name if it provides an equivalent UX.

Got eyes on it. Sightlings see a piano roll where the waveform would ordinarily be for an item containing audio. A thin vertical green line shows which note is selected. I think this is what's known as the MIDI in-line editor. Playing note previews seems to be the quickest way to an equivalent UX.

[jcsteh]

What if there are multiple notes at the same position? There isn't an active MIDI editor here, so there's no selection for us to query. Visually, does tab select individual notes or all notes at a given position as it moves?

[ScottChesworth]

There's only one tab stop when multiple notes are in the same position.

[jcsteh]

Okay, so we'll effectively be using the chord hunting code to find all notes at the current position and then preview them. I'll see what I can do.

[jcsteh]

The first snag I'm seeing here is that there could be multiple overlapping items selected. Which item/take are we supposed to use in that case? I guess when they aren't overlapping, we do it based on the item nearest the cursor.

[jcsteh]

I think I need to understand the use cases better here. If I recall correctly from the list, your thinking was precisely that this might be useful in the presence of a multi item selection or something like that? Can you give me some scenarios where this would be useful? Otherwise, I'm concerned the functionality might not deliver what you expect.