Extract .mid file from .ptx file

[isherwoodme]

Is there a possible way to extract MIDI data from a session file without opening Pro Tools? Someone asked on Facebook and thought maybe someone here had a better answer than "no".

Thanks for any advice I can pass on.

I'm not on a Mac currently, but in the past, I know you could "look inside" file containers to examine what was in them by right-clicking on it and there was an option there, I don't see that option on my PC to look inside the .ptx file. Maybe it's possible, likely not, I just wanted to examine every angle.

Thanks!

[junkgear]

I'm not saying it isn't possible, because with enough effort, I'm sure someone could figure it out, but it is not something you can easily do.
First of all, the ptx file format is not public so no one except Avid knows what's in there. Second, just looking at the content of the file, it does not seem to store MIDI info as a standard MIDI file. There are no chunk markers in the file, so they must be storing it in their own format and only write it in MIDI file format when you export from a session.

Hope that helps a little.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by isherwoodme

I'm not on a Mac currently, but in the past, I know you could "look inside" file containers to examine what was in them by right-clicking on it and there was an option there.

You are confusing things here. You are talking about the Mac package format that hides files inside a package which is really just a directory of normal files. Pro Tools plugins and the Pro Tools app are examples of packages. A Pro Tools session file is just a single file, not a package.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by isherwoodme

Is there a possible way to extract MIDI data from a session file without opening Pro Tools? Someone asked on Facebook and thought maybe someone here had a better answer than "no".

Thanks for any advice I can pass on.

I'm not on a Mac currently, but in the past, I know you could "look inside" file containers to examine what was in them by right-clicking on it and there was an option there, I don't see that option on my PC to look inside the .ptx file. Maybe it's possible, likely not, I just wanted to examine every angle.

Thanks!

Short answer: No.
Longer answer: Whether you can extract MIDI from a PT session depends on whether the MIDI was recorded to begin with. Not everybody that records vi's records the MIDI. This is the easy way. There is a very difficult way if you have Melodyne or something that can do pitch to MIDI but that only really works even half-way decent on single note lines and not all that good on chordal work.