Playing a Multitrack General MIDI File In Live?

[antonlamont45]

I've downloaded a multitrack MIDI file from the internet and want to play it in Live. (link to the file below) When I drop it in Live it puts the separate parts (organ, piano, drums etc) on separate tracks however what I need now is those MIDI parts to play the sounds they are supposed to.

I tried dropping a Apple DLS Music Device aka "Apple Sound Bank Synthesizer" onto each Live track however it plays the piano sound on each track not the appropriate instruments.

I thought maybe there would be embedded (sysex?) info in each MIDI part that would specify which instrument should be played?

Is there a way to get the file to play in Live with its sounds?


http://www.math.binghamton.edu/alex/MIDI/comessun.mid

[broc]

In MIDI files the instruments are specified by embedded "program change" messages.

But for some reason Live seems to ignore them. Hence the DLS Music Device doesn't work.

So I think you need to load the appropriate Live instruments manually on the individual tracks.

[ark]

If the synth you're using accepts Program Change messages, then you can set those messages as part of the clip properties. They are properties of the clip rather than of the track so that you can have several clips in a single track, each of which plays as a different instrument.

To set these properties, look at the clip view for each clip. Be sure the small circle with the two 8th notes (between the L and E circles) is selected; this will cause a rectangular area titled "Notes" to appear to the left of the clip's piano roll.

In that area, there are three selectors labeled "Bank," "Sub-Bank," and "Program." By setting those to appropriate values, you may be able to get your synth to sound like appropriate instruments.

[broc]

Thanks for the explanation. I've just checked that it works well with DLS Music Device.
In clip view you only need to select the "Program" number, for example Nylon Guitar would be 25.

Here is the complete list of GM program changes

http://www.midi.org/techspecs/gm1sound.php

[antonlamont45]

Thanks, very helpful info.

So the process of assigning instruments will have to be done manually by assigning program #'s in clips. I was hoping that it would be automatic as sometimes these midi songs don't have any indication as to what instrument each track should play.

When dropping a midi song into Digital Performer for example, the program # is shown in the beginning of each track. In Live however, that program # info is lost when the song is dropped into Live, so it must be done manually. In most cases this will be possible by looking at the clip titles "Nylon Guitar" etc.. However sometimes they just say "Track 1" etc.. so it becomes more of a guessing game.

[dburns]

You might try playing the MIDI file in a GM module of some kind, just to hear how it should sound. You can then choose similar sounds in Live. I'm on Windows, so sometimes I use the built-in player (with Van Basco's player), or Cakewalk's TTS-1, or NI Bandstand (discontinued, but sounds good). Or, a hardware module that has a GM bank. Not sure what you'd use on Mac.

You may be able to use a VSTi GM MIDI module like the TTS-1 or Bandstand, as a plug-in in Live, and drop the MIDI file on it. But, I haven't tried this, so good luck with it.

[broc]

On Mac you can play the MIDI file just by clicking on it in finder preview.