Old 10-01-2006, 12:01 PM   #1
Slarty1
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 49
Default Problems IMPORTING MIDI FILES

Reaper insists on "dumping" every single "midi channel" into A SINGLE TRACK. Now all(tracks) drums,guitars,strings,whatever have you!, are being "played" through whatever VSTi is assigned to that track.
It is very difficult to seperate channel data OUT using the piano-roll editor...like seperating the milk out of the coffee!!

My procedure: (to convert original 6 track Cakewalk midi)
1: Open midi(???) into Cakewalk
2: Save track 1 as trk1_Piano_GMsf2.mid,....save track 2 as trk2_Guitar3_sf2acoustic.mid....and so on (end up with 6 new midi files, with really long names.
3: Start Reaper and INSERT\MEDIA\trk1_Piano_GMsf2.mid
4: Insert the other 5 tracks the same way.
5: Load up Take1 VSTi(FX) with the correct sf2 AND preset for each of 6 new tracks.
6: Hope like he**, I've got each insertion point at correct time so all tracks are syncronized with each other for playback

If you are just entering notes into a single midi track which then "voices" itself using a VSTi w\wo effects,assigned to that track (FX),and building up NEW masterpieces (one track at a time), you will have no problem. Then at least, you have a fighting chance using midi editor on that track only.

I would like to see Reaper,automatically make seperate new tracks (with instrument names if available),when it detects a (multi-track) midi file being imported.
Anyone else TRYING to convert multi-channel midi files from "other" software into Reaper ??. Have you found an easier method?

Terry B.
Slarty1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2006, 02:12 PM   #2
TerryW
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 386
Default

Whe need a option to auto-extract a midifile filtered on midichannel to seperated tracks.
TerryW is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2006, 02:16 PM   #3
Spon
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 447
Default

There is a slightly easier method, but it would still be nice if REAPER could apply the method automatically when you open a MIDIfile.

Open the original file - all channels are in one track.
Insert as many tracks as the file has channels
Click the I/II routing button.
Route the track to as many tracks as the file has channels
Set the MIDI filter to send the appropriate channel to each track.
Close the routing dialog
Click the "Select recording mode" button
Set the new tracks' record mode to "record output (MIDI)"
Record all the new tracks
Voila - one track (and file) for each channel
Spon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2006, 02:35 PM   #4
TerryW
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 386
Default

Great workaround Spon, but al channels are still in one track, it's a real pain to edit for example the pianoline when all notes from others channels are surround it.
So for editing whe need it on seperated tracks.
TerryW is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2006, 07:40 AM   #5
Spon
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 447
Default

The procedure I described DOES record each midi channel as a new, separate file, on separate tracks.

You have to play the original file in REAPER and record the results to multiple tracks to get it, though - it IS a workaround. After splitting, you can discard the original multitrack midi file, and reconstruct it by merging the track data if you want export it again.

Another editing workaround - have you tried the channel filter in the upper left corner of the MIDI editor? It will show (and allow you to edit) one channel at a time in a multichannel MIDI file.

As far as a FR goes...
The first thing I would implement is the importing of type 1 (multitrack) MIDI files into REAPER into multiple tracks. This way, when you export, all you have to do is make sure each track contains only one channel, and REAPER does the rest. And people who DO want to send multiple channels to the same VSTi can still do so. Next I'd implement splitting single tracks by channel.

BTW, if you have a DAW that splits multichannel MIDI files, import a MIDIfile with 16 tracks, each containing data on all 16 channels, do you get 256 tracks?
Spon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2006, 08:07 AM   #6
MAV
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 14
Default

This is one of the main sticking points to my converting over to REAPER completely. I need the MIDI functionality that Sonar gives, but if (when!) REAPER is upgraded to allow this, I'm sold.
MAV is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2006, 09:47 AM   #7
vivaldi
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 53
Default

Please forgive my MIDI ignorance...

Would it be possible to identify MIDI source file instruments when Spon's FR is implemented? This would be great to have instrument name as a track name after MIDI import.

Melody Assistant can identify instruments in the source file so I guess it's doable.

viValdi
vivaldi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2006, 10:22 AM   #8
Spon
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 447
Default

When REAPER gets to the point of implementing multitrack import, it would be pretty standard to import the track names.

There are actually two splitting issues.

MIDI files come in three standard formats
all can contain multiple channels per track

Type 0 contain one track with all the data channels per track.
Type 1 contains multiple tracks, with multiple channels per track
Type 2 contains multiple tracks, not necessarily related

The first issue is recognizing tracks in MIDI files. It would be logical to import a multitrack MIDI file into multiple REAPER tracks, and use the file's track names. This is pretty standard behavior, and it works whether the tracks contain one channel, multiple channels, or no-channel sysex data.

The second issue is separating multiple channels.

If the first issue were solved in REAPER, the second could often be worked around by exporting the data as a type 1 MIDI file instead of a type 0. Often the exporting software can save the file in either format, automatically merging for type 0 and saving tracks in type 1. REAPER could then import this with no problem.

In cases where the exporting software can't do this, or isn't available, a separate option to filter channels of a single track to separate tracks is needed. My sense is that this is a general-purpose MIDI editing tool that shouldn't be restricted to file import. I would make the tool work first as a user tool, and then add it to the MIDIfile import process. It should have some user interaction, as it's easy to produce large numbers of tracks.

The second can also be worked around by my earlier method or something like it - if you import a MIDIfile with multiple channels in one track, you CAN separate them in REAPER, right now. It's just not easy and intuitive.

So as a FR, I would request multiple track support before requesting a channel filter, as a sort of channel filter already exists.

Last edited by Spon; 10-02-2006 at 10:53 AM.
Spon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-05-2006, 07:23 AM   #9
midi-man
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 5
Default

Hi all!

(Btw, I'm not a Reaper-expert at all so please forgive me if I've missed something..)

In the "MIDI File Properties" dialog you can set which midi channels the midi file will play. If it also was possible to set played midi-channels for individual midi-parts, you could have all your midi data in a single midi file. This would make much easier to import/export midi-data between different hosts IMO.

An improved midi-import function in Reaper could perhaps be based on this idea?
midi-man is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 06:59 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.