Playing Along with Your MIDI Instrument

If you have a MIDI keyboard or other MIDI controller such as a MIDI guitar, then you can play along while Composer plays the song. Composer will route your MIDI performance to a MIDI output device and channel that you specify; and it will use an instrument sound (MIDI patch) that you specify.

This topic describes how you can play along, or "jam", with Composer's playback of a song, if you have a MIDI keyboard or controller. If you are interested in practicing a part in the song, where you perform it rather than Composer, then see Practicing a Part Using Your MIDI Keyboard.

If you want to play along, or jam, using the instrument sound of one of the tracks in the song, then there is a quick way for you to select that sound, by double-clicking the solo button, as described in the first procedure below. If you want to play along using an instrument sound that is not associated with any tracks in the song, then follow the second procedure below.

You can also set up Composer to produce a selected sound as you play at your keyboard, even while Composer is not playing any song. Just follow the same instructions below.

  To play along with your MIDI instrument, using an instrument sound that is already assigned to one of the song tracks:

1.      Open the MIDI (.mid) file or MidiNotate (.not) file that you want to play along with.

2.      Double-click the solo button at the left side of the track. If the track controls are not visible, you can make then visible using the Show or Hide Track Controls command in the View menu.

When you double-click the solo button, it will turn to red , and a red arrow will be displayed to the left of the track, as illustrated below.

In addition, the selected track will be muted, as indicated by the playback button in the up position.

3.      If you now play back the song, the track that you selected will be muted (silenced). If you play along on your music keyboard, the notes you play will be heard using the instrument sound of the selected track.

4.      If you do not want the selected track to be muted, just click the solo button again, to its up position. The instrument sound for that track will continue to be used for your play-along performances.

To play along with your MIDI instrument, using any available instrument sound:

1.      Open the MIDI (.mid) file or MidiNotate (.not) file that you want to play along with.

2.      Choose the Select Play-Along Sound command in the Perform menu.

     -- OR --

     Type "qpas" for Quick Play-Along Sound.

     Composer will display a Select Play-Along Sound dialog box such as the following:

3.      Specify the MIDI device and bank that you want to produce the sound for notes that you play on your MIDI keyboard or controller.

NOTE:
Do not choose a MIDI device that has a built-in delay. Otherwise, there will be a frustrating delay between the time you play a note on your MIDI keyboard or controller and the time you hear it played. You can review the delay for a MIDI output device in the Device Properties dialog.

4.      To play drum sounds instead of note-pitch sounds, check the "Pitch determines drum sound ..." checkbox.

5.      To play note-pitch sounds, turn off the checkmark in the "Pitch determines drum sound ..." checkbox. Choose the instrument sound (MIDI patch) that you want to use.

6.      If you want this Play-Along Sound selection to be used by default when you run Composer at later times, then click the Save As Default button.

7.      Click the OK button when you are done selecting the Play-Along Sound.

8.      Start playback of the song.

10.      Play your MIDI keyboard or controller to accompany Composer's performance of the song. You will hear the instrument sound you have selected for the notes that you play.

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