Request: Add track names to exported midi file

• Feb 13, 2020 - 14:51
Reported version
3.4
Type
Functional
Frequency
Once
Severity
S5 - Suggestion
Reproducibility
Always
Status
closed
Regression
No
Workaround
No
Project
MuseScore

Musescore does not assign instrument/staff names to exported midi tracks, which makes it difficult to handle Musescore midi files in other programs. When a Musescore midi file is imported into another application such Ableton, none of the tracks have original instrument names and so they are generically numbered (Track 1, Track 2, etc). Please consider updating Musescore so it saves staff/instrument names to midi tracks?

This link gives some tips on how it could be done:
Feature request: export track names when exporting MIDI file
https://musescore.org/en/node/275234#comment-978336

Comments

• Feb 17, 2020 - 14:07

I just compiled and tested your patch. It seems to work fine, but I have a question.

There are three names that could be considered the track name in MuseScore:

  • Part name
  • Long instrument name
  • Short instrument name

You've chosen to save the part name as the track name. How did you decide on this, and is it the choice that will match most users' expectations? Maybe some discussion is needed so that we can figure out which one would be best.

Reply

• Feb 17, 2020 - 15:16

I brought this up it mainly because when I tested the patch, my instinct was to edit the long instrument name, probably because it was visible directly on the score. I did so (without really thinking) and exported the MIDI file and then wondered why my edited name wasn't exported.

Now that I think about it, I think part name probably makes more sense, but it was initially surprising to me.

Reply

Fix version
3.5.0