Instrument Changes in Midi Files

It's been a while since I changed the instruments in a midi file. I can't recall how I did it now.....any tips?

You would need to use QuickTime Pro version 6 as this feature has been removed in version 7.

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How do I import tempo changes with midi file?

When I import a midi file in LE, I don't get any of the tempo changes. Tempo is set at 120 bpm every time. I get all program and other controller data, but not tempo. What am I doing wrong? Is there a button I need to check somewhere?
Thanks,
Ros
15 Powerbook G4/1Ghz/SD Mac OS X (10.3.9)

You have to use "open" for the SMF, as opposed to "import". Even dragging a SMF into the arrange window brings in everything except the tempo map. This has always kind of bugged me actually.

Standard Midi File trouble

I was reading the new features of 8 and one that caught my eye was that when you open a a Standard Midi File (smf) it now works like garageband and assigns software instruments to the midi file instead of assigning external midi channels. anyway, Here is what it says in the manual page 633:
Note: As a default behavior, Logic Pro will automatically create software instrument
tracks for each MIDI track, and assign an appropriate GarageBand instrument to each,
when you open a MIDI file. If you want to use external MIDI tracks for each MIDI track,
press Option while opening the MIDI file.
So I thought I would give this a try and see how it works. first thing I did was open Logic and started with a new blank project and assigned one audio track to it I used the open file command to open the smf, because if you import it only imports the midi info and not the global info. Logic asked if I wanted to close the current project and I did. The it asked if I wanted to copy the current environment or make a new one, and I chose a new one. The file is a smf type 1 and has 7 instruments all with general midi patch change commands assigned . I also tried this with smf type 0 and got the same results
1st result: Logic created 17 channels in the arrange, 12 instruments and 5 external midi. 4 of the tracks with midi data on them, were assigned to software instruments which corresponded correctly to the programs assigned. 3 of the tracks with midi data were assigned to an external midi device. I did this a few times always with the same results
Next I thought I would try opening a template that I have made with 8 audio, 8 instrument and 16 external midi tracks and using the environment setting in it when I opened the file. I kept the template open also and used the environment setting from it. when the midi file opened, I got a warning that I was out of memory, I clicked OK then it open and arrange window Identical to my template but with no regions in the tracks. I hit play anyway and the song started playing even though there were no regions and there was no spl. it was plying my external synth all channels worked fine. I thought I would check some of the editors and the notes are there in the Piano roll and event windows. It seams my main arrange window is locked though because I cannot select another track in it but if I open the mixer I can.
OK now what happens when you press option when you try to open a midi file?
Well that worked as expected and gave me all external midi devices, but it also gave me 17 midi tracks 7 that were for my smf and 10 that were empty
Anyway I was wondering if anyone one else can try this and let me know what happens

Well I think the problem is solved. There was a conflict between Logic and iLife 06. I bought a new computer this week and had to load everything into it. I decided not to put in iLife 06 yet including Garageband and all the jam packs. I loaded all the new .caf files off the Logic DVD
I opened a midi file and all tracks loaded with Logic instruments. the problem was that a lot of the instruments had been erased somehow or over written by Logic studio. Now I believe they are all there and things are working as they should

Manually edit volume of MIDI file in Java

Hey all, I'm trying to find a way to manually change the volume (velocity) of a midi file before playback, i.e. directly in the code. This is the code I'm using to play my midi files:
import javax.sound.midi.*;
import java.io.*;
/** Plays a midi file provided on command line */
public class MidiPlayer {
public static void main(String args[]) {
try {
// From file
Sequence sequence = MidiSystem.getSequence(new File("C:\\Sounds\\twinkleaccomp.mid"));
// Create a sequencer for the sequence
Sequencer sequencer = MidiSystem.getSequencer();
sequencer.open();
sequencer.setSequence(sequence);
// Start playing
sequencer.start();
} catch (IOException e) {
} catch (MidiUnavailableException e) {
} catch (InvalidMidiDataException e) {
How can I edit my code so that I can easily change the midi file's volume before I run and compile the code?
Thank you, any help will be appreciated!
PS: Sorry about the twin topics!

Ravaa wrote:
Hey all, I'm trying to find a way to manually change the volume (velocity) of a midi file before playback, i.e. directly in the code. This is the code I'm using to play my midi files:
Thank you, any help will be appreciated!Gosh, I've looked through all of the MIDI references I have, and nothing talks about setting the MIDI file volume...probably because the velocity is set on each individual MIDIEvent...
My best guess as to how to set the global volume for a MIDI file would be to loop through all of the MIDI events in the file and modify their velocities individually...that's the only thing I can come up with.

Changing instruments deadens pre-existing midi file

Hello there folks,
I'm working on a song that has one instance of a midi bassoon. It sounds pretty mediocre so I bought Berlin Wood Winds and would like to replace the instrument with a new one. So what I have done is created a copy of the track keeping all settings. I then hold down option and drag down the midi file. When I play this I hear the second midi bassoon play. (the original one is muted.) However, as soon as I change the instrument the midi file no longer plays. I can play the new instrument live with my midi controller, but the actual midi data seems to be deadened. I have tried loading an instance of Trillian and that has the same problem! What could I be doing wrong? Is this a bug?
I'm running Logic 9.1.7 on a 2.44 Ghz 12-core Mac Pro, in 10.8.1 with 24 Gigs of memory.
Many thanks for any help in advance!
- Fredo

Very strange. I've actually had a similar experience before, but rather than cut the volume, the volume would be raised to +3 like there was some type of automation...yet I could never find any automation assigned.
The Basics: A couple trouble shooting tips (I apologize if they seem rather "amateurish")
Check for hidden automation on the track
Check for automation within the MIDI region itself (located under the piano roll) or HypeEditor
Create a new, blank instrument track. Import AU instrument. Duplicate MIDI region to new track.
If not of these work, what I find will work is to copy the actual notes from the original MIDI region, create a new MIDI region and paste the notes.
Cheers.

Export .mid files: Contains instrument sound

Hi all,
Using logic 9 and I want to export a bar as a midi file, but also to contain the instrument sound/information.
So for example, I have a midi instrument of a kick drum and when I exported 'selection as midi file', I want it to play this kick drum sound. Currently, when I export, the midi file defaults to a Piano sound.
Is this Logic performing normally? Is there anyway for the kick sound to export, without converting to an audio file?
It has to a .mid file, as it is going to used in Python for a interactive project.
Thanks guys.

Thanks Data Stream Studio.
I have created Software instrument tracks, so I just copied the midi file, to the External MIDI track and followed your instructions.
But I have also created synthesised sounds, guitars, bass etc. as well, which I need to convert. But when I follow your instructions in regard to their channel I end up with the piano sound.
Example - I have a bass synthesiser sound. I copied the MIDI from the software instrument to a External MIDI. I changed the channel to 2, and program 38 for Synth Bass, but I end up with the standard piano sound.
Is there something I've missed here?
Thanks.

I am trying to import standard midi file that I created in Band in a Box into Logic Pro 9. I can not get all the track to play with internal instrument sounds... only the piano track. how can I get the others to play... drums, bass etc???? Help

I am trying to import standard midi file that I created in Band in a Box into Logic Pro 9. I can not get all the track to play with internal instrument sounds... only the piano track. how can I get the others to play... drums, bass etc???? Help

Don't drag the midi into an open Logic project. The tracks won't set up correctly.
'Open' the midi file with Logic as if it were a Logic project. Then all the tracks will be set up so you can start editing them and applying better saved sounds and instruments, but you'll be at a starting place where you can hear what's going on.

Modifying instrument of a pre-made MIDI file

Hi,
I'm trying to get a MIDI file to be edited so that it plays on a different instrument, as the soundbank on the computer that I received it from is different to the one I have now. Is it possible to edit the file so that it plays on a different instrument permanently, or will I have to do it on the go as I play it back on the synthesizer (via the appropriate patch)?
Thank you.

I vanquished it myself! Woop woop.

Problem playing .mid file with QT Player on an external MIDI instrument

Hello,
I am trying to play a .mid file with QT Player (so I can play it from various softwares as Keynote) and send it out on an attached MIDI device (thru M-audio or Tascam interface). Unfortunatelly, I can only choose "QuickTime Instruments" from the pop-up menu in QT Advanced Preferences. I tried with several configs (G4, G5), several MIDI interfaces, and last flavor of both Panther and Tiger with QT 7.0.4. I configured MIDI setups normally and I can play on exernal instruments from Logic or other sequencers.
Any idea why I cannot see my devices from QT directly ? Thanks,
M

Hello,
I have tried with a Tascam US-428 with 10.3.9 and QT 6 (latest) and 7.0.4 hooked to a Akai S3000. I also tried on a G5 with a MOTU interface (all last software versions). At home, I have tried with my Ti550 running 10.3.9, QT 6 (latest) 7.0.1 and 7.0.4 and also with my Sawtooth (10.4.5, QT 7.0.4), both with a M-audio Uno interface hooked to a E-mu Proteus expander.
All configurations behave the same. They are working fine with various sequencers (Logic, PT, some freewares) but interfaces never show up in the advanced preferences of QT.

Editing a midi file in GarageBand 09

Just downloaded a midi soundtrack, a karaoke version of a popular song. I plan to track in original vocals, but I have additional verses of lyrics that will require repeating sections of verse and chorus to accommodate.
As cool as midi is on Garageband, it don't see those (GB file) cleavage points that can be grabbed and manipulated.
Is there an app that will allow me to convert the midi file into a standard GB file I can work with, or a way to section the midi track for looping and/or repeating in GB?
At a complete stand still on this;-(

Good to know. I will have to contact the MP3 site, because I don't see a tempo designation in the limited documentation. I do have the option to download the same song, but in different keys (+/-) 3 half step intervals from the original key the song was done in. Nothing seems happen when I change the key and tempo in Garageband. Another thing I have to dig into.
Yeh, I was one increment off on my cut point, and when I extended the song, there was a slight audible disassociation at the join points. I'm still curious about monitoring capability when paused, with respect to dragging the tape head line manually and listening to the audio around the cut point or should I say split point.
The song is set up: intro-verse-verse-chorus-verse-verse-chorus-instrumental break-verse-verse-chorus-verse-verse-chorus-instrumental break-verse-verse-chorus-verse-verse-chorus....ending.
If I were to just delete the ending, and then grab the last chorus and pull (stretch) the whole track it to the right, what part of the song is expanding? I tried doing this, but the pattern became altered, forcing me to sing through an instrumental break, to keep the vocal coherent.
I should have copied the section, after the intro and before the ending, and added that, between the body and the ending. I'll try that tomorrow:-)

Automatic track assignments importing type 1 MIDI file

Hello - I am trying to understand how Logic decides to assign tracks when importing a standard MIDI file. According to the manual:
"As a default behavior, Logic Pro will automatically create software instrument tracks for each MIDI track, and assign an appropriate GarageBand instrument to each, when you open a MIDI file".
The files I want to import consist of a few tracks, with track names describing their role, such as "bass", "pad", "lead", "drums", etc. Each track contains ONLY note-on/note-off events, and all of the notes on each track are assigned to a particular channel. (No program-changes, tempo, or any other kind of controller events, SYSEX, or meta data).
When I import the file, most tracks are automatically assigned to a software instrument, which is fine because I can then set the track to a particular channel strip performance by sending the appropriate program number to each track.
THE PROBLEM: it usually happens that one of the imported MIDI tracks will get assigned to 'No Output', instead of to some software instrument. The tracks with names "bass", "lead", "pad", and "drums" (on channels 1, 2, 4, and 5 respectively) always seem to get consistently assigned to a software instrument. But the channel 3 tracks (I've tried naming them "piano", "keys", "synth", etc) usually, though not always, get assigned to "No Output".
The reason this is a problem is that I am trying to remotely control Logic (via Applescript) from a web application, where Logic is used to automatically render MIDI data into audio. So I can't manually reassign that track, and unfortunately there seems to be no way to reassign a track via key commands, or I could accomplish that via Applescript as well.
Does anyone have any idea what criteria Logic uses when automatically assigning tracks to "suitable" software instruments, so that I can avoid having tracks end up assigned to "No Output"? Hope this question makes sense, and thanks for any guidance.

midi file 0 is one track per midi channel, midi file 1 is separate tracks. for example, if a drum track on one midi channel has each note separated to its own track midi file 0 merges them and midi file 1 keeps them separated

ITunes no longer recognizes midi files how can I play and convert them?

iTunes 10.3 recognised midi files, I could "move" them to the iTunes library and select them. then click on "Advanced" and "Convert to AAC" (or to MP3 etc).
iTunes 10.5 will not recognise midi files.
I think an older version of GarageBand could also read and convert midi files, but this no longer appears to be the case either in the latest version.
How can I now convet midi files? Has Apple decided to simply ignore them?

Thanks to Limnos, I now have some further things to try, but in the meantime I found I had been maligning GarageBand 11. Indeed its built-in Help system doesn't seem to mention Midi files at all, but I found out how to insert them from Apple's on-line support system at http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2009 and it works superbly well - one can even change the instruments on individual channels etc and then save the lot as an AAC (m4a) or mp3 etc file.
I also loaded up an old version of iTunes, version 10.3, which still recognises Midi files and can convert them to AAC or mp3 but in so doing some volume seems to be lost.
But the winner so far for me has been Audacity, free software. One needs to add a LAME encoder for mp3 output, I installed Soundflower and routed the playback of the midi file available in the Finder (in fact for the whole machine, while playing the midi file) and declared Soundflower as the input for Audacity. I could then use Audacity's effects menu to increase the volume throughout the track and save it. I then, using the Sound preferences of the machine, switched back to the inbuilt speakers and was able to listen to a higher volume version, playable in iTunes 10.5. More faithful to the original midi file than the GarageBand version.
See instructions at http://ask.brothersoft.com/tags/convert-midi-to-mp3/ and in particular one of the links http://ask.brothersoft.com/how-to-convert-a-midi-to-a-mp3-using-audacity-26125.h tml
This is for Windows but for Mac it's very similar/ - still Audacity. BUT the instructions in the last link don't seem to quite work, which is why I had to use Soundflower. I can import the midi file, I can select it, but then the export item on the file menu remains greyed out and unuseable, so I must presumably be missing some plug-in. Also Audacity keeps telling me it can't find various ffmpeg files even though I thought I had installed them correctly. I'm obviously missing something here, but at least I can now get my midi files into aac or mp3 format again at last.
For Soundflower see http://cycling74.com/soundflower-landing-page/ and http://kineme.net/forum/General/soundflowerforlion
and there is a useful tutorial by Nowjobless on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3FGOIW08gA&feature=related
Good luck to anyone else facing the same problems, it remains to be seen how to "convert" midi files to mp3 in Audacity without recourse to Soundflower.

Any Complete Tutorials On How To Edit And Export MIDI Files In GB?

Hi. A friend sent me about 25 nice standard MIDI files that all open fine in QT Pro. She wants me to drag and drop them into GarageBand 2, attempt to edit them, change sounds and then export them out as the edited versions, key changes, added bars, change instrument sounds, etc,. Although I'm a trained musician who understands form, I really don't have a clue on how to use GB to edit and export standard MIDI files. Can this be done effectively in GB ver 2 or 3?
Basically what she then wants to do is take the edited MIDI tracks, put them into itunes I guess on her iBook G4 or Ipod and do a solo act playing her keyboard live and usibg the MIDI tracks as background.
Are there any links to step by step tutorials on how I can lerarn this procedure? Please offer any advice and links if you can and thanks for your help
steveb

Not really practical, I'm afraid. Capturing screenshots and cutting them up is possible with Photoshop, but PDF editing is very limited (fix a typo, move a picture).

Corrupt Downloaded Midi Files

Hi gang,
I've been remixing a song and couldn't for the life of me figure out the bass line, so I downloaded a midi file from a professional company on the web, so that I could see the bassline myself. It's the first time i've downloaded and imported a midi file. In a seperate work session, I imorted it no problems, but when I play it, it is massively distorted. Even though I wasn't sure how a midi file could distort, I only really wanted to look at it. When I went back into my tune I was horrified to hear that it seems that the midi file triggered something in Logic - and now everything (including my song) is distorted.
Any Ideas? I'm not bothered about the download, but obviosly I want my song to sound like it did when I closed the session.
HELP
Hippers

This is a truly bizarre situation. I can't imagine how the MIDI file itself affected your Logic session as a whole. So here's my first-cup-of-coffee-of-the-day troubleshooting advice...
There is a chance that the MIDI file contained a program change which selected a distorted-sounding patch on whatever synth/instrument plug you're using. Furthermore, the file may contain a CC#7 (or 11) volume message that banged up the volume of whatever track you imported it on, raising the fader to a level much higher than you had previously set it to. And if both occur, it could give the impression that everything is distorted, but really the culprit is that one track.
What happens when you turn that track off? Is everything still distorted?
Re-load your original song -- one saved prior to having imported the MIDI file. Does it sound OK?
Then import the bass line to this song, but import it to a track that isn't assigned an instrument (in fact, assign the track to the "no output" item). Does it distort? If not, open the Event Editor and look at the very beginning of the list. If you see any volume or program change data, delete it. Now assign that track to an instrument and see what happens.
-=iS=-

Import of GM midi file creates "No Output" drums

After about an hour and a half of searching forums for a solution, I've mostly just found a few workarounds. Here's a few threads of similar problems-
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2147823?start=0&tstart=0
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3543280?start=0&tstart=0
Workaround solution-
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2313358?start=0&tstart=0
"...what happens when you "import MIDI into Logic" is probably that it creates external MIDI tracks. They don't have any sound source to trigger sounds from, that is why there is no audio output. Try creating a Software Instrument track, insert an instrument plugin there, then copy the needed MIDI events on it from one of those External MIDI tracks. After that Logic MUST produce sound, provided audio settings are all correct."
================================================================================ ===============
A buddy of mine with virtually the same Logic 9 and MBP setup has no problem with importing GM MIDI files, but me, not so lucky. I can get it to work in the end if I use the above workaround with creating new Software Instrument Tracks, setting them up, and then copying over the midi data region. It seems like I must have a preference setting set incorrectly or a corrected file.
Questions:
1. Any idea why some Logic setups have no problem with importing GM MIDI files correctly and others do? I did not see any solutions after reading a ton of posts. (Just the above workaround.)
2. Is there a way to adjust a track that comes in as what appears to be set up for an external instrument (shows "No Output") and switch it over to a standard Logic Software Instrument track? I can't find any way of doing this by right-clicking on the track and changing the output choices. Again, I have the above workaround, but is there a quicker way?
3. Also, if I do try to change the output of a "No Output" track to a working imported track via right-click: Reassign track/ Mixer/ Software Instrument/ Instr 1- Grand Piano, these 2 tracks are now joined at the hip and when I try to change the newly reassigned track to the proper instrument, it changes the orginal track also. Same with muting one of these tracks, both get muted. Is there a way to separate them from each other?
Thanks,
Dave

Yesterday I needed to install Logic 9 on an old G5. It took forever because the Apple Superdrive was broken and I needed to go to my MBP and create disc images, copy them over, and install from those, but it's done now.
The first thing I did was check to see if when I imported the same MIDI file I ended up with the "No Output" on some tracks. Nope, it came out just fine.
Since no one has responded here, I'll go back to my usual routine of notating the issue and using workarounds and move on with my life. Hopefully, we'll see Logic 10 this year and some of this silliness will go away.
Thanks,
Dave

Instrument Changes in Midi Files

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