Most of my editing is done using my own self-written editor that lets me automate most of the repetitive changes I have to make to these files. I also briefly use Anvil Studio for repairing and removing empty channels from the initially converted files. I use Cakewalk for the final touchups at the end,  trimming the ends of the files and adding a fade out.  Sekaiju for adding channel names, tags, etc, and the occasional odd command addition or correction. Any other edits are made manually by converting the MIDI to text and editing it with Notepad++. Fortunately the more functionality I add to my editor, the less I need to make the manual edits. 

I did make an option in my editor to shorten/gap notes recently. I suppose it wouldn't be all that hard to modify the code to lengthen them instead, but that may introduce a whole new series of unexpected results. 

The dropping of attack should only function when there are overlapped notes, otherwise they should use the normal note attack. The strength of the attack will be determined by the expression controller. Of course, exactly what audio output you get depends upon the VST library you use. Not all of them have built in support for legato.

Personally, I still tend to turn down the expression on the 2nd and subsequent notes in a phrase and, yes, it does mean editing each note if you want a "perfect" result. :-( How much time you spend will depend too on the software you use. As an old timer just about to turn eighty, I still use Yamaha XGworks for note input and editing and Yamaha SOL2 with various orchestral libraries.

JohnG

It does sound exactly like what it needs though 😀 

This is often shown in notation with a 'tie' written across the top of two or more notes.

However the MIDI triggered voice has to support this feature and, upon encountering tied notes, misses off the attack portion of the waveform generated. Most good orchestral libraries implement this with brass, woodwind and strings.

It is a desktop application I am building for musicians, keyboard players, MIDI collectors and digital music archivists who have large or messy MIDI/KAR collections.

The goal is simple: make old MIDI archives usable again.

Current focus areas include:

indexing large .mid, .midi and .kar collections

searching and filtering files

listening to files while reviewing them

organizing files into a cleaner library structure

preserving older keyboard, karaoke and floppy-era MIDI archives

I am especially interested in feedback from people who still use, collect, repair, archive or maintain MIDI files and older keyboard song libraries.

I would be very interested to hear what features or workflows would be most useful to other MIDI users and archivists.

The differences between the before and after of splitting strings notes to separate channels is clearly apparent.  I made mp3 files to upload so you can hear the difference, but they rendered too large. 

Loading the before and after mp3 files in to Audacity and then inverting the second one generates a third file of only the auditory differences between the two. The strings are the instrument in question to listen to.  There are a few other glitches cause by the other instruments in the same channels as the strings, which will be ironed out once I port the code to work on the entire track instead of isolating the single instrument (or if run a second pass on the other instruments also).

I am attaching a cut down version of only the "differences" mp3 file, plus the WIP of the original and split MIDI files.  Your playback mileage may vary. 

Using Winamp with CoolSoft VirtualMIDISynth and an assorted curation of soundfonts, the difference for the strings is night and day.  You can clearly hear the unintended emphasis and note twitching at the start of nearly every note as the new pitch bend and/or expression affects the end of the previous note.

It is not so obvious in MIDIPlayer, which is using BassVST - Yamaha S-YXG50.

This process will drastically improve the overall sound quality of this particular soundtrack, and most likely others that I will work on in the future. 

It's pretty obvious I was off by a year. From the tone of your reply I can safely assume you've never made an error like that. 

Nope, never, but then I am neurodivergent (a bit autistic), so it's unsurprising.

I started in 1988 after having bought a Yamaha Electone HS-6 organ and coupled it to an Atari 520ST.

I then moved on to an SW1000-XG card, next an MU128, then MU1000 with PLGs for AN, DX and VL, before I started messing with orchestral VSTs.

I already worked for a UK mainframe manufacturer as a data communications protocol analyst and so the MIDI messages seemed quite straightforward (also an autistic trait). I started in computers in 1966 operating an RCA301.

Now, in my eightieth year, I make orchestral backing tracks for local choirs ... keeps me out of mischief.

Now that is amazingly clever.

Please explain to us how you did that.

In 1982 I was using the Yamaha CS-70M, I think that was the last synth Yamaha made without MIDI Ports.  A year later I was using the DX-7 and then a few years later the TX-816 rack.  

It's pretty obvious I was off by a year. From the tone of your reply I can safely assume you've never made an error like that. 

Now that is amazingly clever.

Please explain to us how you did that.