Interpreting crazy midi

Discuss playback problems, including VST, Garritan, MIDI, etc.

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John LaSala
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed May 11, 2005 3:02 pm

Post by John LaSala » Wed May 11, 2005 3:51 pm

Does anyone know of a way (some external piece of software perhaps) to take midi data which wasn't recorded properly (the performer ignored the tempo & time signature and just played freely) and try to turn it into a midi file (or import it into Finale) which is laid out all nice and properly, guessing at where the downbeats are and what the tempo must be, etc.?


bill holland
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2003 11:28 pm

Post by bill holland » Thu May 12, 2005 6:42 pm

Import the MIDI file several times using different quantization settings each time. Hopefully, you'll get enough good data to cut and paste bit and pieces into new document. Sometimes it help to requantize sections at a time. I don't know of any other way to overcome the problem you described. Maybe someone else has a better way!!!!

Good Luck
Always willing to help and be helped - I learn something new everyday!!!

John LaSala
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed May 11, 2005 3:02 pm

Post by John LaSala » Thu May 12, 2005 6:46 pm

The problem is that the midi data can't be altered in anyway. No quantizing. It's like I need to create a customized midi map behind the perforamnce that I can manipulate without touching the midi data. It's a tall order, I know.

Vyk
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:23 am

Post by Vyk » Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:53 am

There is another - cleaner - way of transferring midi to notation software. It only takes quite a lot of time to learn. There is a software called OpenMusic (by IRCAM, Paris: www.ircam.fr) which is a sort of graphical programming language: you connect the graphical "boxes" (every box has a concrete function: i.e. "+") and by doing that you can build a new function. It has a library called "Kant", which does exactly the job of transferring midifile to some notation software. It seraches for the tempo, you can choose some criteriums (i.e. acents, pitches, harmony, etc), or give some beats.
My method is following: 1) I listen to the midifile and deceide where is the "beat"; I take only the clear "beats", I do not try to divide the whole midi file in to the beats; 2) than I copy these "beats" in to another midi track; 3) I import both - original file and the "beats" - into the OpenMusic and let the Kant-library search for the best tempo, 4) In the most of the cases I have more possibilities to choose - I take the musicly best one; 5) acording to this "beat-frame" Kant-library creates bars, which I export to finale; 6) In finale I still need to make quantization, but I have already framed music material; 6) now I just make the quantization, bar by bar.
Doing this way you can deal in a clean, very precise and relative fast way with a very complex midi material: you have musical control + you dont need to do everything manually.
Of course, if the original midi material is not complex, it could be just enough to make the quantization, as bill holland proposed.

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