Midi File - can't change the tempo when played on another device

Is this possible? I wanted a backing track of Miles Davis' "So What", and then saved it as a midi file.

We played the midi file through my keyboard player's Casio but he found that though he could adjust the volume levels of the various tracks or elements in the midi file, he could not change the tempo.

This seemed kind of surprising. Or is it? Or is there some way to unlock the tempo in the midi file?

pete in oakland, ca

Hi Pete

It sounds like the tempo is written in the file. This is normal. That's why MIDI files that one downloads from the internet play at the right speed without adjustments.

I'm guess that it's possible to remove this MIDI tempo information in a program that edits MIDI. Realband will probably do it (I've never tried). Audacity might also do it.

Regards,
Noel

I would suspect that the problem is in the Casio keyboard.

The first thing I would do is try the MIDI file in a sequencer/DAW (Real Band would work just fine) and see if the tempo can be changed.

Then try other MIDI files in the Casio that are not made with the Casio and see if the tempo can be changed.

That would confirm or negate my suspicion and perhaps point to the problem.

Insights and incites by Notes

I have changed many BiaB tempos in Studio One Pro, thus the tempo is not locked when exported from BiaB.

OK, thanks to '"Note" Norton and MarioD. Other than my BIAB being an elderly vers. (2008), there's no reason to think the tempo is locked in the midi file.

We'll try some digging into the Casio.

pete

Is the Casio picking up the correct tempo from the midi file when the midi file is first loaded into the Casio? Or is the Casio starting at its default tempo? Is the Casio programmed for computer control (sometimes called remote control)?

In some software DAWs you have to select extra import options for MIDI files to get the tempo (changes especially).
I found out with Cubase it's called "import markers".

Yes, the Casio keyboard IS playing the midi file at the tempo I set in BIAB.

We'll check on the Casio's computer/remote control setting.

pete