Scotopia Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hello All, I ran across something strange after my first attempt at importing a preexisting midi file. I went to File->Import and then selected MySong.mid; Logic read the data and put each instrument on its own channel and everything looked good except for the fact that the tempo wasn't retained (easily fixed) and the midi region for each instrument's data was White (instead of the usual green); and I don't mean grayed out because it's muted (they are not muted). I also noticed that something is different about these regions compared to one I'd record with logic as normal, notably if I hit "a" to turn automation on, and I click inside the region it doesn't create any nodes or do anything at all. Just to verify I created a new software instrument track with the same instrument as one that was read in on import, and that was green and could be automated just fine. All settings seem to be identical for the white and green region so I'm not sure whats going on. Has anyone experienced this before? Sorry if this is a silly questions, I'm still very new; thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I went to File->Import and then selected MySong.mid; Logic read the data and put each instrument on its own channel and everything looked good except for the fact that the tempo wasn't retained That's the expected behavior when importing a MIDI file into an existing session. If you wanted to retain the original tempo of the MIDI file, try opening the file instead. the midi region for each instrument's data was White (instead of the usual green) Nothing unexpected so far. A MIDI region can be of any color you choose, it just so happens that the default color for a software instrument track is green, and the default color for the tracks when importing MIDI files are white. I also noticed that something is different about these regions compared to one I'd record with logic as normal, notably if I hit "a" to turn automation on, and I click inside the region it doesn't create any nodes or do anything at all. "A" turns on track automation view. This automation type is not related to the regions on the track, so your regions have nothing to do with this issue. It sounds to me like you're trying to use Track Automation on an external MIDI track. What are you trying to automate exactly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotopia Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 Thanks David, I didn't know that about the colors, and now what you said about the tempo seems stupidly obvious now that you say it; thanks! I was just trying to automate the volume (fading in). I'm still not quite sure what I'm doing wrong as far as being unable to automate; is it because the imported midi tracks are "external" as you said? (again, sorry for my newbishness; I'm playing with it now also to try to figure it out on my own). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotopia Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 I noticed more strangeness that perhaps you can clear up. Based on what you said I just "Opened" the midi file; and it properly retained the tempo as you said, but then, even though each instrument came in on a separate track (as with the import), they all got mapped to "Grand Piano" instead of the proper instruments (which did work on the import), and there were 11 extra tracks created with no midi regions on them (but ironically assigned to a variety of instruments). A little confused Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 You should still be able to view and edit the volume automation lane. What happens if you zoom in on the track? Did you try zooming in vertically? You could also select the track and turn on Auto-Zoom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotopia Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 I see what it is; I hadn't selected "Volume" in the "what are you automating" (whatever that's called) box on the channel strip. It seems when you import midi it defaults to blank there (whereas when not imported when you make a new software instrument track it defaults to "volume"). Still doesn't explain the weird shenanigans about the bizarro extra tracks though, and why opening maps everything to Grand Piano (see above). Thanks, so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotopia Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 Now it seems the only issue I have remaining is the strange behavior on opening the midi file (as opposed to import). The midi file in question has 6 instrument tracks. When the midi is imported into an existing project this info goes to 6 tracks in logic assigned to appropriate instruments. When the midi file is just opened however, these 6 tracks are all assigned to Grand Piano (though the midi note data is correct) and in addition there are 11 more tracks with no midi regions, assigned to seemingly random instruments. Any ideas what causes this? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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