Using midi from guitar pro files in recordings... please help.

doc-phil

I recently discovered that you can convert guitar pro files into midi files that can be played through windows media player and be imported into recording software. This is an amazing discovery for me since I can now add things like bass, piano and strings to my songs which is cool. However I can't seem to succesfully import midi files into Mackie Tracktion which is the DAW I'm using. Once the midi file is imported, it splits the file up into 7 seperate tracks and a message comes up saying, 'This track contains midi clips which may be inaudible as it doesn't output to a midi device or a plugin synthesiser'.

I don't have any midi devices, so how can I get it to be audible? Will I be able to convert the midi files to mp3 or wav instead? ?

Gearhead

The thing about splitting the .gp? file up into 7 tracks is probably because there were 7 tracks in Guitar Pro. In MIDI you can have messages for different channels through each other, but since MIDI is serial, it is usually split per channel as separate tracks in sequencer/recording software. Importing these tracks should be easy and the error message you get kinda looks like you have not assigned a MIDI instrument to the channel you try to import (but then again that's just one possibility). When you play the .mid file, your Windoze sends it to 'general MIDI' which is a default instrument assignment embedded in most soundcards.
Bottom line: what you're trying to do should work, but your DAW clearly leaves a lot to be desired.

doc-phil

Thanks for the explanation. I found a program that converts midi to mp3 so that eliminates the hassles of trying to figure out how my daw will play midi files. Thing is, its only a 30 trial so I'll keep looking for a free one ?

deanBailey

Gear head is right. If the tracks are inaudible it might be due to the only one that works being solo'd during the export out of guitar pro...(lol I think that sentence could have been phrased better)

the only problem with using General Midi is that you'll have increased latency when using standard soundcards on the PC. If you're planning on recording that is.

Another cool thing about importing Guitar Pro midi files into Cubendo is that automatically assigns the tempo track so you don't have to change time signatures or tempo changes.

Gearhead

Lotsa guys on this forum use Reaper as DAW, it's free. Do a search.... ?

AlanRatcliffe

All you need do is assign each track to a different channel of a GM softsynth. Does Tracktion come with a GM (General MIDI) softsynth? If it does I can guarantee that it will sound a thousand times better than the Windows GM synth that GP uses.

The reason Tracktion splits the MIDI into individual tracks is for editing purposes - most DAWs do this. Keeping the MIDI tracks separate means more control - you can assign different tracks to different softsynths and use the track controls (like volume, pan, etc.) to mix the MIDI instruments (rather than a sysex at the beginning of a song). Editing also becomes easier with only one instrument on a track.

Exporting as audio out of GP (or most other MIDI playback programs) is real limiting. Not only do you lose the control over each track, but you lose a lot of audio quality - Mp3 at higher bitrates does an amazing job of knocking size down and keeping what is important, but it's still a "lossy" format that loses detail and changes the audio.

doc-phil

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Does Tracktion come with a GM (General MIDI) softsynth?

As far as I can tell, no. I've gone through all the midi settings and Tracktion sets the default midi output as Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. It also lists my Toneport there but that has no midi functionality so I don't know why it's there. Finally it lists the keyboard as a virtual input, not sure what the function of that may be. I see what you mean about the problems with converting to mp3 - while it seems the quality remains(if I just playback the file in windows media player) the final converted file is so soft when importing into Tracktion that I have to crank it up by like 25dB just to hear it which makes it sound really bad.

Gearhead wrote Lotsa guys on this forum use Reaper as DAW, it's free. Do a search.... ?

I've tried to use Reaper but I didn't like it, the user-interface just irritated me :-\