Midi Playback Problems, complex PC MIDI won't play on MAC Options

Hello and I hope I'm in the right forum for this one.
I've got a lot of semi-pro MIDI produced on PCs using Turtle Beach sound cards and QSE, Cakewalk and other sequencers. The more complex ones (with a lot of events and controls) always bog down and stop when I play them back on my eMac G4, 1 gig memory using the internal QuickTime synthesizer. Doesn't matter which software program I use to play the MIDI, I suppose it all uses the internal synth. What is the solution here? I want to be able to play and edit these MIDIs on the Mac. Thanks and regards!

[oaomdal]

Hi, I thougt it would be a good idea to reply to your post, now that I have read it. Maybe it won't help you, but I will try to be polite and help you the best I can.

First of all, the reason why I read your post, is that I am planning to buy a mac, and as a Keyboard player, MIDI is very important to me, and therefore I got a bit scared when I read your post title. That is why I clicked on it, and read it. Maybe a lot of the other "14" are like me, wondering what problems mac has with MIDI.

About your MIDI problem:
As I mentioned before, I am a keyboard player, and I like to use as many different sounds as possible in my live performances (5 or 6 is my current limit, and I hate MIDI playback) therefore I has been looking for over two years for something to help me switch sounds easily, but I have not found it yet. And as an electronics engineer, I decided to make my own little gadget for this purpose And because of this, I know a bit about MIDI.
Here are some suggestions of the cause of your problems
1:
MIDI has 16 channels, and most commercial midi players support only 16 tracks. The reason for this is they thought that there would be no need for more than one track per channel, wich makes sense. But the proffesional MIDI recording software that you use, has more tracks to make big arrangements more tidy.
Maybe your advanced MIDI files uses more than 16 tracks?
Solution:
MIDI arrangements can be treated as audio arrangements, merge down the tracks to maximum 16 tracs, and use only the first 16 tracs (e.g. 0-15 or 1-16)
2:
MIDI is a very advanced language. It tells the synth how to play. MIDI has instructions about what instrument, volume, velocity, note, pedal ++ is used. Extreme examples are: The piano lid is 32% opened, The guitar microphone is placed 7" away, 2" over and 3" left to the hole. According to the MIDI spec. the synth must ignore MIDI instructions that are not of interest. Usually synths come with a MIDI implementation chart that describes the implemented instructions. These charts are hard to read for people that have not studied MIDI.
Solution:
Try a more advanced synth, or MIDI player.
3:
SysEx - System Exclusive. MIDI synths usually has extra functions that are not standarized. KORG keyboards has functions Roland does not have, and the other way around. KORG MonoPoly has functions KORG Polysix does not have, and the other way around. This is much like doctors talking to doctors and mechanics talking to mechanics. They all use the same language, but some use words that only a few understand. (English - Human language, MIDI - Instrument language).
Some SysEx messages also tells the instrument how to sound by sending a wave file through MIDI.
Solution:
Use the same setup on playback as you used on recording.
4:
Human error. Did you press play, are the devices connected, do they work, are they on, did you remember to connect the power cord, do you have a file to play, is it a MIDI - and not a BAT file, are you playing the MIDI file on a device that supports MIDI playback, are you dreaming?
Solution:
Find the problem, and try to solve it, or find something else to do.

I think this covers the most common MIDI problems you may stumble across, and I hope it helped you. (I just had to have problem 4 on the list - just for laughs )

I solved this a long time ago. In the Mac community there are many that believe that their computers are perfect and there is nothing that can be done to make them better. After many years of using PC's to make pro MIDI, I had to come to the conclusion that the only Macs that will do pro MIDI are the high-end machines that will let you plug in a sound card or a lower-end MIDI with an external playback device plugged in. As for software, you have to pay for a quality program like Finale, Sibelius, Logic or the like to get a good finished product. Quick Time plays MP3 with no problems but it will overload and quite if your MIDI is too complex. All my MIDI is 16 channel but there are quite a few note and other events that need processing power. I never had problems with them on PC. I plan to take a disc and check out the playback on a core 2 duo machine and see if the additional processing power solves the problem, but I strongly suspect the Quick time synth.