Join Midi files

[amorton1660]

Can anyone sugest a program for joining midi files together or is it better to convert them to mp3's or audio and then join them ..?

[Emerald Midi]

www.gnmidi.com/ will do this for you. There are other such programmes but I this one is the only one I know of.

Hope it helps.

[JohnG]

Spot on Pat,

And if you go to the "freeware" tab on that site you'll find "midicat" which does the job for free allegedly. I say allegedly because I haven't, as yet, tried it, but I've got no reason to believe otherwise. The GN utilities are generally perceived as being pretty good and useful. In fact I might give it a go right now and report back.

There is one drawback to these freebie utilities in that they mostly (all?) tend to run in a DOS box which does mean you need some familiarity with running in this older environment.

There are some commercial packages, XGworks is one, that let you import and specify the exact measure where new midi data will go. I'm guessing that there must be others with an import facility?

Have fun,
JohnG.

[JohnG]

Just to report back, yes, the freebie "midicat" works but, as I said before, in a DOS box.
So only suitable really for those happy issuing DOS commands. There is a help file openable in wordpad as well.

Just as an aside, you probably realise that you may have to do some manual tweaking yourself after the joint is made to make sure things like tempo and other setup messages e.g. instrument selection are all done to your satisfaction. You may get a pause of a measure or more between the songs as a setup measure(s) is implemented, so you may have to move tracks around to make it a seamless joint i.e. a medley. Don't try to join XG midis with GS or GM midis etc. without knowing what you're up to and modifying them to suit your set up.

What you need to do is try to match the tracks of the 2nd song to the first in terms of instrument selection then you won't need a second "program select". Where there are new instruments and there isn't room to put in the new program select, then move that track to a new one, so you can enter the program select for that track whilst the first song is ending, and so on.

Does that make sense?

JohnG.

[Emerald Midi]

johng11 said:

Just to report back, yes, the freebie "midicat" works but, as I said before, in a DOS box.
So only suitable really for those happy issuing DOS commands. There is a help file openable in wordpad as well.
JohnG.

Thanks John for checking that out.

There is another programme that apparently works and that is Cakewalk.

Have you tried this?

[JohnG]

Hi Pat, I've just modified that message. I'll give Cakewalk a try too. I've just got 3 pro on this machine but I'll fire up the DAW where I've got pro audio 9 too.
Don't hold your breath please!
JohnG.

[Emerald Midi]

Thanks John. All your efforts are very much appreciated.

[JohnG]

My pleasure, as always, Pat,

And here's the information you need about Cakewalk:

You can File-Open a midi file into cakewalk (1st file), then use the File-Merge command to load a 2nd file into the Windoze Clipboard. When you Edit_Paste you will be asked where (what measure, beat, tick) you want to put the data from the clipboard into the midi file. Probably the best bet is the measure after the last midi data of the 1st file.
When you accept this hey presto the 2nd file is concatenated onto the first! ;D

That was done in CW pro 3 so should be much the same whatever version you're on.

Yea, I know, smarty pants!
JohnG.

[Emerald Midi]

Good heavens, John! Nice work. I have to say that Cakewalk does sound impressive.

With GNMIDI I can easily join files together, as if making a medley, but there is always a slight pause between, for example, the first and subsequent files.

I am assuming there is no such pause when using Cakewalk?

Perhaps you know a way of using GNMIDI so there aren't such gaps/pauses?

[JohnG]

Hi Pat,

Yea Cakewalk isn't too bad but it's even easier in XGworks!

I can just do an import to the current file defining position as in Cakewalk. It will automatically put the new file into new, unused tracks. I can check the setup measure of each track erase the duplication, then drag and drop it onto an already used track at the right timing point. So bass to the bass track, piano to piano, brass to brass, and so on. The tracks with new instruments in can be dragged forward one (or more) measures so that the timing is correct but the setup measure for that track now occurs during the final measure of the previous song. And, if all is well I have two seamlessly joined midi files. Actually you may want some kind of segue between them or an intro measure, maybe a slowing down or speeding up or a key change etc.

Yes you'll still get the pause because the 2nd file will almost always have a setup measure too and that's likely to be a measure long. At 120bpm and 4/4 time that's 2 seconds.

That's what the addition to my previous post was about. Before the joining you'll need to go into the setup measures of both files and take a look at what instruments are assigned to which tracks and also which channels. Then alter one of them to be as near as possible to the other. Move instrument assignments around to match. New instruments in the 2nd file should be assigned to new, unused tracks so when the file is moved ... oh heck, I feel another article coming on. What do you think?

JohnG.

[Emerald Midi]

oh heck, I feel another article coming on. What do you think?

Yes, a subject well worthy of the attention of your literary and explanation skills.

If you feel so inclined, and I hope you do - Go for it!

[amorton1660]

Thanks a bunch lads .. have cakewalk so will give it a try ... used to do an old fats domino thing years ago where we sang "aint that a shame" straight into "bluberry Hill" and then back into "aint that a shame" ..... but that was with a four piece band playin live.

Cheers again Al

[JohnG]

Well now, there's a challenge!

If you've got access to the main section of the MidiMart page go to the "F" section and download the following two files "atas-fd.zip" and "bhf-fd.zip". They are, of course, the aforementioned "ain't that a thrill" and "blueberry hill" by the legendary Fats.

Now wouldn't it "be a thrill" if we could merge the two files together into a two tune medley, and I could write you some Cakewalk lessons to show you how to do it? They are both Minvec files so I guess I need to ask Glenn's permission to go ahead.

Okay with you Glenn?

Whadya think guys and gals, shall we give it a bash? If so then I'll start a new thread on my MIDI tutorials section for "joining MIDI files". I might try to get JazzCat's buy in too in case we need a middle eight or a fill or something.

Then I'll try to post a little bit every few days to move the lesson forward. Give me some feedback. Let me know what you think.

Best regards,
JohnG.

And as a PS, if any of you want to join in but are too shy to post on the main list, or use another sequencing program, just PM me.

[Emerald Midi]

Good man, John! Looking forward to that with pleasurable anticipation

[simmo123]

Hi John,you can count me in on your "joining midi project" i am running cakewalk sonar Le i hope this will be suitable,it will be a major step forward for me if i am able to achieve this project under your guidance which can only lead to better editing skills & who knows one day i might be able to come up with half decent backing tracks to use on my senior gigs.Ilook forward to the challenge, kind regards ,simmo ;D ;D ;D ;D

[JohnG]

Okay Simmo, I've got a copy of Sonar LE too so I'll take a look at that and see if I can find out how the import or whatever it is function works. Meanwhile download the two files I mentioned earlier as a starter.
Regards,
JohnG.

See you over at the MIDI lessons section.

[JazzCat]

I might try to get JazzCat's buy in too in case we need a middle eight or a fill or something.

-------------------------------

What do you mean John? You talking about possibly writing a section between the 2 files? If so, do me a favor and send the file directly to me and, if you don't mind, C/P the relevant posts into that e-mail. That way no one will have to wait as long for me to see what's going on here on the board.

[JohnG]

Hi JazzCat,
Thanks for your response.
As soon as we get to the point where we are getting close to needing (if we do) some kind of link measure between the two files I'll send you the files. I'll make sure I give you a good long period of notice before. Hope that's okay. Please also see my PM to you in the Mdimart PMs.

Best regards,
JohnG.