Most MIDI files you download aren’t lessons yet. They come with click tracks, empty channels, parts called “Track 3”, a piano that sounds like an organ and a tempo that doesn’t match the music. This is the route I take with every new song, from finding a file to sitting down to practise it, using every editing tool in Orfeo. Your original download is never touched along the way: every save becomes a new version next to it.
If you only want the short recipe, Turn a messy download into a lesson has it. The tables at the end of this page sum up which tool does what, and which one to reach for when something is wrong.
1. Find a file worth learning
I search for the song and the word midi, add piano if I want a piano arrangement, and download two or three versions. Quality varies more than you would think: one file is a full band, the next a single rough piano track, and the first result is rarely the best. Many sites let you listen in the browser first. Where to find MIDI files lists good places to start.
No MIDI file anywhere? Look for Guitar Pro tabs, MusicXML or a karaoke file. Orfeo opens those too and converts them once into a MIDI file next to the original. I keep everything in my library folder, so new versions show up in the Library as soon as I save them.
2. Listen before you change anything
Before I edit anything, I play the song once all the way through with the Tracks panel open. I’m listening for three things: is this the arrangement I want, does the beat line up, and which track holds the part I want to learn.
3. Fix the beat
If the clicks drift off the drums, the bar lines sit in the wrong place or the BPM reads double what I hear, the file carries the wrong tempo. I turn on Tap Tempo, put the playhead where the groove starts, click TAP and tap along with Space or a key on my keyboard. Orfeo lines my beat up with the song’s own drums and bass, I listen, and choose Keep for this song.
Tap Tempo doesn’t change the file. Orfeo remembers the tempo for that song, also after I rename or move it, and keeps using it in every version I save from it.
4. Clean up the arrangement
Now the real editing starts, in the MIDI Playback Editor, the first icon in the Tracks panel’s icon rail. It works on the whole file, track by track:
Then Save & Reload. Orfeo writes <song>_ORFEO_v1.mid into an Orfeo folder next to the original and opens it straight away. See How saving works.
5. Choose a tempo and key you can play
A first version that I can’t play yet is fine: I slow it down with ▼ next to the BPM, and move it with ▲ or ▼ next to KEY if the key doesn’t suit my hands or my voice. Both last only for the session. When I want a version that always opens ready to practise, I open the Playback Editor again, turn on Save Tempo & Key changes and save.
6. Fix the notes and the hands
Downloads are often played in by hand or made from audio, so a few notes are wrong, late, too loud or given to the wrong hand. That’s the job of the MIDI Note Editor. I turn it on once in Settings → Editing, open it from the icon rail and click the track I want to work on.
To find a stray note quickly, I mute the other tracks and walk through the passage with → and ←, one note or chord at a time, using Step Through. Every edit has undo and redo, and Save & Reload writes the next version.
7. Balance the band
The last touch is the mix. In the Console Mixer (CtrlShiftM) I pull the band down so I can hear myself, pan the piano slightly to one side and add a little reverb. When I close the mixer, Orfeo asks whether to save the mix. Each track’s volume, pan, chorus and reverb go into the new version; the master strip stays as a setting for the session.
8. Practise it
Tip
Nothing is ever lost. The original download stays exactly as it was, and every save is a new version with its own entry in the edit history, so you can always go back to an earlier one.
Quick reference
Two tables to keep at hand: what each tool saves, and where to fix the problems downloads usually have.
ORFEO tool | Does it save changes? | Where it lives | What it changes |
No, session only | Right side of the window | Mute, solo, show on the roll, light on the keyboard, track order | |
Only when saved through the Playback Editor | Top bar, BPM and KEY | Playback speed, and the key up to 12 semitones either way | |
Remembered for the song; the file stays as it is | TAP pad next to the BPM box (turn it on in Settings → Playback) | The tempo, bar lines and metronome Orfeo uses for that song | |
Yes, as a new version | Tracks panel icon rail, first icon | Which tracks stay, names, colours, instruments, merges, hand splits, roll and keyboard visibility, and optionally tempo and key | |
Yes, as a new version | Tracks panel icon rail (turn it on in Settings → Editing) | Single notes: position, length, pitch, added and deleted notes, velocity and hand assignment | |
The track mix, as a new version; the master strip stays session only | Tracks panel icon rail, or | Each track’s volume, pan, chorus and reverb | |
Renames the file | Library, right-click a song | Artist and song name; lists every saved version and its history | |
No | Top bar and the arrow keys | How you practise, never the file |
A problem | Where to fix it | How | Is the change permanent? |
A click track or empty channels | Playback Editor | Untick Include | Yes, in the new version |
Tracks called “Track 3” | Playback Editor | Double-click the name and type a new one | Yes |
The piano part plays on a synth pad or harpsichord | Playback Editor | Assign Instrument → a piano | Yes |
One part spread over several tracks | Playback Editor | Merge the tracks | Yes |
Both hands on one track | Playback Editor | Split into Left Hand and Right Hand | Yes |
A few notes in the wrong hand | Note Editor | Reassign hands, right-click, Assign to Left Hand or Right Hand | Yes |
Wrong or stray notes | Note Editor | Drag them into place or press | Yes |
Sloppy timing | Note Editor | Turn on Snap, pick a Quantize grid and nudge the notes | Yes |
Some notes much too loud | Note Editor | Velocity lane, or right-click Flatten Velocity | Yes |
Bar lines and clicks don’t match the music | Tap Tempo | Tap along, then Keep for this song | Remembered for that song; the file stays as it is |
Too fast to learn | Top bar | ▼ next to the BPM | Session only, unless you save it with Save Tempo & Key changes |
The key doesn’t suit your hands or voice | Top bar | ▲ or ▼ next to KEY | Session only, unless you save it with Save Tempo & Key changes |
The band drowns out the piano | Console Mixer | Faders and pan | Yes, if you save when closing the mixer |
A busy pad clutters the roll | Tracks panel, or the Playback Editor to keep it | Show in roll off | Tracks panel: session only. Playback Editor: yes |
Artist and title the wrong way round | File info | Swap Artist and Song, then Save changes | Yes, the file is renamed |
You preferred an earlier version | Library or File info | Open the original or an earlier | Nothing is ever lost: every version stays |
See also: Turn a messy download into a lesson · How saving works · Tap Tempo · Left and right hands