MIDI controllers

Plug in a MIDI keyboard or controller and play: Nota listens to every connected MIDI input by default. Notes go to the selected instrument track; arm the track and press Record to record them.

Choosing inputs

Settings ▸ MIDI lists the connected MIDI inputs. Switch one off to stop Nota listening to it; new devices are on by default. Plug a controller in while Settings is open and reopen it to see it.

The MIDI button in the transport bar has a dot that flashes when a controller sends something — handy for checking a controller that’s connected but silent.

Pitch wheel, aftertouch and MPE

A keyboard’s pitch wheel, aftertouch and CC74 reach Nota’s synths and plug-ins: the wheel bends the whole instrument by the synth’s own bend range (2 semitones, or the patch’s Bend Range where it has one).

An MPE controller (Seaboard, LinnStrument, Osmose, Sensel and the like) gives every note its own channel, so each finger bends, presses and slides its note on its own. Nota understands it out of the box: channels 2–16 carry one note each, channel 1 stays an ordinary keyboard. These synths play per-note expression:

Synth	Bend	Pressure	Slide (CC74)
Nota Synth, Volt	The note’s pitch	Louder, filter opens	Filter cutoff
Aurora	The note’s pitch	Louder, filter opens	Wavetable position
Operator	The note’s pitch	Louder, more FM	FM depth
Pentad	The note’s pitch	Poly aftertouch: louder, filter opens by Aftertouch Cutoff	Filter cutoff
Physical	Retunes the ringing body	Bows it — a held note sustains	How long it rings
Keys	Retunes the tine	Drives the tine harder into the pickup — more bark	Shifts the pickup’s symmetry

An Instrument Rack passes expression to its chains. A plug-in gets the wheel, channel pressure, polyphonic aftertouch and the sustain pedal, but not per-note bend. Switch MPE off, or change the per-note bend range, in Settings ▸ MIDI; a controller that announces its own range overrides it. When you record, each note keeps its bend, pressure and slide: the take plays back as you played it, the expression travels with the note when you move, copy or quantize it, and the piano roll draws it. The pitch wheel, channel pressure and sustain pedal aren’t recorded.

A keyboard’s sustain pedal (CC64) holds the notes of Nota Keys and reaches plug-ins; it is played live and isn’t recorded into clips — automate Keys’ Pedal instead.

No MIDI keyboard? Use the computer keyboard

Keys	Play
A S D F G H J K	White keys, from C4
W E · T Y U	Black keys
Z / X	Octave down / up
C / V	Velocity down / up

It works even while a plug-in’s window has focus. The pressed key lights up on the piano roll.

Knobs and faders

To make a controller’s knobs, faders and pads move Nota’s controls, use MIDI Learn. A gamepad and your phone can play and control Nota too — see Gamepads and Nota Remote.