MacOS

[Stingray5]

Is there a good free midi player for a i mac similar to vanbasco Im still trying figure how to use this thing.

[WynnD]

I thought My Macbook had a midi player. I've got Cubase and that plays midi without taxing the system. I believe that Garage band will also play midis, but it's a bit intensive on resources.

[Stingray5]

Yes your right it does play midi's but I don't see where you could separate the drum parts,to be honest I'm not good when it comes to computers in fact with this Mac I'm way over my head. Thanks for the reply.

[WynnD]

Originally Posted by Stingray5

Yes your right it does play midi's but I don't see where you could separate the drum parts,to be honest I'm not good when it comes to computers in fact with this Mac I'm way over my head. Thanks for the reply.

Not sure how to separate the parts except by assigning different channels for different instruments. (One for the cymbals, one for the toms, one for snare......) You've got 16 channels to play with. I'm still near the bottom end of the learning curve with midi. If you have any classes available that cover midi, it would be a good investment in understanding. I do know that in a lot of ways, midi is like the links required to make a PA system work. Mic connects to the cable connects to the mixer connects to the signal processor connects to the EQ connects to the electronic crossover connects to the speakers. It's a lot like that with different items. There can be a lot of stops along the way.

Anyone have a good layman's book on midi that they'd recommend?

[hociman]

I am not certain it qualifies as a Layman's book, but there is "MIDI Systems and Control" by Francis Rumsey. That book was used in my MIDI 2 class at NYU. I didn't take MIDI 1, so I don't know what book was used for the intro class.

As for separating out the parts, here is a bit of information that might help. If your MIDI player shows you which MIDI channel is being used for a particular part, look for whatever part is assigned to MIDI channel 10. If my memory is correct, that is the MIDI channel that is usually used for drum parts.

[WynnD]

You gotta wonder if there's a standard convention for midi. Outside of the standard midi sounds, every midi keyboard I own does things a little differently. (And they're both from Roland.)

[James Clausen]

I use Ableton as my primary recording platform and can do drums as a mono channel or separate out instruments in single channels as earlier noted. I guess that how much computer space is used probably depends on your platform.

[Rimmer]

Garageband will load a midi file if you drag and drop it on to the arrange window. You may have to spend a while re-assigning the instruments though..

Quicktime will play midi files with the correct instruments although I believe that was supported in older versions of Quicktime. Ctrl click (right click) on a midi file then select "Open With". If Quicktime isn't offerered then select 'Other'. Find Quicktime in the Applications folder and select. It will either play the midi file or download an earlier version of Quicktime for the occasion.

As far as I know, there is no editing. Just playback and the instruments are generally weak. Other than that, i'm out of the loop with midi file players. Check out the details on Band in a Box..

Regards. Rimmer

[HitTraxMIDI]

Message content removed as it contains an attempt to procure business from the forum which is against the terms and conditions of this site. 

[HitTraxMIDI]

Hi, I'm John from Hit Trax

Cubase has a function under the MIDI Editing section named 'Dissolve Parts' that separates merged format 0 MIDI tracks to individual MIDI tracks - format 1.  Look up the Help Section in Cubase or the user manual to locate 'Dissolve Parts'. There should also be an option to Dissolve by channel and by notes. 

Cheers, John

Hit Trax MIDI Files

www.HitTraxMIDI.com

[Rimmer]

Hi

These forums are community forums and are not for procuring business from or doing commercial business in. Please keep your comments within the guidelines you agreed to when you signed up..

Regards. Rimmer

[HitTraxMIDI]

I can't see where we are procuring business from or doing commercial business in from our last response.  I believe our comments are within the guidelines. If you believe this isn't the case, then perhaps you can show me the exact text in the reply that you are concerned about.

[Rimmer]

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HitTraxMIDI wrote:

I can't see where we are procuring business from or doing commercial business in from our last response.  I believe our comments are within the guidelines. If you believe this isn't the case, then perhaps you can show me the exact text in the reply that you are concerned about.

---

Sure.. As follows..

QUOTE

3. Non Commercial Use by Members. The Website is for the personal use of individual Members only and may not be used in connection with any commercial endeavors except as noted in section (5f) below. Organizations, companies, and/or businesses may not become Members without written permission from Harmony Central or its agents, although individuals within organizations, companies, and/or businesses are encouraged to become members. Illegal and/or unauthorized uses of the Website, including collecting usernames and/or email addresses of members by electronic or other means for the purpose of sending unsolicited email and unauthorized framing of or linking to the Website will be investigated, and appropriate legal action will be taken, including without limitation, civil, criminal, and injunctive redress. 5f. Except as permitted in areas designated by HC or its agents (such as mentions of gear for sale in member signatures, or designated "Spam" threads within forums), you may not engage in advertising to, or solicitation of, other Members to buy or sell any products or services through the Service. You may not transmit any chain letters or junk email to other Members. Although HC cannot monitor the conduct of its Members off the Website, it is also a violation of these rules to use any information obtained from the Service in order to harass, abuse, or harm another person, or in order to contact, advertise to, solicit, or sell to any Member without their prior explicit consent. In order to protect our Members from such advertising or solicitation, HC reserves the right to restrict the number of emails which a Member may send to other Members in any 24-hour period to a number which HC deems appropriate in its sole discretion. END QUOTE

Regards. Rimmer

[HitTraxMIDI]

Well Rimmer, if a group of experienced MIDI specialists doesn't fit into your idea of a music community because we happen to work under a business name, then good luck to you.  Just so we don't interupt your head power trip, we won't bother responding and helping musicians with their MIDI issues at HC. We wouldn't want you to lose sleep knowing someone may visit our web site and buy something because a Hit Trax support member gave them their time and free qualified assistance. There are plenty of other forums that appreciate our help and they are quick happy to have our support.

Amelie Barnes
Hit Trax

PS - no need to respond. We're not interested in an inflamed discussion. You made your point and we made ours.

[Rimmer]

---

HitTraxMIDI wrote:

Well Rimmer, if a group of experienced MIDI specialists doesn't fit into your idea of a music community because we happen to work under a business name, then good luck to you.  Just so we don't interupt your head power trip, we won't bother responding and helping musicians with their MIDI issues at HC. We wouldn't want you to lose sleep knowing someone may visit our web site and buy something because a Hit Trax support member gave them their time and free qualified assistance. There are plenty of other forums that appreciate our help and they are quick happy to have our support.

Amelie Barnes
Hit Trax

PS - no need to respond. We're not interested in an inflamed discussion. You made your point and we made ours.

---

Continue to 'work' under a business name? Wha? What actual midi Qualifications do you have by the way? I'm not here for an inflamed argument either so why be insulting?

You make assumptions that I wrote the rules. I didn't... It's just something that we agree to adhere to here whilst signing up.

Hey. If you don't want to post here then that's your choice but please accept that to keep an online forum community as unbiased and believable as possible, it pays not to have people on here that invite forumites to their websites to check products out that they sell (you hadn't even made 5 posts by then), whilst showing an obviously keen interest in people seeing as much of your branding as possible. The ground rules are there and are very clear on those subjects.

You've even admitted that you are forgoing the rules as you feel that other websites benefit from your commercial tie in with your forum activities, then you threaten the withdrawal of your advice to a free community forum when your not allowed to ignore the rules which restrict your commercial benefit? What an awful position to take...

Regards. Rimmer