QTractor 0.7.9 Import MIDI file, track names are missing

27 December, 2016 - 04:05 — sfdadds

Wondering if my workflow is flawed.

I've created some MIDI tracks, set the track names and initial volume/pan as MIDI events
in each track (not automation). Plays fine. After editing, I export all MIDI tracks out to a
new file so all changes are back in one clean MIDI file.

Next, I create a new project and import the nice clean MIDI file back in. All seems to be
fine with the MIDI events, notes, volume and pan except the nice track names I used for
each track is replaced with the external file name like 'cleanMIDI'.

Am I missing something? When I open the MIDI file in hex editor the track names
are actually there.

Also, when using automation for MIDI volume/pan I notice new MIDI '*curve*' files being
created. Are these suppose to be separate files and if so can they be merge into the actual
track they belong to as MIDI events at some point?

I notice quite a few different files being created with MIDI automation and event editing.
I'm never sure if they are being combined with their track or always separate but, I rarely
see them go away when I use 'cleanup'.

I also like the archive feature since it seems to be able to detect which files are the latest
and actually needed.

Thanks.

Great stuff Rui!

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27 December, 2016 - 13:30 — rncbc

re. Import MIDI file, track names are missing

all your questions are considered normal behavior, so nothing is flawed on your side :)

MIDI tracks in qtractor timeline are not the very same as MIDI file tracks (SMF MTrk header chunk)--there's of course a mapping between qtractor MIDI tracks and MIDI file tracks and/or channels, which is not always a one-to-one (1:1) business, grossly depending on the SMF format type in effect on export time (see View > Options... > MIDI > Capture / Export > File format).

you can argue that on SMF Format 1, track names are actually set on the exported file (one MTrk chunk per channel), while they are not on SMF Format 0 files (one single MTrk chunk for all channels). however, qtractor creates one MIDI track for each MIDI channel that it finds present on an imported MIDI file, giving it always the same name derived from the base filename, no matter it's a SMF Format 0 or 1.

yes, qtractor stores its automation control data series in a pretty regular SMF, named after *curve*.mid files. so it stores automation data points as MIDI controller events alright but these are NOT performance data from MIDI clips on regular MIDI tracks: they're just control data and should be one "curve.mid" for each track, be that an audio or MIDI track, that has at least one automation curve defined.

and yes again, MIDI clip events, the so called performance data, are of course stored as SMF as well, but this time it's one .mid file at most per MIDI clip--as against to automation curve .id files which are exactly on a per track basis.

and finally, all this said normal behavior is not specific to qtractor 0.7.9: it's just like so for ages and keep counting :)

hth.
cheers

27 December, 2016 - 18:11 — sfdadds