Ardour and calf-fluidsynth: which midi channel is used?

[hdr]

Hi,
my workflow is like this:
I do some guitar parts with tuxguitar -> export to midi -> import to a ardour midi track -> use calf fluidsynth

By default every channel in calf fluidsynth is Yamaha Grand Piano as instrument.
Usually I want to change the instrument, e.g. to Jazz Guitar.
The problem is I dont know which of the 16 midi channels is used for a specific track.
My solution is changing every midi channels instrument, starting from 1st channel during play. Once I hit the correct channel I can hear the instrument change. But there must be a better way to figure out which channel is used
I tried every menu and option but couldnt find the information which midi channel is used - neither in the track options nor in midi file option.

[12strings2hands]

usually channel 1 is the default for instruments. channel 10 is the default for percussion.
You can look at the midi notes in Ardour by adding 'A-MIDI-Monitor' to the track. The first column is the channel number.
Robin Gareus, author of x42 plugins and one of the Ardour developers, has some essential midi plugins.

[hdr]

Where can I find this Midi-Monitor?

[rghvdberg]

Where can I find this Midi-Monitor?

Should be installed by ardour by default.
It's an internal lv2 plugin. Internal to ardour.

[rghvdberg]

By default ardour sends on all midi channels in a track.
If the midi file has program changes in it, calf fluidsynth should automatically change the program. I assume the General Midi programs are used.

Ardour (binary from ardour.org) comes with it's own GM synth and a generic sf2 player, just in case calf doesn't do the trick. For some users calf plugins give trouble with Ardour. Personally I've never noticed much.

If you have the kxstudio repositories installed you get the same binary as from ardour.org. But it's always highly appreciated if you subscribe or donate to ardour of course.

[bluebell]

Each CALF fluidynth LV2 instance has settings for each channel (soundfont per channel). That's not always what you want and can be confusing.

Fluidsynth-dssi is much simpler. One instance, one soundfont.

[noedig]

You can find the MIDI channel of a MIDI note by hovering the mouse over it in Edit mode:
Press E, then hover over a note. The note name, velocity, and channel is displayed.
Press G to return to normal (grab) mode again.

You can change the channel of all notes in the MIDI region as follows:
Right-click on the region --> first menu entry --> MIDI --> Transform.
Then Set channel to exactly 1.

Finally, you can set the track to only play back on a certain MIDI channel:
Right-click on the track (left of the edit region, where the name/mute/solo are), click "Channel selector...".
Under Playback, select the 3rd option. This will force all MIDI to the chosen channel.

[hdr]

Fluidsynth-dssi is much simpler. One instance, one soundfont.

Yeah, sounds good. I never got why there are so many different synths. If I have the same soundfont in different synths will there be any difference regarding the sound?

@noedig: Thank you so much. That was exactly what I was looking for.