Pascal, according to the MIDI specification, you can send up to 16 CHANNELS of MIDI data to your Disklavier at one time using a MIDI cable. That data may reside in a MIDI file on just one track or possibly on hundreds of tracks. Channels and tracks are not the same thing (although in certain circumstances it may appear as though they are).
A MIDI file is a file where MIDI data resides.
A Type 0 Standard MIDI File (SMF) contains all of the data on a single track. However, most of the data (such as note-on and note-off events, pedal events, etc.) is labelled as being channel-specific. Therefore, when a sequencer plays a Type 0 file, the data may be sent on as many as 16 channels.
Typically, a sequencer will present a Type 0 file to the user as though it were a multi-track file with as many as 16 tracks, each track mapped to the corresponding MIDI channel. In other words, when the typical sequencer opens a Type 0 file, it separates the data by channel and shows the the groups of channelized data to the user as though the data actually resided on separate tracks.
A Type 1 SMF can have any number of tracks, even hundreds of tracks, each mapped to one of the 16 MIDI channels. So, for example, a Type 1 file could have separate tracks for piano RH and piano LH and map them to separate channels or to the same channel.
Regards,
PianoBench
On Jan 14, 2008, at 3:11 AM, ramseymonoi wrote:
Hi all,
My disklavier has arrived, and it is great.
I am waiting for the usb/midi adaptor cable to arrive so I can try
playing songs from the laptop.
However I am getting a bit confused. I downloaded some piano pieces,
which I am playing on the computer using vanbasco midi player. It
looks like the right and left hand play on 2 different channels.
So I assumed that it was a type 1 midi file, and converted it to type
0. But it still separates left and right hand !
Am I confusing tracks and channels ? Ie, it is now a type 0 file with
only one track and several channels. Does it mean that type 1 files
carry several tracks with each several channels ?
I feel like I opened pandora's box !
Best regards,
Pascal