Cable Environment objects

The cabling between Environment objects provides control over the entire MIDI signal path. A cable is normally shown as a gray or colored line between a source and destination object.

Cables are assigned the same color as the source object, which makes following the signal path much easier. You can, however, turn off cable coloring, and render them in gray with the View > Colored Cables option.

Objects always have an (invisible) input on the left, and an output on the right. The output of an object is shown as a small triangle, pointing to the right.

Connect two objects by dragging

  1. Click-hold the triangle of the source object.

    The pointer turns into a plug (patch cord) that represents a cable connection coming from the object’s output.

    Figure. Connecting a cable between two objects.
  2. Move the plug over the destination object, then release the mouse button when the object is highlighted.

    A cable connection is created between the two objects.

    Figure. Connecting a cable between two objects.

    If the source object has already been directly assigned to a MIDI output port, a dialog asks if you want to replace the direct assignment. You have three options:

    • Cancel: The connection is not made, and the direct output assignment of the source object remains intact.

    • No: The connection is made, but the direct output assignment remains intact. This means that the source object is connected to two destinations—one to another object via the cable, and one via the direct output assignment.

    • Remove: The connection is made, and the direct output assignment is removed. This is the default selection, because you generally won’t want an object connected to two different destinations.

Connect two objects using menu commands

  1. Option-click the triangle of the source object.

  2. In the Reassign Track shortcut menu, browse to the layer that the destination object is in, then choose the object name.

    Figure. Choosing a destination object from the Reassign Track shortcut menu in the Environment window.

    A cable connection is created between the two objects. This method is ideal for creating connections between layers, but can also be useful when a large number of closely spaced objects exists in a single layer.

    You can also open a second Environment window (showing the destination layer), and connect the objects graphically between the windows.

    A cable connection to another layer looks like this:

    Figure. Showing an object that has a cable connection to another layer.

Remove a cable connection

Do one of the following:

  • Click the cable with the Eraser tool.

  • Select the cable, then press Delete.

  • Drag the cable over the triangle of the source object.

  • Choose Edit > Clear Cables only to remove the selected cables, without clearing any objects that happen to be selected.

    This is useful when you want to clear all cables leading to, or from, one or more objects, due to the fact that selecting objects also selects all associated cable connections.