Tilia, I can't analyze this in detail but I can tell you this. Downloaded midi files can be excellent or pure crap. Understand you're not paying for professional midi's these are just created by somebody who decided to put it up on the internet and then it gets copied and changed by who knows how many other people until the thing is all over the place. A lot of those files are done by people who know less about midi than you do. A quick fix might be to search for another version of that same song. That version might play perfect.

Here is one easy example of a problem with a midi file and that is bass parts. A bass guitar only goes down to the low E but of course there are 5 string basses that go past that to the low B. Synths are sample based and most bass samples only go to the low E but better quality synths will have bass samples that go to the B that will be called 5 string bass. If you have a midi file that was created using a synth that has the low B and your synth only goes to the low E you get no sound below the E. Same thing for all instruments.

If your track is out of the normal range for that instrument you hear nothing for those notes. You said vibes is on that melody track. Suppose the original instrument used for the melody was not vibes but something else that has a different range? Maybe the original version of that midi track had a trumpet or a flute for the melody? This is what I meant about downloaded midi files. The original creator of that midi did it using his synth. You don't have his synth so the sound can be all messed up.

To a person new to midi you might think a synth is a synth is a synth. Not so at all. They are all different. I should mention GM vs non GM. This is a whole subject by itself. Biab is GM based but will work with non GM parts but that requires some work on your part. The Wavetable and the TTS-1 are both GM synths but if the midi file is not GM then everything can be messed up.

I have lots of midi files that are basically good but needed changes precisely because of differences between synths, midi channels, volumes, all kinds of things. This is very common and is another reason why you have to go to school and learn all about midi. It's not automatic like you load it up and just hit play. It's not that easy in many cases. Sometimes you get lucky but many times not.

I seriously doubt this problem is with Biab itself and Biab is not the program to use with midi files anyway, you want to use Real Band for that. RB will open the midi file up with each part on it's own track and you can see the whole thing displayed right in front of you. Then you can generate individual Biab parts as needed again with each part on it's own track. You then can mute a midi track and listen to the Biab track and just do that and mix and match your original midi tracks with different Biab tracks until you get the sound you want. RB is much, much better for that than Biab by itself is.

One more thing that beginners never understand. BIAB HAS NO SOUND OF IT'S OWN. It creates midi parts and you provide the midi synth to play those parts. A synth can be cheap like the TTS-1 or expensive like a $3,000 professional keyboard and lots of others in between those prices. The more money you spend, the better the sound. PG does not provide a midi synth other than the very basic Wavetable and they don't really provide that, Microsoft does, it comes with every copy of Windows. All PG does is provide some code so it plays with Biab. The Wavetable sound is really only meant for your computer's notifications like the bleeps when you open your email or things like that. PG only provides that so users can at least hear something when they first install Biab. Virtually all users have their own synths to use with Biab.

Real Tracks are not midi, they are audio files and Biab does not write or create the RT's they are prerecorded audio files. Completely different from midi tracks.

Bob

Last edited by jazzmammal; 08/17/14 12:18 AM.
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