Really basic midi question

[LiveMusic]

I obviously don't know much. Downloaded a few midi files. I play them on my Yamaha PSR740 and the voices, especially, the melody, sounds like a cheapo kid's casio keyboard. I barely know how to spell midi. My Yamaha uses what, general midi and also something called XG? Am I supposed to do something with a midi file once I get it? Well, the melody, I don't need that, for sure, so I can mute that, as I will sing the melody. But am I supposed to reassign voices or what to make it sound like a real song? I hope to find some relatively realistic midi files so I can play them in my Yamaha and play my guitar and sing over them.

[michael saulnier]

Duke, If you get MIDI software and a MIDI interface, then connect them via MIDI from your computer to your keyboard... you can then delete the parts of the MIDI files that you want to play live yourself, and change the sounds on the ones that sound "wrong" to you. You'll see when you open the MIDI file in the software that all the different "sounds" will be on their own track which you can then edit, add to, delete or whatever. You can also add your own tracks by playing and then saving your new stuff. General Midi (GM), and XG are "standards" that have evolved. GM sounds are designed to be the same on any GM compatable MIDI device, XG is Yamaha's set of standard sounds. But the GM and XG sounds are usually the lowest common denominator set in your keyboard. You can usually benefit from changing the patch settings to different ones in your synth. You probably have many sounds not found in the main GM set. A few other points about MIDI files you find for free on the net. They are typically written by amateur players, so they may or may not be very similar to the actual song, they commonly use some tones to mimic the words and melody, they often use sax or something for guitar sounds and generally are not all that usuable as is for what you're planning. Expect to spend a bit of time working out your own arrangements from the MIDI files you find. For more on MIDI stuff, you might ask your question on the Keyboard forum... just to get a few more replies. cat-o-nine

[LiveMusic]

Thanks! My Yamaha has 16 track recording, so there is probably a way to change the voice that's playing on each track. What I'd really rather do is find high-quality midi's in the first place. What I've been doing is recording my own stuff, so a combo of the two will probably do. Sure is time consuming being a moosician!

[chedrob]

Live Music Check out [url=http://xgmidi.wtal.de/start.html]Michael\'s XG Page[/url] It has some great MIDI files voiced for Yamaha XG synths. It has links and is a great place to start.