How to play and edit web .MID files with Ableton?

[sirdemon]

heylo!

i am organizing a Paul McCartney and Wings cover band for a wedding party and i need to make some backing drums tracks.
our drummer is out of town for a couple of weeks.

my keyboard player suggested i look for some midi files on the web instead of me starting from scratch making drums tracks.

indeed, i have found a McCartney midi site with .MID files of all the songs i need!

if i play the .MID file using Quicktime in my browser, it plays fine and i can hear all the individual parts.

when i import the .MID file into Ableton Live, i see the MIDI notes, but of course i don't have the corresponding sounds for the MIDI information.

is there an Ableton Live MIDI sound bank that emulates the web .MID sound bank?
it would make it a lot of easier for me to know what is what.

here is a link to one of the .MID files i'm talking about:
http://www.maccafan.net/Midi/RedRoseSpeedway/MyLove.mid

thanx in advance!
sir demon

[mode:masters]

No, Live does not have an inbuilt MIDI synthesizer, you will need to load some instruments onto those MIDI tracks to hear anything.

[outershpongolia]

if those .mid tracks are according to the standard midi drum map, i think it's called GM map or something, then you should be able to put a MIDI drum rack that also sticks to those key mappings

http://www.mindwaremusic.com/Soundsette ... MDrums.jpg

i remember this VST i had on my PC called Purity had a couple kits like that.. worth a shot

[f.e]

On a PC, the internal MIDI out port is also a GM synth (f.e, on my computer : Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth). I assume on a MAC too.

[broc]

On Mac a GM synth is available as Apple AU plugin called "DLSMusicDevice". It provides the Quicktime sounds.

Note however that handling midi files with Live is quite limited.
If the file contains multiple instruments it must be of format 1, otherwise all data will be merged on the same track.

[lapieuvre]

If you only need the drums, the drumset is channel 10 on a standard midi file. just use this track, and assign a drum VST, it should work.

[yearlongyeti]

Hey, yeah this can be a real pain in the butt. I use a free midi sequencer which automatically separates each track then transfer them individually to live. For the drums I put the GM mapper (found under midi effects, utility) before my drum rack.

[3phase]

just forget editing with ableton..you would need hours to seperate the tracks involved...

[sirdemon]

ha! thanx for all of the advice.
i'll start tinkering.

yeah, i did notice that some of the MID files have the instruments separated
and some do not. so this is Format 0 and Format 1, i'm guessing.

yearlongyeti, which free sequencer do you use?

3phase, if not ableton, what should i use?
i also have access to Logic, Pro Tools, and Cubase (and Garageband )

again thanx for all the insight!

[wehkah]

try to import the midifile in logic. this will split the file to seperate tracks, i guess. a long time ago i imported a midifile from a yamaha psr and it worked fine, but you have to do a lot of editing if the miditrack use midieffects like reverb or delay.

i hope that helps.

cheers
T

[yearlongyeti]

Yeah logic and pro tools and Cubase all will do it.