Tinker more on figure recognition

Did you try static import with transposition disabled ( or a very wide playing range)?

If you want to import MIDI and get the same results as the original, you can do that in Cubase.  One of the many benefits of Synfire when importing is to make something new and original.  At least, that's how I use it.

if you want to use synfire to have a midi file import and then play back as the original use static interpretation with similar playing ranges or disable transposition.

other suggestions are to play with the interpretation parameters and voice leading. if you watch some of andre's videos you will see him play notes into synfire then show that the output is not the same as the played notes. A quick tweak of the voice leading and its got the original feel back.

remember synfire is a tool to help compose original music. It is not a One button masterpiece generator. You can use other people's work to 'inspire' and lead you/synfire, use the power of synfire to simplify the process and help come up with something that works musically, but it is still a tool. You are always the composer.

youve asked the same question/issue many many times before, I'm not sure if you do not understand the replies each time, or if you are still struggling to 'get synfire'? Try watching the videos again, reading the manual, play around with synfire more.

One other thing you could do, which I do a lot when using synfire to make a remix. Import the original midi as static for input into harmoniser. Then I add additional tracks of original stuff, cut everything up and rearrange, drop some of the original....the result is a remix that is unique, original but also contains regognisable parts from the original.

and the option of changing interpretation and voice leading? you dont want to use those because?

sorry for the confusion, i meant play with the interpretation and voice leading after the import once you have decided what phrases you want to re-use.

Dont forget that as soon as you change the harmony, it will never sound like the original....

Check this bit of video out if you havent seen it before. Its not using midi import, but rather recording what is played on the piano, but it's very similar and might show you what im talking about

?t=1m17s  (one of the standard cognitone videos)

That's a shame as I find it one of the best videos for showing some of the basics but also the power of synfire. I think if you investigate and play around with voice leading (and the interpretation settings) once the 'penny drops' you will be able to use imported midi to create great sounding but original phrases and music.

sorry just meant it is a shame you didnt understand the video and what it was trying to demonstrate

only andre can say what his intent was for the video, but I guess it was to demonstrate the power of synfire to people that arent aware of synfire. If that was the objective it suceeds in my view, but given that, there is still quite a lot that can be learnt from it. Setting up instruments, recording midi, overdub, packing of containers, snapshotting, combining 'tracks', different ways of altering voice leading, changing harmony. There isnt a lot of detail on each topic but there is enough to enable someone to try the options out, plus they are all covered in the manual and other videos (the actual tutorials).

I supposed you havent tried altering the voice leading on the midi file you were trying to import? 

I know ive mentioned this, but you seem to have ignored it, There is also static for input into harmoniser which is part way between a normal import and a static import, which will keep the notes static (they will sound the same as the original midi) but still allow the track to influence the harmonic progression decoding (ie as the original and synfire magic).

Actually managed to get access to my studio so could look at the midi and the import process into synfire.

Main problem seems to be with the timing of the piece. If you look at the figure around bar 9 (might be 8 ), it starts quite early and the first note of the figure spans the chord change in the progression. That means synfire creates an additional note when the chord in the progression changes part way through the first note of the figure. This happens at many parts throughout the file. You can get round this in different ways, select the figure and change the voice leading to hold (or look ahead, not sure which sounded better), or alternatively go into the harmoniser and add a change at the start of the figure. You need to do this in each case where the figure is early and creates extra notes on playback.

Setting the voice leading to weak also helped capture the feel of the original.

I havent looked into it as its a bit beyond the limits of my music theory, but could the midi be in some other time signature other than 4/4 despite what the midi says? maybe if you set the correct time signature during the import process you might not need to do this.

Other people may have further suggestions.

The midi file standard (very loose standard), does allow for the time signature events, synfire does pick up on the starting one, but I dont know if it picks up on any new events during the file.

However if there is no time signature event, the default is 4/4.

Similarly if there is no tempo paramenter, the default in 120bpm.

Without examining your midi file, I cant say for sure if it does or doesnt contain either of those settings, but synfirm imports it with 120bpm and 4/4 time signature. Also when importing a midi file into ableton, if it contains timing information you normally get a pop up asking if you want to import the timing infomation. This does not appear when importing your midi file into ableton. I would therefore assume your midi file does not contain any signature or tempo information.

Maybe you should send an email/post on the appropirate forum, asking the producer of the midi file, produce a version with the tempo and signature information?

In synfire you can change the time signature to what ever you want, check it out in the progression editor under scheme (might be visible in other locations too). It is also possible to overide the settings on the import but you would have to know what to change them to and thats beyond me. Again ask where you got the midi file from and they might be able to tell you, it may even have that information in a text file or on the website if it was from a comercial site.

As to it being complicated, not really. Imported file into ableton, played file through left speaker. imported your file into synfire and linked it to a drone in ableton playing through the right speaker. Press play, listen. Where there are obvious differences look at the file in synfire. Noticed the figures with notes that span chord changes at the measure where i heard the dicordance, played just the offending figure to confirm. Changed voice leading enabling hold and set to weak. Tried figure. sounded ok, played file... Didnt bother correcting any other examples but its the same process. Took about ten minutes including loading ableton and synfire.

Did notice that the whole piece didnt match up with the metronome in ableton live (raw file or via synfire) and also visually notes/figures didnt seem to fit to the measure boundaries which made me suspect the issue is time signatures.

I have imported midi files with time signatures different to 4/4 and synfire did correctly change the time signature to match.

I have also checked your midi file with a midi editor and in fact it does have an event setting the time signature of 4/4 and tempo of 120. As the tempo sounds wrong, I guess someone just pressed record on thier daw with default settings and played in the piece live without a click track. Trying to work out the time signature and tempo by ear is beyond me (tempo is easier, use a tap button), sorry I cant help any further. Probably easiest unless anyone else knows another way, to go through the piece with the harmonizer and alter the chord changes to match the timing of the played in notes.