New to MIDI - beginner questions

[jcm2016]

Hello - I have a PSR SX900 and it's my first arranger.

I've never worked with MIDI until recently when I've tried some of ones that come pre-loaded with the keyboard.  That has made me want to try some others.

I see that there are many many MIDI files on here, and also some for sale commercially.  A few thoughts:

1.  I've heard that some MIDI files come with viruses.  How do I protect against that?  Everyone on here seems very decent, but still, how do I know? 
2.  How can I tell the difference between a quality file that someone has put some effort into and garbage?  It seems that there are people that have quality files that they are giving away, as well as people trying to sell garbage.  How do I tell the difference?
3.  I've seen some that allow me to hear it in advance, but when I do that through my phone, it sounds terrible.  I believe that's because my phone doesn't have the sounds etc and therefore is barely understanding the file.  How do I preview without running it through the keyboard?  Wouldn't that mean getting the MIDI file, then onto a USB, then into the keyboard, to try it?   I believe I can connect the keyboard to my phone with bluetooth, so I can have the keyboard act as speakers for my phone.  Will that mean the keyboard will interpret the sample MIDI file?  Or is the sample just an audio file?

Thank you in advance.

[Jeff Hollande]

Hi  :

Maybe too many questions in one message  ?

Best regards, JH

[acparker]

Although I don't do much with downloaded midi files from the internet, I'll make an attempt at some short answers.

1.  To the best of my knowledge, midi files (.mid) cannot contain viruses.  They can be poorly made and crash a keyboard.  But rebooting the keyboard will fix that issue.  After that, don't try to play that midi file.  You do have to be careful of packaging, however.  If you attempt to download a .mid file, and it is a different format, especially something like .exe, it could contain a virus that will affect your computer.  Check everything with a virus checker, even if it is only Windows Defender.

2.  Without listening to the midi file, (or previous experience with the creator) you can't.  That's just the way it is.

3.  When auditioning a midi file away from the keyboard,  I ignore the voices as best I can.  I'm listening for the harmonies and the rhythms.  Does it sound like all the parts are there?  Can I hear the melody line(s)?  Is everything playing in time? If no, I move on.  If yes, then I will make the effort to put it on the keyboard, where I can adjust the voices to my liking.     

Hope this helps,

Adam

[mikf]

I am afraid that styles, midi files etc are a bit of a lottery. Some are great, some are rubbish. If they are free, you might find a large proportion are not good and you just have to find this by trial and error. If you buy them, normally buying from a reputable company means they are decent. how do you know if they are reputable, take a look through posts here, or just buy one to see their typical quality. If you buy one from a company and it is not good, you would just not buy any more, and not much money wasted. So other than wasting time, there is not much downside.
Never really heard of them doing permanent harm to a keyboard, so thats not a likely risk.
I just mention though that I don't think you bought your keyboard to be a glorified record player, so while midis can be fun and sometimes useful, don't lose sight of the main reason you have a keyboard ie learn to make your own music.
Mike

[johan]

1. If the file extension is .mid and you do not change this, it will not do any harm.
3. Some midi players on pc allow to play the midi file on your keyboard if this is connected to the pc. A good alternative that I use myself is  Coolsoft Virtualmidisynth. This free program replaces the poor Windows midi drivers with one in which you can use SF2 soundfonts for the midi instruments. If you then use an XG compatible soundfont, you get a really nice result playing midi files on your pc. This works both for style players and for midi players.

[jcm2016]

Thanks everyone for the responses, very helpful and much appreciated