Audio File Cues - MIDI Files

Playback of MIDI files is only available with SCS Professional and higher license levels.

For an Audio File cue or sub-cue, the lower panel to the right of the cue list tree will contain properties specifically for audio file sub-cues. For example, a MIDI file may be displayed like this:

Limitations in the Properties and Controls available for MIDI file sub-cues

MIDI file support in SCS is geared towards professional musicians who wish to play MIDI files through an external MIDI Sound Module or MIDI Keyboard. It is also possible to play MIDI files through a software synth (eg the Microsoft GS Wavetable Software Synth).

When a MIDI file is played through a MIDI Sound Module etc, the Sound Module receives MIDI event messages such as Note On, Note Off, Program/Control Change, etc. These are all as recorded in the MIDI file. SCS does not, therefore, control the level of the output, or the pan settings. Also, SCS does not support positioning or repositioning playback anywhere within the file apart from the very start of the file. Technically this could be done but the results would usually be useless as many required events will probably have been skipped (eg instrument and tempo selection).

The following Properties and Controls are therefore not available for MIDI file playback:

· Trim, Level, Pan, Fade In and Fade Out

· Start at, End At, Loop Start and Loop End

· The Graph is not displayed as the audio output of the MIDI file is not decoded by SCS

· The Progress Sliders are disabled, ie you cannot manually move the pointer, as repositioning a MIDI file is not supported. (You can, however, use the 'rewind' button to reposition to the start of the file.)

· Also, only one Audio Device (which will be a MIDI playback device) may be selected.

Another overall restriction is that it is not possible to play two or more MIDI files simultaneously through the same MIDI playback device. It is, however, possible to play a MIDI file at the same time as one or more non-MIDI files.

Sub-Cue Relative Start Time: This field is available for every type of sub-cue. It is designed for cues that contain multiple sub-cues, and enables you to delay the starting of a sub-cue. For example, suppose your first sub-cue for this cue is an Audio File sub-cue that starts immediately the cue starts, and you want a number of Control Send sub-cues to start at set times during the playback of that audio file. You can do that by setting the Sub-Cue Relative Start Time on the Control Send sub-cues. Enter a relative time in seconds, eg 24.75, or minutes and seconds, eg 1:30.00, or leave the field blank if you do not want to delay the start.

Audio File: This will contain the path name of the sound file to be played. See the Audio File property description under Audio File Cues - WAV, MP3, WMA, etc for more details.

Description: For MIDI files SCS will display a description derived from the file name. You can change the Description field if required.

Play length: This display-only field shows how much of the audio file will be played, which will be the same as the 'File Length' for MIDI files. The range of the progress slider is set to this Play Length.

In this section you will define which audio device is to used to playback this MIDI file. For MIDI files only one device may be selected.

Audio device: The audio devices available are as specified under MIDI Playback Devices in the Production Properties.

Testing your Audio File Cue

You can test your Audio File Cue or Sub-Cue using the controls available in the 'Test' panel. Just press the multimedia play button to start the test. You can also use the other transport controls as required, but note that if you pause and resume your MIDI file playback then certain settings in the MIDI driver may be reset. This may typically result in piano sounds instead of required instrument sounds.

The slider alongside the multimedia controls shows the progress of the cue. For MIDI files you cannot manually adjust the progress. If you want to restart the playback just click the 'rewind' button.