Cubase and QuickTime

I am going to check out a friends G4 PowerBook with 10.3.9 and gobs of RAM that he has Cubase 4 on, everything works fine but to audition some midi files someone has sent him (in GM format) he wanted to connect with the inbuilt QT sound set just for quickness but --- no go.
Does anyone know, is there a definitive "can't be done" type answer to this ?
I have tried over the phone to help him (and gained a healthy respect for helplines in the process) but using Audio/Midi setup and the 'Midi setup' in Cubase gives us no option to select QT.
Cubase will import and display them.
He has an up to date QT Pro and the GM set are set as the default and a Midi player like 'EasyBeat' works with that set so they are there but hidden to Cubase.

Errrrrr, ummmmmmmmmm, any idea's ?

Thanks in advance.

It ain't easy. I'm not that familiar* with Cubase and QT but I get a similar problem when a mate sends me Cubase files and I try to get them into Sonar. He uses hardware synths and forgets to convert them to GM for export.

I have to get him to export to plain GM MIDI and plain audio (wav/mp3/etc), all from the same time mark. These will import and play GM on the sound card hardware synth but I import one at a time and reconfigure the MIDI to the correct channel, synth (not GM) and instrument of choice.

These are plain MIDI files that import to Cubase? - ok so far.
Can he play any MIDI files? - write one and see. What happens? Which synth? - QuickTime?
iTunes does something to QuckTime on windoze, it reconfigures it and it grabs ownership of files without asking.

Cubase should be configured to play plain vanila GM files on its defalt synth. There's one built into windows (M$yuk, but a Mac uses QuickTime - also nbg for home studio), there's often one or two on the sound card, then there's any number of software synths (do these have to be loaded to a 'synth rack' first?), and then off-board hardware synths.

Get Cubase to play any GM, then load one of the files and look at the track properties, reconfigure output synth, channel, patch, etc, to make it play.
But Cubase should be configured to play GM without manual intervention.

* I have got an old ver Cubase and current QT Pro but don't use them much for recording by choice.

Cheers jefrs, i should have said, his is a Mac system but .......

Yes, Cubase works fine though for himself he uses all sorts of other software synths and Reason and they all read and write fine.
QuickTime will open and play them too but i think he wants to import them into Cubase, use the GM instruments in QuickTime to quickly audition and edit if needed any of the files and doesn't want the grief and time of setting up a load of synths

Cubase is seeing nothing when it comes to 'GM' though ..................

Bit of a head scratcher and as it's his Boogie F50 i have been hammering of late i would like to fix it if poss.

Cubase should play a brown wrapper bog-standard GM file out of the box. If it doesn't then its not configured right. Look at the setup or configuration. It should know to play GM on whatever is set as the default synth.

John it could be a matter of changing the midi channel, trying all channels 1 through 16.

For instance in Sonar I have GM drum patterns from Groove Monkey which are coded to midi channel ten, therefore if I'm on a channel other than ten I won't here them.

Another hospital trip first thing and then i'm hoping to drive out and take a look.
I'm hoping it's just a 'settings' type issue, with QT working all over the rest of the machine but not within Cubase it would seem to point to that all right.
Just seems odd that Cubase has no record of any General Midi devices .......... hmmmmmmm.
If i can get drums on Ch10 that will be a start. ;-)
Hope it goes easy, i swear i never did get on with Cubase !! (apologies to the millions that do).

I have tried over the phone to help him (and gained a healthy respect for helplines in the process) but using Audio/Midi setup and the 'Midi setup' in Cubase gives us no option to select QT.
Cubase will import and display them.
He has an up to date QT Pro and the GM set are set as the default and a Midi player like 'EasyBeat' works with that set so they are there but hidden to Cubase.

Errrrrr, ummmmmmmmmm, any idea's ?

Thanks in advance.

John I should have read your posts more carefully I thought you were dealing with a synth in Cuabse.

So he wants to audition a midi file through QT Pro instead of going through the grief of setting up Cubase for auditioning?

Does QT Pro even read midi files? I have an old version that won't but if it does it could still be the midi channel setting. If there is a way to change midi channels within QT Pro.

I'm really confused.

So he wants to audition a midi file through QT Pro instead of going through the grief of setting up Cubase for auditioning?
Does QT Pro even read midi files? I have an old version that won't but if it does it could still be the midi channel setting. If there is a way to change midi channels within QT Pro.

Yes he just wants to ave a quick listent hrough what seems like a CD full of tracks.
QT has the 'default' GM sound set for the Mac, but i think the problem is sorted now.
Funny thing is every App he has that needs a GM set will default straight to the QT one so we just downloaded a little player called 'easybeat' which has some simple editing too and sure enough it picks up QT so he can hear them and any he wants to keep he will drag into Cubase and assign his own sounds that way.
The problem seems to be some Cubase magic of some sort, it just will not hook up with the QT GM set however we tried it, i must admit i'm not a fan of Cubase on the Mac only because i haven't used it so it could be some simple but unique to Cubase setting i can't find.
I'm still a 'good guy' though and can keep borrowing the F50 so "job done".

Thanks.