[Tutorial] Getting Started with Sekaiju! - How to Compose a MIDI!

This is an unscripted quick-start guide for you to get started with Sekaiju. Leave a comment if this helped you, or if you have any questions!

[@Elytrii]

simple midi editors are boring this is nice (this is actually advanced and to my liking and shows way more than other piano rolls)

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

Simple interface, yet uncompromising. You have TOTAL control of the midi in every aspect. 👍

[@sobaddoom]

Thank you so much for making this. Having all of the basics consolidated in one place is so fantastic. Been putting off learning how to make midis for too many years now. I think this might finally get me started!

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

I really hope this helps you get started! Good luck :)

[@gregor1O1]

Very helpful indeed. Thank you for making this!

[@bedrockcastle777]

Great video! I've got a couple questions, though. I'm making a MIDI that shifts time signature and tempo a few times. I'm finished with the song, but when I shift it over one measure to the left so it'll loop properly (as shown at 10:12), it doesn't shift the time sig./tempo changes and leaves them in the same place, which offsets everything. It also leaves all my pitch bends in the same place, which I want to avoid having to redraw. 1: Is there a way to make the time sig./tempo changes and pitch bends shift along with the measures? 2: Is there a way to manually move pitch bends without having to delete and redraw them?

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

These issues can be solved, yes! For issue 1: Make sure you highlight the top-most channel, (dark blue by default), the time signature, tempo, etc events are stored in this channel so make sure it's included when selecting everything else! For issue 2: You can select *just* the pitch bends by going into piano roll view, enabling the channel(s) you want to select the pitch bends of, then in the bottom right corner, enabling pitch bend, but disable *everything* else, including velocity. Now when you select on the graph at the bottom of your screen you'll be selecting only the pitch bend events After you have selected the bends, you can move them by either returning to the track list window and moving it like you did for issue 1 above, OR, you can move these events by going to the top left corner and selecting [Edit -> Modify Event's Time] and then selecting how much to move it by this way. I hope this helps!

[@bedrockcastle777]

@@Dragonfly_Doom Thanks so much! This fixed both my issues, but there's a new problem. The MIDI doesn't loop properly now. It gets to the end of the song, and then there's about two and a half measures of dead silence, and then it loops back to the start. Any idea on how I could fix this?

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

@@bedrockcastle777 Yep, also just as easy to solve once you know how. :) Simply select a few measures after your song in all channels from within the tracklist view, you should notice a few "empty" boxes now light up as though they've been selected. These boxes hold the "Track End" event, simply drag them as far left as possible and they'll line up with the end of the final note within their respective channels. That should solve the issue!

[@bedrockcastle777]

​@@Dragonfly_Doom Thanks, this helped out a ton! I really appreciate it.

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

@@bedrockcastle777 You're most welcome; good luck composing! 👍

[@TVdinnermasterchef]

Amazing, thanks. I was wondering how to do bends for ages and gave up. Now I can write useless bendy wank notes instead of useless non-bendy wank notes. One question though, how do I control letting notes ring for an acoustic section? PowerTab has a button for that, but I have a feeling it's more difficult in Sekaiju

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

wanky bends are the best bends :P As for the ringing out note; do you have any examples? For example, does PowerTab let you export as MIDI? If so, you could open that exported MIDI in Sekaiju and take a look at what events it's using to create that effect. :)

[@TVdinnermasterchef]

@@Dragonfly_Doom PowerTab doesn't, but I convert using Tux Guitar, so I suppose I can see if that does the ringing notes and see whether there's something I can do there. Thanks. An example would be the intro to Stairway to heaven, where each note is plucked as the previous one 'rings' in the background, creating a chord one note at a time.

[@phobos2723]

I just wanted to know how to palm mute :c Thanks anyway, I learned a lot actually from this tutorial

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

You can simulate this a bit by using a lower velocity and shorter notes - you gotta get creative to achieve some sounds as there often isn't actually a specific instrument or, in this case, a way to "play" the instrument

[@maudjito]

in Guitar Pro 4 and 5, a Palm Mute has a little lower velocity than normal and 75% note length

[@Tv_sam123]

Hey nice tutorial, Wish i was so creative with music like i see on your vids

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

Only one way to get there - give it a go! :)

[@philipdanziger5081]

How did you get the note names (A0, Bb0, etc) to appear on the left end of the piano roll? Mine is unlabeled piano keys.

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

Sorry for the long delay in replying to this! It's to do with the interface scale, the more zoomed in you are, the more space there is for this information to be displayed. You can find + and - buttons on the bottom right hand corner of the piano roll section (Above the event graph!) which allow you to zoom in and out. You can also configure sekaiju's window settings by going to Setup -> Options and testing out the settings here, which will then store them as the new defaults for when you re-open Sekaiju at a later date. On the piano roll I have the following settings (screenshot linked below) i.gyazo.com/d4bd445c410778cc24a2794e3c9bee1f.png

[@Kuraitou]

@@Dragonfly_Doom You absolute legend. I was looking for this exact information but everything related to this program is basically ungooglable. Thanks!

[@DJV_TF]

Nice video Dragonfly, but I can't find the option to show me which note I am pressing, as shown at the left side of the piano roll at the video. I can only see integer numbers, and I cannot change it, making me difficult to know in which key am I playing. Thanks in advance.

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

You can make this show by expanding the size of the piano roll. If you go to Setup -> Options, there's some options here under the Piano Roll tab for zoom scale defaults. Change these values as follows: Scale of Key: 12 Scale of Velocity: 1 Scale of Time: 8 Confirm the settings then restart Sekaiju, hopefully now you should be able to see more information on the left hand side of the piano roll. :)

[@DukeOnkled]

I'm not terribly far along in the video, but is there a reason why instruments don't seem to work in the first measure?

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

That's explained later on in the video. :)

[@DukeOnkled]

@@Dragonfly_Doom Figures, serves me right for being impatient. Thanks for the help!

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

All good. :D

[@superdepressif6047]

I have issue composing, I don't know what sounds good, I don't know where to start, in the video you said your sample is awful I thought it was pretty good in the given amount of time. I wonder if my brain is incapable of composing or be creative :c

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

Don't let it get to you!! A lot of "knowing what sounds good" comes from spending time both listening to music and writing your own music. If you make something that you personally enjoy listening to, then that's all that matters! A good way to learn is to try and disassemble songs you like. See what information you can gain from other people's works and let it inspire you! There's a plethora of good KZbin channels that can help break down what makes a song good, and can also teach you music theory. Go check out people like Adam Neely, 12tone, Shady Cicada and see how that might help you. :)

[@superdepressif6047]

@@Dragonfly_Doom Thanks for the advice I appreciate it :) I'm gonna try reproducing songs I like to get used to the software and see where it leads me. I'll also check your recommendations thanks!

[@dct028]

Hi, I have used sekaiju years ago but I forgot if it had the option to record your midi sequence as audio once you're done composing. Thanks in advance!

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

I don't believe it does? I generally record the input manually with Audacity, though that's a SLOW method (real time recording). I know there's a wide variety of applications that convert MIDI to MP3 or WAV using the settings you specify, I've just not used them. :p Try searching online :)

[@Portponky]

great stuff, it really makes me want to get into making midis. Is the midi you made here available? I want to use it in a doom wad.

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

I hope you take the time to give making music a go! As for the MIDI I wrote here, no, it's not available. That said, I have posted my MIDI albums on my website, which can be downloaded for free and used in Doom maps (with credit, of course) here: www.dfdoom.com/midi-music/

[@sereceius270]

how do i change the .sf2?

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

Sekaiju uses whatever soundfont your operating system is configured to use. I've been able to use VirtualMidiSynth, a separate program, to change the soundfont to a different .sf2 file. Hope this helps! :)

[@Grimosaur]

Is there any way to 'hide' certain notes on the automation window? Because when trying to change the velocity of a note that plays at the same time as another note, you can only change both of their velocities at the same time so you have to drag one note into an empty space to change it and then drag it back, which is alright I guess but it really seems like there should be an easier way to do that haha

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

In this instance I use a more controlled method: Select the notes you want to change the velocities of, then at the top of the window go to "Event -> Modify Event's Velocity". Hope this helps! :D

[@jmohammed2003]

hi, how do i find the songs that i have saved in sekaiju

[@SteffLoui88]

how do you add slides? For e.g swanee whistle or strings or trombone?

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

See 18:05, it's covered in this video. :)

[@DukeOnkled]

Okay, actual question, do you or other composers have certain track velocity/volume/expression settings you start with so that everything's the correct loudness when imported into a WAD?

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

I personally work with Sekaiju's defaults and just mix and balance from there. I typically push bass instruments louder in the mix and balance everything else from there - hope that helps!

[@DukeOnkled]

@@Dragonfly_Doom I tried doing that, but for some odd reason all the volume levels per track are messed up when I import it into a Doom WAD. All of the instruments other than the bass guitar are ultra quiet when the MIDI's played in GZDoom or DSDADoom. This is despite it sounding perfectly fine in Sekaiju. What's more, I've been toying with velocity and it doesn't seem to have any affect on the MIDI when it's imported. The whole situation is very confusing.

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

@@DukeOnkled When you say "imported", are you converting the MIDI to Doom's MUS format? Because if you are... don't do that, just leave it as MIDI. 😅 Otherwise I'm not sure I could begin to guess what's going on here without a copy of the MIDI and the WAD version you have too.

[@DukeOnkled]

@@Dragonfly_DoomAh, I should've specified. I just mean importing the .mid file into the WAD via Slade. I can make a thread on Doomworld, if their verification email system ever decides to work.

[@straubie842]

Can I use Sekaiju to convert a file from MIDI Type 1 to MIDI Type 0? Can I move MIDI Events and Meta -Events from one track to another?

[@Dragonfly_Doom]

I haven't attempted this myself but I see no reason why not as long as Sekaiju is able to open the MIDI initially. Try toying arond in the Events View. Good luck!

[@straubie842]

Thank you!@@Dragonfly_Doom