Same instrument for every track after opening midi file

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

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Voadao
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat May 10, 2008 11:53 am

Post by Voadao » Sat May 10, 2008 12:08 pm

Hi,

When I try to open a midi file (type SMF1) in finale 2008 I don't see the original instruments. Every staff has 'Acoustic Grand Piano' as its instrument.
When I open the same midi file in a sequencer you can see that there are different instruments attached to the tracks.
(A workaround would be to edit the staff names in the sequencer software, so that these contain the instruments name. After opening the midi file in finale one could change the instruments manually.)

Does anyone know if there's a way to automatically get the original instruments (as defined in the midi file) in finale?

Thanks!
Finale 2008


mvoogt
Posts: 21
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 12:53 am

Post by mvoogt » Wed Nov 19, 2008 8:12 pm

I may be wrong however I don't believe that kind of information is transmitted in midi data. I export from DP to Finale all the time and never get instrument sounds to stay the same. Are you using general midi sounds in your sequencer and then going to GM sounds in Finale? If you are I might see that working, however if you are using a sound library in a sequencer and then going to Finale and using smart synth or whatever.... I don't see how it could know what instrument to put to the stave.

joseluis
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 9:54 pm

Post by joseluis » Wed Dec 24, 2008 12:09 am

It is very easy to change the instruments once the MIDI has become a Finale file (that is, once the score is shown on the screen), from "window" --> "instruments list" and choose the right ones. It just takes a few seconds, provided you know what were the originals instruments...

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