Where are the individual midi files you save in a project?

Cubase
#1

Are the midi files you save in a project embedded, or can you find them in a folder someplace?

I want to save out some midi riffs I’ve created to use them in other projects … sort of like my ‘roll your own’ Twiddly Bits. I’ve given the files all individual names, but not necessarily individual tracks in the project … some tracks have multiple files on the same track.

How can I do this? I couldn’t seem to find anything about it in the manual except for ‘Export midi file.’ But this seems to just create one giant type 0 or type 1 file according to the existing tracks in the project.

Como

#2

MIDI information is embedded in the project file, all you can do is export. I don’t think you can export individual MIDI parts in your project to individual files, maybe there’s some workaround, but you can’t do that directly as far as I know.

#3

Yes, Cean is correct…
Export MIDI File is the only way to go… but you can at least control what is included in the MIDI File…

  1. Muted Tracks/Parts will not be included (so you can just Solo the desired tracks, if that is easier)
  2. There is an option in Preferences>MIDI>MIDI File>“Export Locator Range”, so you can export just the desired Part.
    Unfortunately, there is no Batch Export available for MIDI Files, so if you want to export individual Parts, you’ll have to do each one separately.
#4

Thanks, amigos, for the unwelcome news!

You’ve thoroughly dashed my dreams of having a nice little folder of midi bits with various riffs that I could easily import into Cubase from time to time. I guess it’s ‘one at a time’ or not at all.

Anyway … it surprises me that I cannot find such a program or utility around … one that would take a type 0 or type 1 midi file and ‘dissolve’ it into independent midi files the way Cubase dissolves type 0 into type 1. I’ve spent hours crawling through the web looking for such a utility to no avail.

Can I really be the only one who ever wished for such a function?

And Vic … have there been past discussions about implementing something like batch exporting of all individually named midi files in a Cubase project?

Como

#5

You have to stop calling MIDI Parts (which is what I think you are referring to) MIDI Files :wink:. A standard MIDI File is a recognized format, which can be read by all MIDI applications, and is used to exchange MIDI data between them.
Way back, in the old Cubase VST app (of which the latest was Cubase VST_5), you could also save individual MIDI Parts (which could only be loaded back into Cubase).
In current versions of Cubase (in fact, since SX1) you can, however, Export Selected Tracks (which might get you nearer to what you are wanting to do :wink: ). When you then do “Import Track Archive”, the track comes back, exactly as you had exported it (individual Parts, mute status, etc… even the assigned MIDI inputs and outputs, if still available in the receiving Project).

#6

‘Namaste’ … I will think ‘midi parts,’ ‘midi parts,’ ‘midi parts!’ gentle Guru.

OK, what I have been doing is taking the midi track (or one channel of the midi file as depicted in the project window), chopping it, renaming the chopped sections to reflect the content/ purpose in the info line, editing them differently, and then rearranging them to taste on a bass line or drum track, for examples. And those ‘midi parts’ are what I wish I could conveniently export as my own indiviudal ‘twiddly bits.’ I do see how to do it, thank you, but I wish it were less cumbersome to do so.

But despite my less than stellar terminology regarding ‘midi parts,’ I still wish there was a utility that could strip a standard midi file, type 1 or 0, into individual midi files by track/ channel. So if the original smf had drums, bass, organ and rhythm guitar, for example, the utility would convert it into 4 separate one track/ channe smfs of each of the 4 channels in the original.

Como

#7

Well, if you save as Type 1, it re-imports as separate tracks per MIDI channel anyways, and, in Cubase, even if the file had been saved as a Type 0, there is an option in Preferences>MIDI>MIDI File>Import Options>“Auto Dissolve Format 0” :wink:. (but you do have to import the entire MIDI file)

#8

Yes, understood about how things work with midi file type in Cubase.

I was talking about a free standing 3rd party midi utility program. There are quite a few around that overlap with some of Cubase’s functions as well as provide other functions.

I just cannot find one that does what I would like.

Como

#9

Then it’s probably me who is misunderstanding…
Do you currently have all your “twiddly bits” inside the same Cubase Project? If so, why not simply open that Project (without activating it), and drag the desired MIDI Part into the Project that you are working on?

#10

Vic … that’s a very helpful suggestion! Instead of a folder, just build a project with all my ‘bits’ to use as a depository. Now I’m off to the manual to try and understand what ‘activating’ has to do with it!

But I think I’ll still start taking the time to export the best parts as individual files, muting all other tracks and using the ‘export locators range’ option.

In the end, to be able to audition them freely from media bay in context of a project will be a lot more workflow friendly.

Como

#11

“Activating”…
You can load several Projects simultaneously, but only one of them can be “active” at a time. So, the first Project you load is active automatically. When you load a subsequent Project, it ask you if you want to make it “the active one”.
So, if your “twiddly bits” Parts (hmm… sounds a bit pornographic, doesn’t it? :stuck_out_tongue: ) are in different Projects, you could use the same technique to drag all the desired Parts into the same “Twiddly Bit Library” Project.

#12

Actually, you can do this, but you have to do it in a rather haphazard way.
You can use ‘midi-loops’, which can be saved from your session as presets and imported via the media bay.
Midi loops are the same as midi parts, but with the above mentioned benefit of showing up in the media bay.

The unfortunate design flaw is that you can only export midi-loops from instrument tracks (don’t ask me why).
So what i tend to do (as I rarely if ever use instrument tracks) is create an empty one with no vsti assigned, and copy-drag any midi part I want to save for later onto there; then it can be exported via the file->export->midiloop command.

If I want to reuse it, I simply browse for midi-loops only in the media bay and can then re-import them.

My main use for it is to save sketches…

Hope that helps,

Joe

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#13

That’s an excellent method (another keeper :wink: ), Joe.
Thanks :slight_smile:

(and, Como, you can create Folders in MediaBay)

#14

Ahh ha! Another ‘unauthorized feature’ … instrument tracks without instruments for my work around.

Brilliant!

Thanks, Joe.

I’ll have a go at this later today.

Como

#15

It exports only the selected Part. Apparently, if you select more than one Part, it exports only the first one, unfortunately.

Also, when you save them without addding a VSTi to the instrument track, then they simply are played back like any other midi file by the default midi player used in Media Bay?

Unfortunately not. Unlike the MIDI Files, there is no way to assign a different Instrument to a MIDI Loop, AFAIK. (anyone found a way?)

#16

Thanks, Vic, as always!

But that’s a big ‘hmmmmmmmmm?’ If you can’t play back the midi-loop without the attached instrument, then what is the use of saving an instrument less midi-loop? You’d be unable to audition it in Media Bay in project context then, right?

That really cuts back on the usefulness.

Como

#17

Yes, but the starting point of all this, was that saving a MIDI Loop without an attached instrument was a bit of a hack anyways :wink:… but, so long as the original Part has a useful name, you can still just drag it to an instrument~ or MIDI track, and listen to it in the Project.
Maybe the idea of a “Library Project” will be the most efficient for you?

#18

You’re right, Vic … we’ve traveled almost all the way round the barn.

I think it’s time to begin a feature wish campaign to be able to select any midi part and export it as a midi file.

It would seem that if they can do this with midi-loops in instrument tracks, it couldn’t be that much more difficult to implement a similar feature saving the selected part to a new midi file.

What do you think? Is this something others would find useful? I’d think so with all the new softsynths that permit drag and drop of a midi file to create arp like play.

Como

#19

Well, I suppose you could speed up the export options via a macro (put that MIDI track into Solo, set L&R Locators to Part Boundary, etc.).
But, how would you want it to behave for multiple Parts (at different locations)? I seem to remember that, at the start of all this, you really wanted to export each Part separately, but as a batch function? Then how should it behave with a multi-track selection (at the same location)?
It is actually recognized MIDI File protocol to export everything available, unless specifically excluded, so, I think you should accept some compromise here :wink:.

#20

Excellent thread - I learned a lot and rate all Q&A 10/10 :stuck_out_tongue:

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