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MIDI files

SongWriter both imports and exports standard MIDI files. A MIDI file has a format that can be understood by music programs from different companies, including most sequencer programs. If you prefer to compose by improvising in your favorite sequencer, you could save your piece as a standard MIDI file and let SongWriter notate it for you.

When you save a MIDI file, SongWriter saves the instrument name (from the ScoreManager) as the track name. When you open a MIDI file, SongWriter uses the track name as the staff name (which appears in the Staff Attributes dialog box).

To import a MIDI file

To create the MIDI file, follow your sequencer’s instructions.

  1. From the MIDI Menu, choose Quantization Settings. The Quantization Settings dialog box appears.
  2. Click the icon representing your smallest note value. This is the smallest note value SongWriter will round to while importing the file.
  3. Select Tuplets if your MIDI file contains any triplets, quintuplets, etc.
  4. Select Tie Syncopations if your MIDI file contains rhythms that extend over primary beats.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Choose Open from the File Menu. The Open dialog box appears. Two file types are listed in the Format popup menu at the bottom of the window.
  7. Click MIDI File. The names of any available MIDI files appear in the list box.
  8. Double-click the desired document name. SongWriter transcribes the MIDI File into standard notation. If you discover that your settings weren’t quite right, you can close the new SongWriter document and try again—the original MIDI file is unaffected by SongWriter’s transcription efforts.

To export a MIDI file of the entire document

  1. Make sure that you have assigned Instruments correctly (one for each resultant sequencer track). When SongWriter creates a MIDI sequencer file, it places the music you’ve assigned to each Instrument in the Instrument List dialog box in a separate sequencer track. Therefore, make sure the Instrument configuration is set up the same way you want the resultant tracks set up. See Instrument Lists for further instructions.
  2. Choose Save As from the File Menu. The Save As dialog box appears.
  3. From the Format popup menu, choose Standard MIDI File, and enter a title in the text box. Note, too, that you don’t have to click anything if you add the suffix “.MID” (including the period) at the end of the title, as in “Overture.MID”; if you do this, SongWriter automatically saves your document as a MIDI file.
  4. Click Save (or press return).

 

 

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