The Source Tracks page appears as the first step of the Import Midi process, immediately after the Midi file has been selected for import.

In this first step, the structure the Midi file is displayed.  You can audition the whole, or selected parts of it, and you can view a detailed listing of its contents.

With this information, you can select which tracks you want to import.

Controls

Open Midi File

The folder and filename of the selected Midi file is shown at the top of the page.

Initially, this is the file you selected at the start of the process, but you can select a different file instead with the Open Midi File button.

This means you can easily audition several Midi files, before selecting one to proceed with.

File Info

The vital statistics of the selected Midi file are shown on the right side of the page.  The total duration of the file is shown, in minutes.seconds.cents format.

Below this, the format, track count and resolution (in ticks per quarter note, or Tpq) of the file are displayed.

The events in the file are separated into their tracks and channels, and summarized in the Track/Channel list.

Map

Opens the Midi File Map window, which contains a detailed listing of the contents of the Midi file.  This can be very helpful for investigating import problems or unexpected results.

Track/Channel

This is the main feature of the Source Tracks page, and contains a summary of the events in the Midi file, grouped by their track and/or channel.

With Format 0 files, there is only one track, and the events are summarized by channel number only (eg.  ch.00).  With Format 1 files, there may be several tracks, each with multiple channels, and so events are summarized by the combination of track name and channel number (eg.  Piano/ch.00)

In both cases, there is an additional list item at the top, labelled common, which contains the control events (such as key signatures, time signatures, tempo, master volume and lyrics) that have no channel number and so apply to all tracks.

On the right of each item are counts of the notes and other events (controllers) that it contains, and on the left of each is a checkbox.  These indicate which items are selected for import in the next step of the process.

In general, the common track should always be selected, to include the song's bar structure and the control events mentioned above.

Play All

Auditions all tracks and channels with playback from the beginning.  Playback continues for the full duration of the file, or until the button is pressed again to stop it.

Play Selected

Auditions only the tracks and channels which are selected for import (with the checkboxes).  You can compare this sound with the Play All function to make sure you have selected all of the essential parts of the song.

Playback continues for the full duration of the file, or until the button is pressed again to stop playback.

Play Solo

Auditions only the highlighted item in the Track/Channel list.  You can use this for a close examination of its events of the item, to decide whether to include it for import.

Playback continues for the full duration of the file, or until the button is pressed again to stop playback.

Location

For all three playback modes, the current playback location is displayed, together with a horizontal slider which represents the playback position within the total duration of the song.

The slider is only active during playback, and it can be grabbed with the mouse and dragged to any other location in the song, so you can skip around quickly to audition the sections you are interested in.

View Events

Opens the View Midi Events windows, which shows a detailed listing of the note and control events contained in the highlighted Track/Channel item.

Select None

Deselects all items in the Track/Channel list.  The import process cannot continue unless at least one item is selected.

Select All

Selects all items in the Track/Channel list to be imported.

Autoselect

Automatically selects what seems to be the optimum items in the Track/Channel list for import.

Generally, Songtrix will select all percussion tracks (to be merged into the Drums track) and the four music tracks with the most note events (to feed into the Melody, Riff, Rhythm and Bass tracks).

This is convenient and often ideal, but you may still wish override this selection to replace or include extra tracks, depending on the song.

When the import process begins, or whenever a new Midi file is opened, the Track/Channel list has the Autoselect items included by default.