Problem importing midi file

• Jun 28, 2011 - 15:18

Hello,

I am a long time Finale user and would like to use MuseScore instead. I installed it and attempted to import a midi file. This is my attempt to create a piano score for a song I have written.

Please see the attached image. When I import the midi into Finale, the notes are interpreted as I intend them to appear on the piano score. When I import the midi into MuseScore, the notes are shown as held and it looks like a jumbled mess. Is there some setting in MuseScore I can use to make it import correctly?

I have read many posts in this forum trying to find an answer, but I don't see anything that directly answers this question. I have also searched the MuseScore help document.

Elton Smith
elton@songsofpraise.org

Attachment Size
MuseScoreMidiImport.jpg 61.93 KB

Comments

If the file comes from Finale, you might want to try to export it to MusicXML instead of MIDI.
If MIDI is the only way, which minimal notes did you choose ? you might want to try with 1/8.

In reply to by [DELETED] 5

Lasconic,

The midi file did not come from Finale. I was trying to import it into Finale. A talented keyboard playing friend created the midi file for me.

I chose 1/8 notes on import to get to what you see in the image. I tried other settings. 1/16 was worse. 1/4 crashed the program. 1/8 is the correct setting for this particular midi.

The software I have available does not save an MusicXML.

Any other ideas?

Elton

In reply to by songsofpraise

The problem of taking MIDI and turning it into usable notation is a very difficult one. It's clearly not completely unsolvable - obviously, Finale does a better job of figuring out what your friend *meant* to play, and some other programs presumably would too. But MuseScore is very literal. Your friend apparently held the notes over to create a legato effect, and thus the MuseScore version reflects this. If for some reason you must use a MIDI file as a starting point, you might try to find a MIDI editor that has good quantization options - that might round down those note lengths more to your liking. You'll still be in for a lot of cleanup, though, just as you would in Finale - MIDI import is almost always one of slowest ways to enter music of any complexity in any program..

As for incorporating more quantization options or other intent-guessing heuristics into MuseScore, I think it's a question of priorities. Finale has been around many years and a large development team and has been able to get around to improving this, but I'd guess it might be a while before something like this becomes high enough priority to address in MuseScore. The thing is, as I said, even in Finale, the amount of cleanup work needed to turn MIDi files of any complexity at all into readable notation is usually more than would be required to enter the music normally in the first place. Only the very simplest of examples turn out to be any easier to do from a real time / MIDI performance. So most notation isn't done that way even in Finale, and that's why improving those facilities probably hasn't been a huge priority in MuseScore, although I can't speak for Werner or anyone else on the development team as to future plans.

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