MIDI Editor
OCTAVE's central piano-roll surface. The editor is canvas-based for fluid scroll/zoom, and supports per-instrument lane layouts.
Tools
| Hotkey | Tool | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
1 | Select | Click to select notes; drag to box-select; drag a selected note's right edge to extend a sustain. |
2 | Place | Click empty space to drop a new note at the snap position. |
3 | Erase | Click a note (or drag through several) to delete. |
You can switch tools at any time. Holding Shift while clicking with the Select tool adds to the current selection; holding Ctrl/Cmd toggles individual notes.
Snap
The toolbar dropdown sets the snap division — 1/4 through 1/64 of a beat. Snap affects:
- Where the Place tool drops new notes
- Where dragged notes land
- The grid overlay density
Modifiers
Modifier toggles appear in the toolbar; clicking applies to all selected notes. Hotkeys for toggles:
| Hotkey | Modifier | Notes |
|---|---|---|
S | Star Power phrase | Adds the selection to a star power phrase |
G | Solo phrase | Marks a solo section |
F | Force HOPO / Strum | Toggles between HOPO and strum on guitar/bass/keys |
O | Open / Kick | 5-fret guitar open notes; drums kick |
P | Tap | 5-fret tap modifier |
L | Sustain release | Removes the sustain |
T | Tom (drums) | Toggles cymbal vs. tom on yellow / blue / green |
See the Keyboard Shortcuts reference for the full list.
Multi-difficulty editing
The difficulty tabs above the lanes let you author Expert / Hard / Medium / Easy independently. The active difficulty is what's edited and displayed in the Chart Preview.
Tip: Use Generate from Expert in the toolbar overflow to bootstrap lower difficulties from your Expert chart, then tweak.
Copy / paste & undo
Ctrl/Cmd+C/Ctrl/Cmd+V— copy / paste preserves relative timingCtrl/Cmd+Z/Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Z— undo / redo (per-song history)Delete— remove selection
Per-instrument lanes
| Instrument | Lanes |
|---|---|
| Drums | Kick, Red, Yellow (cymbal/tom), Blue, Green, 2x kick |
| Guitar / Bass / Keys | Open, Green, Red, Yellow, Blue, Orange |
| Pro Keys | Full 25-key MIDI range |
| Pro Guitar / Bass | 6 strings × frets, plus chord modifier |
| Vocals | Pitched melody + HARM2 / HARM3 harmonies |
Lane swap
For 5-fret instruments, the Swap Lanes popover (toolbar overflow) mirrors the chart left-to-right — useful when adapting a chart to a southpaw layout.