All MIDI files in the AD2 library are tagged with a Style and if it’s a Fill or a Beat. You can do this on your own files too.
Fills
If you create your own midi files you just have to add “_F_” to the file name and it will be considered a “Fill” in the Beats Browser. All other files are considered “Beats”.
Styles
There is also a “_C_” tag, for Style. Add “_C_Mushroom Metal” to the midi file name and it will show up as “Mushroom Metal” in the Style column in AD, and also in the “Style” dropdown menu. If you do not add a style tag, the Style column will simply be empty.
Grouped MIDI files
Most Beats are part of a group of related files (clicking a file in the “Main” list reveals all the “Variants” in the list next to it). You can add this functionality to your own files easily, by adding special “tags” to the names of your MIDI files.
Example: Let’s say you have 3 files with a similar feel, and you want to group them.
Adding the tag “_V_” to the file name tells AD2that the files are variations of the same thing and that they should be grouped:
- MyCoolBeat_V_Bridge.mid
- MyCoolBeat_V_Chorus.mid
- MyCoolBeat_V_Verse.mid
The part of the file name before “_V_” (i.e. “MyCoolBeat”) must be the same for all 3 files, and is shown in the "Main" list.
The part after “_V_” is the name of the variation and is shown in the "Variants" list.
But which Variant is selected as the default when you click 'MyCoolBeat' in the Main list? Well you decide that, by putting the tag“_G_” in the name of that file. Example:
- MyCoolBeat _V_Bridge.mid
- MyCoolBeat _V_Chorus_G_.mid
- MyCoolBeat _V_Verse.mid
Here the file “MyCoolBeat _V_Chorus _G_.mid” will be the default selection.
Note: The tags “_V_” and “_G_” are never shown in the Beat Browser, they are just there to tell AD2 how to display grouped files.