MIDI file Confusion/Help...???

C

Chew_Bear

New member
This is really pissing me off and I hope someone in here can explain whats going on.

When I download some sample packs....I receive 2 'VERY DIFFERENT' kinds of midi files.

And yet...ABLETON can only read/play 1 of them and NOT the other...?!?!?! WHAT...?!?!?

So...as far as I know...There are only 2 kinds of midi files....

A. A Midi file with a .MID extension/identifier.

Windows identifies it as a 'Itunes Music Player type'....and gives it a 'Itunes Icon'.

....And than there is.....

B. A midi file with a .MIDI extension/identifier.

Windows identifies it as a 'Midi Sequence type'....and gives it a 'Windows Media Player Icon'.

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My version of ableton can 'ONLY' read/play the .MID file extension with the Itunes icon/type.

Basically...I can drag the .MID files directly into the session/arrangement view, onto a midi track and ableton reads it right away. Therefore...the Piano Roll pops up and I can now adjust/manipulate the red bars of midi notes to whatever I like.

The other one (.MIDI)...Ableton can't read at all and is basically non-working/non-compliant....And is taking up hard drive space.

Therefore...

Did I miss something/not catch something about Ableton in the manual...??? As in...Ableton can only play/read 1 particular type of midi file and that's just the way it is. Or...is there some kind of setting/parameter or whatever else I am not getting/missing...???

Are there any other midi file types out there I should know/be aware of...???

Do only certain types of midi files work with only a certain/specific DAW...??? So which DAW's use which midi files...???

HELP...?!?!?!?!?
 
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I think the it has something to do with when file names had limitations, try just renaming the extensions to .MID and see if it works.
 
Tried that and a slew of other things. Not working.

I guess I'm just gonna have to delete these .midi files as they mean nothing to Ableton (and also me) as far as I'm concerned.

I did a google search to see if I could find anything on the net...but nothing substantial or relative.

If anyone else has some info or tips...it would be greatly appreciated.
 
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There are different types of MIDI files, but basically the extension shouldn't have anything to do with it - .mid and .midi should be the same. As DTB said, .mid is a remnant of the DOS days when file extensions couldn't be longer than three letters. Anyway - could you post one of those non-working files (or a link to where you got 'em) so I could take a look?
 
There is type 0 where all tracks are merged and then there is type 1 where all the tracks are separate and the extension for both is usually .MID and yeah there was a 3 character limit to the file extensions, for example .SMF is another old MIDI file extension and to be honest there is no real perceivable difference between .MID and .SMF and the same is probably true of .MIDI which would be more modern.
 
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