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I like loading a MIDI file in my DP Yamaha P140 and play along with it.
Sometimes the volume of the MIDI file is too aloud and overcomes my playing on the DP. On the P140 there is only a slider to change the overall volume both of the internal song played and of the notes directly played on the keyboard itself.

My questions are:

1) How can I change on a PC the volume of the midi file so that I can load on the DP a midi file with a lower volume ?
With which programs ? Is it possible with Band-in-a-Box or with Finale and how ?

2)Can that be done directly on a DP ? Which ones ? Can it be done on Kaway ES7 ? It would suffice a DP with 2 volume controls : one for the internal song and one for the keyboard itself

Thanks very much for your answers

Hello Play It,

I believe it should be possible to reduce the volume of a MIDI file using the software you mention, however I'm afraid I do not have an direct experience of the process required.

However, I expect it would be more convenient to simply adjust the playback volume on the DP itself. An instrument such as the ES7 allows this (please refer to page 57 of the owner's manual), and I expect other competing models such as the Roland FP-7F would too.

Kind regards,
James
x

To reduce it in software, open up the piano roll, select all the notes in the song (usually a 'CTRL A' or Apple Key + 'A' for Mac) and reduce the velocity of these notes (either by dragging a slider or entering a negative number). MIDI notes have a velocity (loudness) level represented by a number between 0 and 127. Many MIDI files are recorded at the upper end of that spectrum. Try reducing every note in the song by 10-20 'points' and see where that gets you. Repeat as necessary until you reach a satisfactory level. You'll also find during this process that the song starts to sound more realistic. A lot of MIDI hacks /programmers have all their notes at the same level. This is what makes these songs sound robotic. Cheers!

- as suggested, you could do a blanket reduction on all velocities although if there's a relationship between timbre and velocity in the patch this could corrupt the sound too.

How easy this is to do will depend on what software your using but you've also got the option of a MIDI volume control which is channel-specific (status byte is Bn where n is channel number, then 07 then the volume value). If you can separate your midi file playback (accompaniment) channel from your live performance channel this should work well.