# Pulling MIDI files into StaffPad



## Dave McD

It's hit or miss but some MIDI files import into StaffPad and assign instruments.
They are immediately useful and could be a source of inspiration or a starting point to
structure a whole new composition.

Does anyone have a tips on this approach to opening up StaffPad for less sophisticated users that don't have the musical education to be traditional composers but are making interesting MIDI-based music.

I do find that I get more crashes from my MIDI import projects than I would like to see but it does stress the software.


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## jonathanparham

Dave McD said:


> I do find that I get more crashes from my MIDI import projects than I would like to see but it does stress the software.


ok I thought it was just me. I was importing some piano improvisation to StaffPad and the project consistently closes


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## Dave McD

jonathanparham said:


> ok I thought it was just me. I was importing some piano improvisation to StaffPad and the project consistently closes


 No. There are a lot of MIDI import crashes. But when it works... it's great.


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## Dave McD

I used an IOS app (Piano Motifs) that generates MIDI melodies and imported the MIDI into StaffPad and assigned instruments and made this short sample:


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## jonathanparham

well this was first time I felt I needed to do it. I was doing some progression in Pro Tools and thought about orchestrating it I tried an import with a single staff and treble/bass staff and it was a mess.


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## Saxer

If your DAW supports MusicXML export (Cubase, Logic, Digital Performer) it's much more stable.


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## jonathanparham

Saxer said:


> If your DAW supports MusicXML export (Cubase, Logic, Digital Performer) it's much more stable.


yeah man I hadn't experimented with that yet


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## Dave McD

I'm sure this will outrage someone who has put in the work mastering music theory and orchestration but I have been experimenting with "non-compositional" approaches to leveraging StaffPad for the many IOS music makers that just don't have the musical training to use the tool as intended.

So, I have been looking at IOS Apps that create MIDI files. Then I import the MIDI into StaffPad and assign instruments to parts. This is a massive undertaking and will take many weeks to survey the tools but here's my 2nd effort using Fernando Morales' "Piano Motifs" to generate MIDI "parts" that can be instrumented to make something more interesting than the intent of the original app.

This example also integrates a drum track created by the excellent Luis Martinez called "Funk Drummer". The audio from StaffPad and Funk Drummer were imported into Cubasis and mixed into a final audio product. At no time did I need to touch a real or virtual keyboard and the "pencil" work in StaffPad was also pretty minimal... mostly cut and paste of phrases into the staves of various orchestral instruments.

This particular piece is riddled with "wrong notes"... some of which are actually useful to break out of standard cliches. A careful editing of this project could yield something useful. The effort to assemble the final version here was about 30 minutes max.


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## Rory

Dave McD said:


> I'm sure this will outrage someone who has put in the work mastering music theory and orchestration but I have been experimenting with "non-compositional" approaches to leveraging StaffPad for the many IOS music makers that just don't have the musical training to use the tool as intended.
> 
> So, I have been looking at IOS Apps that create MIDI files. Then I import the MIDI into StaffPad and assign instruments to parts. This is a massive undertaking and will take many weeks to survey the tools but here's my 2nd effort using Fernando Morales' "Piano Motifs" to generate MIDI "parts" that can be instrumented to make something more interesting than the intent of the original app.
> 
> This example also integrates a drum track created by the excellent Luis Martinez called "Funk Drummer". The audio from StaffPad and Funk Drummer were imported into Cubasis and mixed into a final audio product. At no time did I need to touch a real or virtual keyboard and the "pencil" work in StaffPad was also pretty minimal... mostly cut and paste of phrases into the staves of various orchestral instruments.
> 
> This particular piece is riddled with "wrong notes"... some of which are actually useful to break out of standard cliches. A careful editing of this project could yield something useful. The effort to assemble the final version here was about 30 minutes max.




I don't use Cubase or Cubasis, nor am I familiar with the Piano Motifs and Funk Drummer apps (I've just had a quick look at them in the iOS App Store), so please pardon the question if it is elementary. What does StaffPad do that bringing the MIDI file from Piano Motifs directly into Cubasis won't? I gather that the Funk Drummer file, which from your post is apparently an audio rather than MIDI file, does go directly to Cubasis.

Assuming that I even have the steps right


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## Dave McD

Rory said:


> I don't use Cubase or Cubasis, nor am I familiar with the Piano Motifs and Funk Drummer apps (I've just had a quick look at them in the iOS App Store), so please pardon the question if it is elementary. What does StaffPad do that bringing the MIDI file from Piano Motifs directly into Cubasis won't? I gather that the Funk Drummer file, which from your post is apparently an audio rather than MIDI file, does go directly to Cubasis.
> 
> Assuming that I even have the steps right



You are correct that I'm assembling audio in Cubasis from StaffPad and Funk Drummer.

But what I'm really interested in looking at are using some of these IOS apps to generate music that can be "imported" into StaffPad. MIDI import is pretty buggy and it's great when it works. MusicXML is probably a more robust path but that just pushes the MIDI transport into yet another app like Notion.

I'm hopeful this will prove useful for anyone without the musical skills to use StaffPad for it's intended design purpose. The main reason to push this approach is the quality of the sample libraries StaffPad can render. They are superior to any other IOS DAW IMHO so open the door for the less musically literate is
good for the product and the total market.

Meanwhile, I wait for an IOS DAW that can also render these excellent sample libraries so people can also work from a MIDI controller-based inout/output system like they are doing now.


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