Midi Files Not importing, but can playing Media Player...Odd.

[Flam1ng Dem0n]

So a while back I found a website that hosted Midi Files from some of the Final Fantasy games. a couple of those files were written based off of the Final Fantasy: Symphonic Suite (from 1990) and I was thrilled to be able to finally tinker with one of my favorite Orchestral soundtracks.

But something odd seems to be going on with the Midi (or Mid) files. I can open and listen to them in Windows Media player just fine, but when trying to import into pretty much any Music application that loads Midi (such as Audacity, FL Studio) it won't work. FL studios status bar reads "Parsing Midi Data" but nothing ever happens and when moving the mouse elsewhere in the window the text in the status bar changes to show what your mouse is hovering over. Almost like FL Studio was never told to import the file.

Also there is one file that throws up an "Error Parsing Midi Data" in FL Studio, but even that one works fine in Media Player. So to be honest, I have NO clue what the heck is going on.

The last update to the website was back in 2009. Though even with the age of the website and the files on it, it should not matter. Since Midi is still in version 1.0 and has been that way since its creation (as I was taught in my Music Applications Class).

I can link the website if necessary, otherwise I can upload the files on a file sharing website if that would work better.

I would really love to import these Midi/Mid files into FL or even Audacity to tinker with them and play around with the Midi Commands. Though with what is oddly going on, I can't. If anyone knows what might be happening, then that would be awesome.

Thank for any help given.

[DarkeSword]

It's been many MANY years since I played around with MIDI files but IIRC, there were a couple of weird subformats that didn't always play well with certain software. They might actually be RMI files with a renamed extensions. I think you can find a converter or something for them to change them into Standard MIDI Files.

Edited June 24, 2014 by DarkeSword

[Flexstyle]

Are you trying to import the MIDI file straight from FL, or are you opening up the piano roll and opening the file there?

[Flam1ng Dem0n]

Are you trying to import the MIDI file straight from FL, or are you opening up the piano roll and opening the file there?

I am going File->>Import->>Midi and like I mentioned nothing happens.

It's been many MANY years since I played around with MIDI files but IIRC, there were a couple of weird subformats that didn't always play well with certain software. They might actually be RMI files with a renamed extensions. I think you can find a converter or something for them to change them into Standard MIDI Files.

Interesting, never knew about Midi having a sub-format. Maybe you can take a look at the files? I found them at this web address.

http://www.ffcompendium.com/h/musicdb/ffsymphonic.shtml

[Flam1ng Dem0n]

So I just found an old Midi Type Converter (made by Jeff Glatt) and it seems that it can't even load the Midi/Mid files. It's almost like the people who made the .mid files....encrypted them. Can you even do that with midi? It's really odd actually.

[Moseph]

Interesting, never knew about Midi having a sub-format. Maybe you can take a look at the files? I found them at this web address.

http://www.ffcompendium.com/h/musicdb/ffsymphonic.shtml

For me, Windows Media Player opens it and QuickTime doesn't. Sonar will import it without any problem, but it won't preview the track count in the file browser and lists the type as "unknown." (MIDI files are usually type 0 or type 1.) If you can find contact info for whoever runs the site, you could ask if they can give you any info about the file type.

EDIT: Skimming this page makes me think that maybe the file header (which contains formatting info) is missing or corrupt.

EDIT 2: Ah, yes, when I try to load it into a Pure Data project, Pure Data identifies it as a RIFF MIDI file, tells me that the header chunk is bad, and refuses to open the file. (I'm not certain whether the error means that the header is corrupt or just that Pure Data can't open RIFF MIDI.) The exact error message is:

midifile: Header chunk type: RIFF

midifile: bad file format: bad header chunk type

(For reference, I'm using scene3.mid from the page you linked.)

EDIT 3: Pure Data also can't open RIFF MIDI files saved from Sonar, so the header is probably not corrupt. Anyway, the files from that site (or scene3.mid at any rate) ought to have the file extension .rmi rather than .mid. I think your best bet is to try to find a program that specifically says it opens RIFF MIDI files and convert it from there. So what DarkeSword said, basically.

(Also, RIFF MIDI is a Microsoft format, which explains why Media Player opens it without a problem.)

Edited June 24, 2014 by Moseph

[Flam1ng Dem0n]

YAY!!

Got them working! I had to do a bit of hunting and install DOS-Box to get them up and running but they are now In FL Studio. I had no idea about about RMI being a Midi Sub-format. Thanks everyone. Also for those who would like to also get those file working too. Go to this website and fine the file called RMI2MID.

http://www.gnmidi.com/gnfreeen.htm

Then install DOS-Box (because the EXE file is originally meant for MS-DOS) and then follow the DOS-Box tutorials from there.

Thanks again everyone for the help! Much appreciated.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I had to rename the file extensions for those RMI/MIDI files from .mid to .rmi to get the MS-DOS program to work.

Edited June 24, 2014 by Flam1ng Dem0n

[MindWanderer]

You shouldn't need dosbox, running cmd (in Windows XP compatibility mode if your OS is 64-bit) should be good enough. You can try that next time.

[Flam1ng Dem0n]

You shouldn't need dosbox, running cmd (in Windows XP compatibility mode if your OS is 64-bit) should be good enough. You can try that next time.

Tried that, did not work. This error window pops up no matter the compatibility setting.

So DOS-Box is in fact needed to use the file.

[Viny deWonderful]

Hello friends. I am experiencing a similar problem. I created a thread for help, but since I also found this topic, I think it doesn't hurt to ask you as well.

I have a couple of Midi files that I can import to FL Studio and Cubase, but they don't import the percussion section of the file. They play all lines on Windows Media Player. So when I open it on MidiSheetMusic 2.4 it also doesn't show the percussion line, but it can be marked on options to show. Strangely for some reason MidiSheetMusic import the file with the percussion hidden and muted.

I'm looking for a way to import the file in its integrity on my preferred DAWs (FL Studio and Cubase) or for a program (preferably light) to edit the file.

Can anyone help me better understand this situation?