The MIDI Playback Editor is where you turn a raw MIDI file into clean practice material: choose which tracks stay, rename and recolor them, give them better instruments, merge scattered parts and split a piano track into left and right hands. Nothing is written until you press Save & Reload, and even then your original file stays untouched, because every save becomes a new version beside it.
IMAGE · edit-playback-editor.png · 1600 × 1000 px · Full Orfeo window with the Playback Editor open over it: several track rows with Include ticks, instrument dropdowns and color swatches, the Select all row and the Save & Reload footer visible.
Open the editor
The editor works on the file that is currently loaded, so open a MIDI file first.
The editor opens as a floating window over the app. Drag it by its header to move it; the loaded file’s name is shown in the middle of the header.
The track list
Every track in the file gets one row. Piano and keys tracks sit at the top, drums at the bottom. The columns, from left to right:
Column | What it does |
Include | Keeps the track in the saved file. Untick it to drop the track. |
Track | The track’s name. Double-click to rename it. |
Merge | Marks the track to be combined with other marked tracks. |
Split | Splits a piano, keys or organ track into Left Hand and Right Hand tracks. |
Color | The color the track uses on the piano roll and keyboard. |
Piano roll | Shows or hides the track’s falling notes. Saved with the file. |
Keyboard | Lights the keyboard with the track’s notes, or not. Saved with the file. |
Assign Instrument | Gives the track a different General MIDI instrument. |
Below the list, Select all and Clear all tick or untick every Include box at once, and a counter shows how many tracks are included. At least one track must stay included, or Orfeo won’t save.
Rename a track
The new name shows up in the Tracks panel and the Console Mixer straight away, and it is stored in the file when you save, so the track reads clearly every time you open it.
Recolor a track
Click the track’s color swatch to open the color picker, then choose a palette color or type a hex value such as #6270A5. The piano roll and keyboard change immediately so you can judge the color in place. If you close the editor with Cancel, the old color comes back.
Reassign an instrument
To go back, click the small reset arrow next to the dropdown. It restores the instrument the file came with. Drum tracks can’t be reassigned, because General MIDI always plays channel 10 as drums.
IMAGE · edit-instrument-picker.png · 800 × 700 px · The instrument dropdown open on one track row: search box at the top, instrument families listed, one instrument highlighted, the reset arrow visible beside the dropdown.
Tip
Reassigning an instrument is the fastest fix for a badly sequenced download. A “piano” track that actually plays a synth pad becomes usable in one click, and the change sticks once you save.
Choose what shows on the roll and keyboard
The Piano roll and Keyboard columns do the same job as the matching toggles in the Tracks panel, with one difference: here the choice is saved into the file. Hide a busy string pad from the roll, or stop the bass from lighting the keys, and the file opens that way every time.
Merge tracks
Some files spread one part across several tracks, for example the melody on one track and the chords on another. Merging combines them into a single track, so all their notes play and light up together.
Changed your mind? Click the unmerge button on the merged row to separate it back into its original tracks. Tracks you have just split into hands can’t be merged again until you save.
Split a piano track into two hands
Many piano files put both hands on one track. Orfeo can work out which notes belong to which hand and split them into separate Left Hand and Right Hand tracks, so you can mute, hide or practise each hand on its own.
If Orfeo can’t find two independent hands in a track, for example a single melody line, it tells you so and leaves the track as it is.
IMAGE · edit-split-preview.png · 1000 × 420 px · The hand-split preview open inside a piano track’s row: timeline with blue and pink note ticks, at least one dark red low-confidence band, the note counts, and the Don’t split / Split into two tracks buttons.
Read the hand-split preview
Part of the preview | What it tells you |
Timeline | The whole song from left to right. Every note is a small tick: right-hand notes on the top lane, left-hand notes on the bottom lane. |
Blue and pink ticks | Left hand and right hand, the same colors the split tracks will use. |
Dark red bands | Low-confidence passages, where the hands overlap or cross and Orfeo is less sure who plays what. |
Note counts | How many notes went to each hand, and what share of them falls in a low-confidence passage. |
Hand assignment is automatic. Treat it as a strong guideline rather than a verified transcription, and listen through the flagged passages first. If a few notes land in the wrong hand, move them across in the MIDI Note Editor.
Undo a staged split
Until you save, click Undo split in the banner to put the original track back exactly as it was. After saving, the split lives in the new version, and the original file still has the single track.
Check an existing hand split
Tracks that already carry hand information, from an earlier split or from hand assignment in the Note Editor, show a short summary line under their row. It either says the split looks accurate or shows, in red, what share of notes is flagged as low confidence.
Save tempo and key changes into the file
Tempo and key changes you make in the top bar only last for the session. To make them part of the file:
Use case: sing along in a comfortable key
Transpose the song down two semitones and slow it to 90%, turn on Save Tempo & Key changes, and save. The new version always opens ready to accompany your voice, with no need to set it up again.
Save & Reload
Everything you changed in the editor (included tracks, names, colors, instruments, merges, splits, visibility, and tempo and key if switched on) is written together in one save, as one new version of the file.
What | Where and how |
Location | An |
File name |
|
Original file | Never modified. |
After saving | The new version loads straight away and the change is recorded in the file’s edit history. |
Library | Refreshes and highlights the new version, as long as the original sits inside your Library folder. |
Click Cancel at any point before saving to close the editor without writing anything. Staged merges, splits and color previews are all discarded.
IMAGE · edit-save-footer.png · 1000 × 260 px · The editor footer right after a successful save: green Save as field with the full saved path, the Show in folder button and the OK button.
Use case: turn a messy download into a lesson
Untick the click track and the empty channels, rename “Track 3” to “Left Hand”, give the melody a bright color, reassign the lead to a clean piano, then Save & Reload. You now have a version that reads clearly every time you open it. The full recipe is in Turn a messy download into a lesson.
See also: How saving works · MIDI Note Editor · Console Mixer