Hello. I am a complete newb with Cubase, and a novice in music production in general. And I apologize if a question like this has already been asked somewhere. I have a midi file of a song. The vocal track is currently set to Alto Sax. I can pick another voice and play it, but as soon as I hit stop it reverts to the alto sax. How do I make changes permanent?
The reason this is happening is because the MIDI File you are playing has a MIDI Program Change Message in it. These are used to set a MIDI VSTi (Virtual Instrument) to a specific preset. So every time you play the file it sets the preset back to the unwanted Sax.
To fix this you should delete the Program Change Message. The easiest way to do this is to use the MIDI List Editor. Most likely the message will be near the top of the list. If you have a hard time finding it, the List Editor will let you filter out MIDI Note Messages making it easier to see.
These Program Change Messages are common in 3rd Party MIDI Loops & Clips. For MIDI recorded within Cubase you won’t get Program Changes unless you go out of your way to specifically create them.
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Raino, thanks so much for replying. I’m using Elements 10, and I can’t seem to locate the List Editor. Where might I find it?
Wow, it seems the List Editor isn’t included in Elements (see Sequencer section). That seems an odd one to skip.
In any case you can do this in the Key Editor - it’s just a bit more clunky.
By default the Articulation Lane at the bottom of the Key Editor shows Velocity but you can change this to show Program Change and then delete the Program Change Message
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