MIDI files
PrintMusic both imports and exports standard
MIDI files. A MIDI file has a format that can be understood by music programs
from different companies, including most sequencer programs. If you prefer
to compose by improvising in your favorite sequencer, you could save your
piece as a standard MIDI file and let PrintMusic notate it for you.
When you save a MIDI file, PrintMusic saves
the instrument name (from the Instrument List) as the track name. When
you open a MIDI file, PrintMusic uses the track name as the staff name
(which appears in the Staff Attributes dialog box).
To import a MIDI file
To create the MIDI file, follow your sequencer’s
instructions.
- From
the MIDI menu, choose Quantization Settings. The Quantization Settings
dialog box appears.
- Click
the icon representing your smallest note value. This is the smallest
note value PrintMusic will round to while importing the file.
- Select Tuplets
if your MIDI file contains any triplets, quintuplets, etc.
- Select Tie
Syncopations if your MIDI file contains rhythms that extend over primary
beats.
- Click OK.
- Choose
Open from the File menu. The Open dialog box appears. Two file types are listed in the Format popup
menu at the bottom of the window.
- Click
MIDI File. The names of any available MIDI files appear in the
list box.
- Double-click
the desired document name. PrintMusic transcribes the MIDI File
into standard notation. If you discover that your settings weren’t quite
right, you can close the new PrintMusic document and try again—the original
MIDI file is unaffected by PrintMusic’s transcription efforts.
To export a MIDI file of the entire document
- Make
sure that you have assigned Instruments correctly (one for each resultant
sequencer track). When PrintMusic creates a MIDI sequencer file,
it places the music you’ve assigned to each Instrument in the Instrument
List dialog box in a separate sequencer track. Therefore, make sure the
Instrument configuration is set up the same way you want the resultant
tracks set up. See Instrument
Lists for further instructions.
- Choose
Save As from the File menu. The Save As dialog box appears.
- From
the Format popup menu, choose Standard MIDI File,
and enter a title in the text box. Note, too, that you don’t have
to click anything if you add the suffix “.MID” (including the period)
at the end of the title, as in “Overture.MID”; if you do this, PrintMusic
automatically saves your document as a MIDI file.
- Click
Save (or press return).
