Selecting Patches for Audition of MIDI Files

In the case where a MIDI file is selected, a display is provided with some MIDI file information including the type of MIDI file, then number of notes in the file, the channels used, and whether program-changes are included or not.

Files that are created for the General MIDI specification will often have programs (banks and patch information) provided to select the instrument. There might also be cases where a MIDI file intended for a specific synth will have patches for that synth. In the absence of any patch-change information, then it is necessary to choose a suitable synthesizer (or patch on the synthesizer) so the correct sound (or an approximation of it) is heard.

For this purpose, there is a small button in the bottom-right corner that allows you to show the audition synthesizer’s GUI:

NOTE: This button is grayed out and does not become active until you audition (play) the selected clip for the first time.

Each audition synth will have its own unique control panel. In the case of the default synth, GMSynth, this displays a grid of 16 buttons, each button indicating a patch selection for the 16 channels:

In the GMSynth, each MIDI channel selection offers a HUGE selection of patches to pick from.

*why do my MIDI files sound different when I select them? some midi files have program-changes (patch changes) embedded in them, and others do not. This can result in cases where a midi file sounds like piano (for example) while another .mid file (with patch-changes) sets the channel to use a drum patch. Returning to the prior file (the one without any of its own patch changes), it might now sound like drums instead of piano. By displaying the GMSynth’s GUI, you can see the selected patches, and you can see when a midi file sets its own patch.

! if a .mid file has patches defined for its channels, you will see the GMSynth’s settings change to match the file’s settings. You cannot override those settings. But when you drag the clip to a track, you can override its patch settings per-slot, per-channel.

! if you are using a synth other than GMSynth, you should check the product’s manual to see which channel(s) it responds to, and whether it responds to program-changes or not. You might need to disable program-changes in your synth’s control panel, and/or tell it to accept or ignore individual channels.

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