MIDI File Manager?

[tommyzai]

I am looking for software that serves as a Midi File Manager, much like a Sample File Manager (Sononym, ADSR Sample Manager, Resonic, AudioFinder, etc.) with the ability to preview. It's a PITA dragging and dropping Midi loops into a DAW to preview. I have thousands of Midi loops of various kinds and need to find a way to preview them quickly.
Any thoughts are appreciated.

Note: I'm on a Mac. Not wanting to buy a specific DAW to do this . . . hoping there's a software thingy that will work out. Ableton live probably does this, but . . .

[EnGee]

Actually Ableton Live doesn't do this! Nor Bitwig or Logic!
To preview midi files, I bought a small utility from Apple store (when I had my M1 Air MacBook and Logic). Unfortunately, I don't remember its name but it's price was about $5 to $10.

Anyway, the DAWs that capable of midi preview by assigning a specific track to that midi file are: Cubase, Studio One and Reaper.

Not sure if you can use Finder directly, but I'm using now Windows Explorer directly to preview midi files using Microsoft GM built in utility.

[macmuse]

https://icedaudio.com/site/

AudioFinder. It will act as both an audio and a MIDI librarian where you can preview but it's a long time since I used it so I don't remember if it lets you set a default preview instrument (e.g. drums) so that the MIDI ones sound recognizable.

[DJ Warmonger]

I smell a niche here

[tommyzai]

https://icedaudio.com/site/

AudioFinder. It will act as both an audio and a MIDI librarian where you can preview but it's a long time since I used it so I don't remember if it lets you set a default preview instrument (e.g. drums) so that the MIDI ones sound recognizable.

That would be sweet if it could do both . . . without any workarounds.

[zzz00m]

That would be sweet if it could do both . . . without any workarounds.

The catch to previewing a MIDI clip, is that generic MIDI clips do not contain any actual audio information about how the clip needs to sound, or what instrument to use, when played back.

The best effort was a standard called General MIDI (GM) that was created decades ago. It called for pre-assigned instruments in a preset bank in the range of presets #0-127, typically a sound font or a GM synth module bank. The MIDI tracks could then be tagged with the instrument the creator used for a given track, so when the MIDI was played back by another user, similar GM standard instruments could be assigned for playback.

But beyond GM, you would need to know what instruments to assign to get proper results. GM used MIDI channel 10 as default for drums, with specific note assignments mapped to kit pieces. Various drum plugins use all sorts of drum maps. You would need a specific from/to drum map to accurately translate to the kit you have loaded.

The other instruments besides drums are another issue.

The DAWs that allow built-in MIDI preview require that you assign an instrument to the preview track. So you really need to know in advance what sound to target.

I suppose this is a niche for someone to create an AI that is partly clairvoyant.

Final thoughts: MIDI clips that ship with instruments are usually dedicated to the product they were created on. Easiest to keep them organized that way. But trying to assemble a huge monolithic collection of MIDI clips is likely to break that connection, if you select from that collection at random. That works fine with audio one-shots and loops, but with MIDI it's a different story.

[mcbpete]

[zzz00m]

[maanga]

Hi, Most of the multi channel midi files contain instrument and channel information and these can be played in any midi player.
If the file is a single instrument without channel information, the player will play only the piano even if the track is drums.
Keep this in mind.
Regards.

[sticop]

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Check out MIDI Xplorer at www.midixplorer.com (http://www.midixplorer.com) - works great! Was able to import my midi files and preview them in Logic Pro

[Housemus]

I really love MidiBro as a MIDI Manager. The developer is also very friendly and open for suggestions. It is now on version 1.4.

https://www.midibro.de/

The YouTube videos on the website give a good impression of its capabilities.