LH and RH separated in MuseScore but not when played on keyboard
Hello everyone,
Some of my MIDIs (e.g. this one: http://www.abcmusical.com.br/midi/Chopin-Nocturne_20.mid) appear to have correctly-separated left and right hand parts when I open up the MIDI in MuseScore, yet all notes appear only in the RH when I load the file to my Casio keyboard.
Can anyone suggest how the MIDI needs to be transformed in order for the two staves/tracks of the MIDI to also be recognised by the keyboard as a LH and a RH part?
Many thanks!
Comments
Which Casio keyboard???
In reply to Which Casio keyboard??? by ChurchOrganist
Sorry - it's a Casio LK-215
In reply to Sorry - it's a Casio LK-215 by longtalker
Is the file Mid 1 or Mid 0?
In reply to Is the file Mid 1 or Mid 0? by xavierjazz
I tried both (initially it was type 1, I then converted to type 0) - made no difference, it's probably due to the way that notes are split into the two channels/tracks that the keyboard interprets as being the LH and the RH
In reply to I tried both (initially it by longtalker
The way MuseScore assigns channels is by starting with the first instruments in the score as channel 1 then moving down the instruments assigning the next higher channel.
Your keyboard has an assignable "Navigate channel" as explained on page 37 of your keyboard's manual. Apparently RH notes are played from the Navigate channel and LH notes from the next lowest channel.
So RH notes would be on Channel 2 (say) and LH notes on Channel 1
It is possible to get MuseScore to split Right and Left hand parts by using two single staves in the create instruments dialogue, but the channels will be assigned the wrong way round.. SO you will need to load the SMF to a sequencer to reassign the channels before playing on your keyboard.
HTH
Michael
In reply to The way MuseScore assigns by ChurchOrganist
Thanks Michael, I did some experimenting here and you are spot on with the channels.
I realised that whether all notes are piled up in a single stave (as in the attached "unseparated.mid") or in the two staves (united with curly brackets) of the same instrument ("separated,curly bracket.mid" attached), in both cases the keyboard will put all notes in the RH, whereas the previous Navigation Channel is empty and does *not* contain the notes of the LH, as expected, nor is it the other way around.
It is only with MIDIs such as "separated,different instruments.mid", which are based on a template that someone kindly created for me here on the forum a while ago, with two separate staves corresponding to two different instruments, that the two hands are correctly separated, each in its own channel (whether the wrong way around or not - it doesn't really matter).
My MIDIs are all downloaded from the kunstderfuge.com database of classical piano MIDIs, and the majority of them are either of the first type (unseparated) or the second type (separated staves of the same instrument). So the question for me is how to convert those MIDIs to the third category: separated staves corresponding to 2 separate instruments. Is that possible do you think, or will I have to do it all manually?..
Thanks again for your help.
In reply to Thanks Michael, you are spot by longtalker
Any reasonable sequencer software should enable you to assign a channel to each MIDI track.
It's simply a question of loading it into the sequencer assigning the channels appropriately then re-saving the SMF
I don't know what platform you are on, but there seem to be very few Open Source Sequencer projects for Windows. There are Rosegarden for Linux and Ardour for Linux/Mac which are both mature open source sequencers.
Or you can consult the list here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_MIDI_editors_and_sequencers
I have just downloaded the freeware version of Anvil Studio and that will do the job for you. Interestingly the main program is free but limited in what it can do, but is expandable by buying extra modules to enable more features.
http://www.anvilstudio.com/
HTH
MIchael
In reply to Any reasonable sequencer by ChurchOrganist
Does MuseScore not qualify for this task, or is not a 'sequencer' in the real sense of the word? It appears to be in the Wikipedia list you linked to..
I must confess I'm not sure I understand how a sequencer would separate notes that are clustered together in a single stave in two different staves, that would eventually be my keyboard's LH and RH. You say that the task is "to assign a channel to each MIDI track", however I don't think the MIDI tracks are separated at all in the examples I gave, and thus the task of separating them would be have to be non-automatised one, i.e. someone going through the piece note by note and deciding which note belongs to the LH and which to the RH
Or have I got smth wrong here?...
In reply to Does MuseScore not qualify by longtalker
MuseScore is notation software, designed to produce scores for musicians to play from.
It can be used to manipulate MIDI files, but it's natural file format is MusicXML.
A sequencer is specifically designed to manipulate MIDI data, which MuseScore is not.
In most sequencers it is possible to move notes from one track to another - in some (sonar 3 for example) this being simply a case of drag and drop.
You can usually also set a split point (middle C for example) and display all notes above that on the upper of a dual stave system and all notes below that on the lower stave.
It is then easy to drag select one or other stave and cut and paste to a different track.
MuseScore also has this ability, but I have never experimented with it.
HTH
Michael