Exporting to midi file converts the instruments into only a piano. Why is that happening?

[Eyron Denelle Araza]

Hello! I'm a new user here and new to using cakewalk as well. I finished composing a song and when I exported to or save as a midi file and opened it, it makes all the instruments into a piano and they sound like they're clashing together, I don't know why? I used a VST plugin called sforzando for the instruments. The reason why I'm exporting to midi is because I want to use that midi file to a midi visualiser software. I'm hoping for a fix to this problem, thanks!

[reginaldStjohn]

Midi does't contain the sounds to use when being played back only the notes.  The midi channel and perhaps some patch changes can help an instrument know what sounds to play but that depends on the sound module to which you direct the midi notes.

In Cakewalk you set up the sforzando instrument to play certian sounds when it recieved midi.  To do this outide of cakewalk your midi file would have to be played back by an instrument that was setup to listen on the same midi channel for each track and play back the desired sound.

General Midi defined some midi channels and patches that would be consistent across all instruments if the instrument was general midi (GM) compatible.  That way, for example, if you set up the TTS synth, which I believe is GM capable, in Cakewalk and sent the correct patch changes to the synth in each track and had each track using a different midi channel, then in therory you could play back your midi file in windows, which would use the default Windows Synth, to play back the midi file and it would sound at least similiar.

Thats about as deep as my knowlege goes on this.

[Byron Dickens]

Only disagreement I have is that if you don't have an audio interface that supports ASIO, you need to get one. Stay away from ASIO4ALL. It tends to be problematic.

[Byron Dickens]

 

[57Gregy]

I'm pretty sure it's the channel assignments. The default patch is piano. If no channel or patch is selected, you would hear piano in a MIDI file, regardless of the soft synth you used while recording. And as mentioned above, the MIDI file doesn't remember what soft synth you used when recording, so will default to a General MIDI synth such as your computer's Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth on playback.
Welcome to the forum.