To download the MidiPlay program:
- Right click here.
- Then click on Save Link As... or Save Target As... in the popup menu to save the program on C:\ or somewhere else on your hard disk. Remember where you've saved it.
When MidiPlay is playing a MIDI file and you have displayed the score, it should look something like this:
Click on the picture for a larger image.
Using the MidiPlay program to listen to MIDI files:
- Run the MidiPlay program from wherever you saved it on your hard disk (use Windows Explorer to open C:\ or wherever you saved MidiPlay, then double click on MidiPlay).
- Open a MIDI file:
- Click File on the menu bar and then click on Open... from the popup menu.
- Find the directory where you saved your downloaded MIDI files (they’ll be in C:\ or wherever you saved them).
- Click on one of the MIDI files.
- Click on OK.
- You’ll see a window containing the names of the parts in the file. Click on the Play button at the left of the line for your part. You should hear the piece being played through your loudspeakers or MIDI keyboard, with your part emphasised and the other parts playing quietly.
- If you hear an echo effect, this is probably because you have more than one MIDI output device. Click on the || (Pause) button to stop. Then in the Output Devices menu click on Select Output Device... and choose one of your MIDI output devices from the drop down list. Then click on the > (Play) button to start again.
- You can now just listen to the piece, or you can use the following buttons and controls:
- Click on the << (Skip backwards) button to jump back a few seconds.
- Click on the >> (Skip forwards) button to jump forward a few seconds.
- Click on the |<< (Back to start) button to go back to the start.
- Click and drag the Running Time slider (and click on the > (Play) button to start playing again).
- Click on the up/down buttons to choose a bar number to start at (this requires the bar information in the MIDI file to be correct, it isn’t always).
- Click and drag the Relative Tempo slider to adjust the speed.
- Click on the Revert button to revert to normal tempo.
- Click on the || (Pause) button to stop.
- Click on the > (Play) button to start again.
- To listen to another piece:
- Click on the Close buttons in any dialog boxes you have open.
- In the File menu click on Open... to open another file, and then carry on as before.
Using the advanced features of the MidiPlay program:
- View the score
- Change the volume of some parts
- Play some parts on different instruments
- Choose which MIDI output device to use
- The Diagnostics menu options are not intended for normal use. Diagnostics -> Logging sends diagnostic output to a file called log.txt, and that wouldn’t be terribly useful to you.
