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Test your MIDI player
Test , Upgrade, How to reset pitch bends , Note for those technically minded
The MIDI clips play in various tunings. They do this by changing the pitches of the MIDI channels, and playing notes on various channels depending on the exact pitches needed.
So when you play another MIDI clip, your player needs to reset to the ordinary concert pitch tuning for all the channels.
Some do this automatically when they start to play (and when they stop playing too), but some, noteably the original version of Windows MPlayer, don't.
To test your MIDI Player, play this file:
It drops the pitch of channel 1 by one tone, and keeps channel 2 at concert pitch. You should hear a note played on a grand piano, then another note a tone higher.
Now play this file
Do you hear the same note played twice? If so, your MIDI player is okay, and you don't need to do anything.
Otherwise, continue to next section.
If you hear two pitches a tone apart, then you need to upgrade Windows Media Player (it's free) .
Or alternatively, reset pitch bends after listening to any of the Tune Smithy files.
If you want to reset pitch bends, continue to next section.
Play this midi file.
You'll hear a middle c played on a grand piano. Actually, it's played simultaneously on all the melodic channels, (uses quietest note available). This is to use all the new values, in case they are ignored by your MIDI player as not being needed for actual notes.
Now play ch1_2_no_pitch_bends.mid again, to check that the pitches of the channels have been reset. You should hear the same note twice.
If you need to reset pitch bends, return to this page when you have finished listening to the Tune Smithy midi clips, and click
Note for those technically minded
Here are hex dumps of the three files:
The notes played are B Flat and middle c, and after resetting the pitch bends, you should hear middle c twice.
The reset file also resets the expression (volume of note) for all the channels including channel 10 (non melodic percussion).
For all the melodic channels, it also sends an all sound off, resets modulation (i.e. vibrato) and tremulo controllers, and resets the voice patches to the grand piano.