Problem rendering midi file in traktion?

[ShaolinDrunkard]

Hey guys,

Got a problem. I made this classical piece, and I was going to render it to a midi file in traktion, but after it renders, it never shows up. I've tried changing the destination folder, but no matter what I do it says its rendering and when its done, nothing.

Anyony else have this problem?

[SynDrone]

Make sure you check "pass midi data through filters" when you press the "export midi" button and that should do the trick.

[IIRs]

Only MIDI that arrives at a MIDI out is included in the export: you may need to re-route your tracks if you were using VSTi's..

[Graeme]

I was going to render it to a midi file in traktion

Ermmm... did you really mean this?

You can't 'render' an audio file to midi - which is what the question implies.

[IIRs]

where did he say it was audio?

[Graeme]

where did he say it was audio?

He didn't.

What he did say was "I made this classical piece, and I was going to render it to a midi file in traktion" - which simply makes no sense at all, although the implication (stated in this way) is the original file is audio.

If it started out as a midi file and he wants to render it to audio, then he merely got it wrong, but if it started out as an audio file, then he has a misunderstanding of the process.

Either way, it made sense to clarify the question before we started chasing red herrings.

[IIRs]

the implication (stated in this way) is the original file is audio.

Not to me it isn't "Made this classical piece" to me implies postioning notes on a piano roll to trigger multisamples.. not sure how else you would do it to be honest, certainly not by mashing up two existing pieces

Just in case though, ShaolinDrunkard: audio parts can not be exported as MIDI unless you first work out the notes and re-create them as a MIDI clip.

[Lunch Money]

I agree with IIRs-- it's implied that the original file is MIDI. But, I also agree that it's worded poorly, because you won't be 'rendering' it further as MIDI. When you render something, you are turning it into Audio.

What is the MIDI device being used? If you're using any sort of outboard sound module (including General MIDI sounds on a soundcard's 'synth') you can't just render the track and expect to get anything out of it. In cases where you have an external sound module, you need to route the audio back into the sequencer.

An analogy:

You're a guitar player and you record your parts clean but you want to use your Marshall Stack to do the distortion on them. So, you take an output from your soundcard, and send it to the Marshall Stack instead of just to your main mix/studio monitors. It gets all nice and distorted and sounding exactly how you want.

So, you press 'render'. The track isn't going to have the Marshall Stack on it! You haven't "brought it back" to the sequencer after distorting it! You need to mic the stack up and re-record the newly distorted part as a separate track.

Greg

[IIRs]

Where does the Marshall Stack come into this? Its a "classical" piece, the poor man probably just wants a standard MIDI file he can import into Sibelius or something..

btw Greg, Tracktion also refers to exporting MIDI as "Rendering"..

[Lunch Money]

Bah, you and I are getting 2 different things out of this.

I'm assuming he wants to take his track, created in MIDI, and render it to audio; however, he's unable to because he's using outboard sounds. THAT's where the Marshall stack comes into it.

No need to shut me down for being helpful.

That's dumb that Tracktion refers to exporting MIDI as rendering. It's clearly not a render. When you make graphics using vectors and maths, the render is when the maths are... rendered! into a final visible graphic. By the same token, in Tracktion a render should be when the 'maths' are turned into a final audio product.

Don't blame ME because Tracktion's using the wrong word.

[Beno]

Well it does take maths to combine a bunch of midi tracks into one midi file. So I'm not sure rendering is the wrong word.
Ben

[IIRs]

I'm assuming he wants to take his track, created in MIDI, and render it to audio; however, he's unable to because he's using outboard sounds. THAT's where the Marshall stack comes into it.

However, as he specifically states that he wishes to render a MIDI file, I am assuming that you're wrong..

No need to shut me down for being helpful.

When you are helpful*, I don't shut you down

* which is most of the time of course!

[Lunch Money]

It's just a matter of missing one word.

I read "I want to render a MIDI file"

when it was actually "I want to render TO a MIDI file"

Simple misreading. Sorry for any confusion.

----

Regarding the word "render", I'll admit that it's a grey area with no absolutely true right or wrong, but I still think it's inaccurate or poor terminology to use "render" for combining multiple individual MIDI files into one MIDI file, because the end result is not the 'final' product which is Audio.

Sure, there are maths involved, but it's not really the math that makes it a render, it's the taking a math and producing a different output from it. Exporting a MIDI file is more like changing

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4

into

(1 + 1) + (1 + 1) = 4



But like I said, it's not strictly the presence of maths that makes it a render. Back to the graphics analogy, if I take a 3D vector drawing done in CorelDraw and export it into a standard 3D CAD file so that my friend with TurboCad can use it, I haven't rendered the file, I've exported it. If I click the option to take away the "wireframe" and add my colours and textures, giving me the actual final 3D picture, I've rendered it. Then I might choose to export it as a JPG or whatever, but it's still a rendered product at the end.

Sorry for being so verbose on such an unimportant thing. I just have no life and very little money right now after my move. Small things keep me amused....

Greg

[IIRs]

Well.. in my line of work, the MIDI file often is the end product for which I charge the client.

Anyway.. a MIDI export may take multiple MIDI clips, and permanently apply non-destructive changes such as quantise & groove, along with any realtime processing from MIDI plugs.. sounds like a render to me!

[IIRs]

.. anyway, a classical musician may regard the sheet music as the "final product" .. and may need the MIDI export to get around Tracktion's (merciful) lack of score editing features.