Apps by Arlomedia

BandHelper => Repertoire Help => Topic started by: Bkpgeral on February 05, 2018, 04:41:39 AM

Title: Midi file import and player
Post by: Bkpgeral on February 05, 2018, 04:41:39 AM
Hi, I'm studying using custom midi files with soundfonts (bs16i) and BandHelper. But I do not know how to insert the midis files into my repertoire. I tried via Dropbox and "Safari / open with", but neither worked. It would not be very practical to have to select the midi in bs16i with each new song. What is the best way?
Thank you
Title: Re: Midi file import and player
Post by: arlo on February 05, 2018, 08:54:42 AM
BandHelper can't play MIDI files. This is on my wish list and I'll add a vote for you.

Meanwhile, you could load your MIDI files into a MIDI player and then control that with MIDI song select, start and stop messages from BandHelper. Here's a tutorial for doing that with Sweet MIDI Player:

http://forum.arlomedia.com/index.php/topic,933.msg2834.html
Title: Re: Midi file import and player
Post by: Bkpgeral on February 05, 2018, 10:28:14 AM
Quote from: arlo on February 05, 2018, 08:54:42 AM
BandHelper can't play MIDI files. This is on my wish list and I'll add a vote for you.

Meanwhile, you could load your MIDI files into a MIDI player and then control that with MIDI song select, start and stop messages from BandHelper. Here's a tutorial for doing that with Sweet MIDI Player:

http://forum.arlomedia.com/index.php/topic,933.msg2834.html

it may be easier to convert midi file to mp3 and import into each song in BandHelper
Title: Re: Midi file import and player
Post by: arlo on February 05, 2018, 12:03:23 PM
Yes, that would be a good option.
Title: Re: Midi file import and player
Post by: Ahiru on February 07, 2018, 07:06:52 AM
QuoteBandHelper can't play MIDI files. This is on my wish list and I'll add a vote for you.

Add a vote for me too, and I'd use this for the following use case:

We create backing tracks in a DAW that are ultimately exported as .m4a files for playback in Bandhelper as Recordings.

We also send MIDI patch changes (e.g., guitar patches, vocal fx, etc.) synchronized with the backing tracks.  These are added as Automation Events in Bandhelper by manually recording them while listening to Bandhelper play the backing track.

A preferred alternative would be to build these patch changes into the source DAW file and once the audio Recording is exported, also export a simple companion MIDI file with just the patch changes.  Thus it would be much easier to position (and edit, if necessary) the MIDI patch changes in sync with the audio within the DAW, rather than manually recording them as automation events.

(We don't automate lighting yet, but if we did this would also be my preferred way to do that as well!)

This presumes an option to start MIDI file playback synchronous with Recording playback during performance.
Title: Re: Midi file import and player
Post by: arlo on March 12, 2018, 04:56:21 PM
Quote from: Bkpgeral on February 05, 2018, 04:41:39 AM
Hi, I'm studying using custom midi files with soundfonts (bs16i) and BandHelper. But I do not know how to insert the midis files into my repertoire.

It looks like I can add this functionality for the purpose of generating audio, but I have two questions:

1) Where are you getting SoundFont files from?

2) Would you need different SoundFont files for different songs, or would an account-wide setting be good enough?
Title: Re: Midi file import and player
Post by: arlo on June 11, 2018, 12:18:52 AM
In the new app versions released today, you can attach an SMF file (.mid) to a song and play it back just as you would with a "real" audio recording. This should eliminate the need for another app like Sweet MIDI Player. Details are in "To play music from a Standard MIDI File" on the Sending MIDI page:

http://www.bandhelper.com/tutorials/sending_MIDI.html