MIDI files from the internet often come with click tracks, empty channels, tracks called “Track 3” and pianos that sound like synth pads. Ten minutes in the Playback Editor turns such a file into a clean practice version, and your original download stays untouched. For the whole route, from finding a file to practising it, see From messy download to lesson.
Step by step
Open the file, then open the MIDI Playback Editor from the icon rail of the Tracks panel.
Drop what you don’t need. Untick Include on the click track, empty channels and anything else that gets in the way.
Name the parts. Double-click “Track 3” and call it what it is, for example “Melody” or “Left Hand”.
Fix the sound. If a piano part plays on a synth pad or organ, pick a proper piano under Assign Instrument.
Colour for reading. Give the melody a bright colour so it stands out on the roll.
Join scattered parts. If the melody and chords of one part are on separate tracks, merge them.
Split the hands. If both hands are on one piano track, split it into Left Hand and Right Hand.
Save. Click Save & Reload. Orfeo writes <song>_ORFEO_v1.mid into an Orfeo folder next to the original and opens it.
Finishing touches
Balance the instruments in the Console Mixer (Ctrl+Shift+M). Volume, pan, chorus and reverb are saved as the next version.
Fix single wrong notes or hand assignments in the MIDI Note Editor.
Star the clean version in the library so you find it first next time.
Tip
Every save is a new version with its own entry in the edit history, so you can always go back to an earlier one. See How saving works.
