Quick easy way to play midi files on a Mac. Great little App ★★★★

I came across this program yesterday and decided to buy it as I wanted a quick and easy way to send midi to the open source program Sonic Pi which is just adding midi in/out facilities in its development version. I liked the easy way of routing midi to the available ports from the popup menu on the small uncluttered screen, and the convenient link on the window menu to access the Mac’s Aduio Midi setup utility. When playing midi you get a clear indication of output on a channel basis, together with an indication of time signature and tempo setting. A nice feature is being able to use the up and down arrows to change the tempo very easily, even as the piece is playing. I made use of the loop facility to play a looping midi piece repeatedly as a backing track with which to work in Sonic Pi. I would give the app a 5 rating, but I reduce it to 4 as the loop is not a true loop in the midi sense, but rather just restarting the file immediately when it finishes playing, so there is a slight glitch in tempo on the first beat on the repeat. However this is a small point, and for most people will probably not be too signficant. You can also use the loop function to play a sequence of midi files “dropped” onto the MidiPlayer screen, one after the other. Actually if I could I would rate it about 4.8. It is a great little app and well worth the £1.99 I would also say that I raised the “glitch” with the company and had a quick detailed response, with a willingness to look at it on their development list, so great support as well.

Does what it’s supposed to do ★★★★★

MIDIPlayer X plays midi files – ‘is that it?’ I hear you say. Well, ‘Yes’. However, it does it well, it does it every time and, if like me you have thousands of music files in midi format which Apple has decided is no longer relevant (who do they think they are?), this little App fills a very large hole in OS X. I like the fact that ther are some minor adjustments you can make to the midi whilst listening to it (speed up/down and display in beats/seconds). I’ve tried a plethora of midi apps trying to find one that works every time, this is it!!! Recommended.