Originally Posted by tony10000
I just upgraded my BIAB to 2024 after probably a few decades.

Here are my initial discoveries:

1. I have been trying to find other options for General MIDI but CoyoteWT seems to be the only reliable and stable option. I have played with SynthFont and get these crazy cascading Access Violation errors and have to kill BIAB (Windows 11). I also tried using Halion Sonic and the latest version is VST3 only (BIAB is VST2) and the 3.5 version does not seem to see or load the GM set. I tried
to use the VST3 host and no bueno.

2. When transferring Type 1 MIDI files to my DAWs, I found the auto volume setting and auto patch change pretty annoying. I could turn of CC control in Kontakt 7 (that fixed the volume problem), but the patch change problem was still there. I could only fix it by editing the MIDI file in Reaper and deleting the header.

3. To my surprise, when I drag and dropped a type 1 MIDI file into Cubase, it opened up Halion Sonic and loaded the correct instruments immediately. Very smooth experience. Studio One also did the same thing with its MIDI player. Impressive.

4. I am still trying to figure out a workflow and would like to employ Scaler 2 as well. The only thing that seems to work is to save a chord progression created in Scaler 2 and export the MIDI file and import it into BIAB.

5. MIDI is really challenging but Real Tracks are more straightforward. I can see why people have gravitated toward them. But I want to use MIDI tracks with my arsenal of synths and samplers.

More to come...

I have been doing more testing today and believe I have found the solution to the workflow issues. I have been working with the BIAB VST3 plugin and have been able to easily drag and drop both clean MIDI files and audio files into my DAWs.

As a result, I don't have to mess around with the GM player or deal with file export/import anomalies.

Next, I will work on integrating it with Scaler and Unify.

Thanks for the comments and the help!

Writer. Author. Music Producer. Technologist. Former contributor to Mix, Electronic Musician, Recording, Cleveland SCENE.
www.tonythomas.net