Tracks v Channels

Hello David T and Clyde,

The relationship between tracks, staves, and channels is documented in the Help / User's Guide under the topic Editing Tracks and Formatting Parts / Understanding Tracks, Staves and Parts.

Clyde is correct that there is a direct relationship between a track and the staves belonging to that track. However, Clyde is mistaken about MIDI tracks versus Composer tracks. A track in Composer is exactly the same thing as a MIDI track.

I wish that MidiNotate/Musician/Composer could have dropped the terminology of "track" altogether, because "track" is not a musical concept. The term "track" has its origins in audio recording studios, which are foreign to most of us musicians. However, because half of "MidiNotate" is "Midi", I wasn't able to figure out a way to "hide" the concept of track.

Currently in MidiNotate, a track can be assigned to only one channel for a given MIDI device. That same channel can be assigned to more than one track, as Clyde has pointed out for the case of piano RH and LH staves.

I am currently exploring adding support for mid-track channel changes. There are some special scenarios in which this extra feature is useful, but not commonly.

Cheers
-- Mark