So if you want to do something fun and musical with your Mac you may want to spend some time
playing around with MIDI Files.
MIDI Files are music files that instead of being a recording are a series of instructions
like musical notes.
Software can use that to recreate a song.
MIDI-like data is used in apps like Logic and GarageBand to store notes when you play
on a keyboard and the notes are stored rather than the actual sound itself.
Now GarageBand can read standard MIDI Files and the internet is filled with them.
So, for instance, we'll, in Safari, do a search for MIDI download.
I'll go to a site here, just get a piece of classical music, and just download anything.
Let's download this right here.
Now we end up in the downloads folder with this MIDI File right here.
Now it used to be that you could just double-click on that and it would open up in old Quicktime
Player, years ago.
Quicktime Player would actually play MIDI Files.
It doesn't seem to work very well anymore.
I couldn't get any MIDI Files to actually play in Quicktime Player, the current version.
But if you double-click on it you will actually open up GarageBand.
It instantly opens up the song and shows you all the notes in it.
So you can see here I've got a set of instruments here.
There's flute, there's a whole bunch of string ensembles and then you can see all of the
notes.
If I play I can hear the music.
So you can do lots of cool things.
For instance, you can change the instruments.
So I can select this track here and if I open up the tray to the left you can see that's
set to woodwinds flute solo.
I can change that to clarinet.
Now that will be played by clarinet.
I can also isolate tracks.
So I can use the solo here, so I can click on that.
Now only this track will be played.
I can hear that just played on clarinet and then I can change it to see what it would
sound like on the oboe.
Or even go really different and say let's just play that on the pipe organ.
So you can play around with all of this.
You can also double-click on this track here and then you can see the notes and actually
manipulate them.
So you can change what's actually being played.
You can lengthen notes.
You can set the velocity for notes.
You know how strong each one is.
All sorts of different things.
If you know how to read music you can even switch from piano roll to score and actually
see the musical notes here for this track.
So you may even actually be able to learn pieces of songs from MIDI Files if you know
how to play an instrument.
We can continue to have fun from there.
I've muted all of the tracks except for that solo track right there.
I'm going to change the instrument to something else.
So let's go and change to the piano.
Now let's go and add an Apple loop here.
I'm going to select drums and then take an R&B beat and loop that.
So you can continue to have fun.
Change the notes, add different things, maybe combine different MIDI Files you find.
It's something to play around with and enjoy.
It's a good way to get to learn some of the parts of GarageBand as well.