How to turn existing midi tracks to virtual instruments?

[Don Schneider]

I just want to do something very simple, not happening.

1) Create empty project.
2) Import midi file from the net.
3) Turn the individual midi instruments into virtual instruments (Bass and Drums)
4) Delete the rest of the instruments and have the virtual instruments playing the midi notes.

ugh .... Help!

[scook]

Make sure there are no selections in MIDI output preferences then

1. Open (not import) a MIDI file
2. Make adjustments to the project as desired

 

[Don Schneider]

I had it going, now the bass and piano sounds stopped.

Every time I start the song from the beginning I lose Piano and Bass.

Ridiculous ....

Edited May 1, 2020 by Don Schneider

[John Vere]

My tutorials cover this exact topic. See video # 105  importing midi  

 

Edited May 15, 2022 by John Vere
Updated link

[Tezza]

I don't use midi tracks.

Create a virtual instrument track of whatever instrument you need and then drag the data onto that track from the midi track. Then delete the midi track(s)

[User 905133]

7 hours ago, Tezza said:

Create a virtual instrument track of whatever instrument you need and then drag the data onto that track from the midi track. Then delete the midi track(s)

EDIT: Originally I thought this was related to the original problem, but in retrospect, it is more of a distraction. Withdrawn, but left in as there are posts that reference this.

I am trying to understand how this workflow is supposed to work. Here's what I did:

1.  Open Cakewalk.
2. Open New / Empty Project.
3. Insert Soft Synth as an Instrument Track. [I used TTS-1 to test.]
4. Drop *.mid file onto Instrument Track. [I used an old project from 1999 which had been saved as a multi-track *.mid file.]
5. Delete all MIDI Tracks.

When I did step 5, all of the midi data from all of the tracks other than the first one disappeared and did not play.

                             

I tried using the "Make Instrument Track" command in several different ways without success.  

Edited May 1, 2020 by User 905133
to withdrawn the OT request for clarification

[Tezza]

When I import a GM midi file like you've done there, I end up with the same thing.  Cakewalk tends to open these kinds of midi files with the TTS already set up for each instrument anyway. I don't know what virtual instruments you have but the next step I would take would be to create an instrument track using NI Kontakt studio drummer VST. That will be a track that sits alongside the TTS multi instrument (not within it's instruments). Then I drag the midi data on the TTS track that says drums onto the studio drummer track and mute the midi track, you don't have to delete it straight away but you need to mute it.

Now when you play, the sound of the drums will come through the studio drummer track and not the TTS "drums" track. Then I'll edit as needed and then move on to the next instrument. Create a new instrument track with a bass instrument in it like the Amplesound P bass and then drag the midi data from the TTS track called "bass" to the new Amplesound bass instrument track and mute the TTS bass track. Edit as necessary and then move on to the next one. Is that what you are trying to do?

By midi data, I am referring to the event(s) on the track. Put the mouse over it click "alt", right click with mouse and hold down and drag the event to the new track.

If all you want is bass and drums then you would only have to do these steps and then you could delete everything else if you want.

Edited May 1, 2020 by Tezza

[James Argo]

If you want to use "drag and drop" method, then (to avoid confusing) make sure you insert soft synth NOT as simple instrument track.
Make sure you open the Insert Soft synth Options and select "Midi Source" and "First Synth Audio Output".

You will have 1 synth track and 1 empty MIDI track.

Then you drag the MIDI file into the empty MIDI track.

That's how to do it properly. Hope it helps.

[User 905133]

2 hours ago, James Argo said:

If you want to use "drag and drop" method, then (to avoid confusing) make sure you insert soft synth NOT as simple instrument track.
Make sure you open the Insert Soft synth Options and select "Midi Source" and "First Synth Audio Output".

You will have 1 synth track and 1 empty MIDI track.

Then you drag the MIDI file into the empty MIDI track.

That's how to do it properly. Hope it helps.

EDIT: Originally I thought this was related to the original problem, but in retrospect, it is more of a distraction. Withdrawn, but left in as there are posts that reference this.

I tried a number of options, including the ones below.

• Drop & Drag method - yes
• Not a simple instrument track - yes
• Midi Source - yes
• Fisrt Synth Audio Output - yes
• Drag the MIDI File into the empty midi track (I tried both track panes.) - yes

I keep getting all of the original MIDI tracks. The MIDI data disappears when I delete the MIDI tracks.

Have I missed a step to get this all-in-one method to work?

Edited May 1, 2020 by User 905133
to withdraw the OT request for clarification

[scook]

When adding the synth why bother adding a MIDI track if one already exists?

Add the synth and audio track, change the existing MIDI track output to the new synth.

The only synth insert method that requires adding a MIDI track is the add menu. In that case, deleting the new created MIDI track is almost as much work as dragging the MIDI data and there is still an extra MIDI track so why not delete the new MIDI track and reuse the existing one?

BTW, I recommended opening the MIDI file to preserve tempo data.

[Tezza]

I Just click the "+" button above the track headers to add track then in the pop up dialog box click "instrument" and add the instrument  you want to use and it's done. You now have an instrument track loaded and setup with the instrument you chose, you don't need to set up anything and you don't need another duplicate synth and midi track. Then drag the midi event from the TTS midi track to the Instrument track. The whole thing takes less than 15 seconds.

This is assuming that is what you want to do. Move the midi information from the TTS multi instrument tracks to dedicated instrument tracks.

[scook]

It could be the OP is not trying to use a different synth though.

This may require using the Event List View to remove patch info from the file along with changing the channel, bank and patch drop downs in the track inspector or track so the TTS-1 reassignments stick. I usually remove all this data and set the patches in the plug-in UI.

 

 

[User 905133]

This is way too complicated.  I will stick to my old school work flows because evidently there is no way I can drag and drop my old *.mid files without  Cakewalk opening up individual midi tracks (see image above).  Everybody else seems to avoid using midi tracks, but when I try the new-fangled methods, they make more work.

6 hours ago, Tezza said:

I don't use midi tracks.

Create a virtual instrument track of whatever instrument you need and then drag the data onto that track from the midi track. Then delete the midi track(s)

 

[User 905133]

1 minute ago, scook said:

This may require using the Event List View to remove patch info from the file along with changing the channel, bank and patch drop downs in the track inspector or track so the TTS-1 reassignments stick. I usually remove all this data and set the patches in the plug-in UI.

This is what I started to write up yesterday but I didn't want to go into the possible need to switch Workspaces if the OP was using Basic and therefore didn't have the Event List View.  

[scook]

Opening a MIDI file does not use instrument tracks so the solutions I recommend do not either. It is easy enough to create instrument tracks after the fact if that is the preferred layout but they offer little when working with MIDI files.

 

[Jonathan Sasor]

It seems like there might be a little confusion over the fundamental way that MIDI works in the context of CbB (or really any DAW). If you're dragging in a .mid file there's some noteworthy differences vs opening it as a file. Importing/drag + drop to an existing open project will start with a focused track and keep the existing project tempo. Opening a MIDI file as a project then retains the file's tempo settings. If you do not have a hardware MIDI port for output, CbB adds an instance of the TTS-1 so that you can hear anything (because raw MIDI data going anywhere without an audio output does not have a sound). 

Beyond this there's Instrument Tracks vs MIDI tracks, with the key difference being that all an Instrument track is being a combined single instance of a MIDI input that is internally routed to a synth, then internally routed back to the track which subsequently has the audio output. Separate MIDI and Audio Output tracks can be combined to create an Instrument Track. It's a convenience/simplicity thing when you don't need to really think about all that internal routing. There's no real advantage to using one or the other.

Back to the context of importing MIDI, when you get MIDI imported to a project, you can either output that to a virtual instrument, or drag and drop the MIDI data to a Instrument Track. Functionally it doesn't make a difference. In either case you've got a MIDI track component feeding the synth. 

Slightly more complicated in the context of multitimbral synths like the TTS-1 or Kontakt where you can have multiple MIDI tracks feeding a single synth instance that can have one or more audio outputs in a project. The core concept remains the same though, MIDI is sent to the synth instance which then gets outputted as audio.

 

TLDR version: if I wanted to import a MIDI file and end up with just the bass and drums on Instrument Tracks, I'd import the MIDI file, add the bass and drum synths as two separate instrument tracks, then drag and drop the MIDI I wanted onto those two tracks and delete the tracks I don't need. 

 

Further note: the import creates new tracks per channel in the MIDI file because it'd be very difficult to work with all the MIDI separately on a single track routing to different channels on a per note basis.

[scook]

9 minutes ago, User 905133 said:

This is what I started to write up yesterday but I didn't want to go into the possible need to switch Workspaces if the OP was using Basic and therefore didn't have the Event List View.  

What the OP wants to do may be outside the scope of the Basic workspace.

[scook]

13 minutes ago, Jonathan Sasor said:

If you do not have a hardware MIDI port for output, CbB adds an instance of the TTS-1 so that you can hear anything (because raw MIDI data going anywhere without an audio output does not have a sound). 

I wish this were the case. Unfortunately CbB does not discriminate between actual hardware and virtual MIDI cables in MIDI output preferences. This is why I asked about adding a switch in preferences to always open MIDI files with TTS-1.

[User 905133]

Opening a *.mid file also yields separate midi tracks.  I'm sticking with my old school methods since they work for me.  Sorry I asked about Tezza's workflow and tried to implement James Argo's suggestion.  Must be my aged computer and my aged brain.   ? 

Edited May 1, 2020 by User 905133
to add an emoji at the end

[scook]

Certain out of scope for this thread but...

Instrument tracks are convenient but hardly essential or a significant improvement over an audio+MIDI track pair.

There is one time I always use them and that is for "synth" plug-ins that produce no audio such as sequencers. For a "synth" to work in CbB it MUST have a output track.  To satisfy this requirement rather than create an audio track for "synth" plug-ins that produce only MIDI data, I use instrument tracks.