Stolen Track

Using StolenTrack to extract MIDI tracks to ACID tracks

As you may know, one track in ACID can contain multiple MIDI tracks. Each MIDI track can control a separate MIDI instrument on its own MIDI channel. Because of this, ACID cannot allow you to assign MIDI patch information at the ACID track level because there is no way of knowing which MIDI track to send it to. The solution is to extract the MIDI tracks so that each ACID track only contains one MIDI track. Then the patches you assign to the ACID soft synth will be used for that one MIDI track as well. (providing the MIDI track doesn't contain patch change information. If it does, you can just delete it with the List Editor)

This tutorial will show you how to use StolenTrack to extract MIDI tracks into their own ACID tracks. You must download and install StolenTrack before starting this tutorial.

1. Drop a multi track MIDI file onto the ACID timeline and paint it for the duration. (hint: use Ctrl+Paint Tool to paint the entire song with one click!)

2. Double-click on the track number to bring up the Track Properties dialog. Select the General tab you you'll see that there are multiple MIDI tracks assigned to multiple MIDI channels.

3. Press the MIDI Editors button and select StolenTrack from the list on the left, and press Add-> to add it to the list on the right. Then press OK and close the Track Properties dialog. We are done with this track.

4. Select Insert > MIDI Track to insert a new MIDI track into your project.

5. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 to insert StolenTrack into the properties of this new MIDI track. Then select the Stolen Track tab.

6. Select the Aliens tab and press the *** SELECT ALIEN *** bar to select the original multi-channel MIDI track as the alien to steal from.

7. Select the track you want to steal and press the Steal button at the bottom. This will copy the MIDI track into your current ACID track.

8. Close the Track Properties and paint your new MIDI track (Ctrl+Paint Tool) to see the results.

Repeat steps 2 through 7 until you have stolen all the the tracks into new ACID tracks. If you name the MIDI tracks in the original ACID track, those names will show up in Stolen Track and it will be easier to figure out which track you are stealing. Now you can assign a VSTi soft synth to each ACID track, select the patch you like, and that will be the patch that is saved in the ACID project and used for that track.

Happy Composing,