Fix X|V Channels - FFXIV Channel Fixer

The Fix X|V Channels tool provides a one-click, deterministic channel fixer that sets up the complete MidiBard2 channel mapping for FFXIV Bard Performance. It requires no AI calls, no API key, and works fully offline.

💡 Find it in: Toolbar button Fix X|V or menu Tools → Fix X|V Channels

How It Works

The fixer analyzes your MIDI file by track name, auto-detects the best mode, and applies a 5-step algorithm to set up all channel assignments and program changes. The entire operation is wrapped in a single undo action.

1️⃣ Analyze

Scans all tracks and identifies FFXIV instruments by track name. Counts existing program changes and guitar variants.

Before anything is changed, the fixer checks that the file is an FFXIV MIDI: every track that contains notes must be named after an FFXIV instrument. If some are not, the fixer stops and lists them by track number and name so you can rename them first; tracks without notes (tempo, title or empty tracks) are ignored, and a General MIDI drum track that plays on the percussion channel (CH9) is accepted as it is. Rebuild (Full Reassignment) is only offered while every melodic track with notes sits within the first 16 tracks, because MIDI has 16 channels - larger files can still use Preserve (Minimal Changes). The File Analysis box shows how many tracks contain notes and how many of those are not FFXIV instruments.

2️⃣ Clean

Removes existing program_change events. Rebuild mode removes all; Preserve mode removes only guitar channels.

3️⃣ Migrate

Assigns each track a unique MIDI channel (T0→CH0, T1→CH1, etc.). Percussion goes to CH9, and CH9 stays with the percussion: a melodic track at track index 9 takes the next free channel. Guitar tracks get 5 channels for variant switching.

4️⃣ Program

Inserts correct program_change events at tick 0 for every channel on every track. Preserve mode also detects mid-song guitar variant switches and inserts PCs at switch points.

5️⃣ Report

Shows a rich HTML result summary with channel mapping table, removed/inserted program changes, track renames, and undo hint.

Two Modes

When you click Fix X|V Channels, a confirmation dialog appears with two modes. The tool auto-detects the best mode based on your file, but you can override the selection.

Mode selection dialog - auto-detects Rebuild or Preserve based on file analysis

Mode	What It Does	Best For
🔄 Rebuild (Full Reassignment)	Maps every track to a fresh channel (T0→CH0, T1→CH1, …) Percussion tracks → CH9 (Timpani stays on track index - it's tonal) CH9 is kept for percussion - a melodic or guitar track at track index 9 moves to the next free channel, and no reserved guitar channel lands on CH9 Removes all existing program changes and non-essential events (CC, PitchBend, SysEx) Moves all events to the correct channel Reserves channels for all 5 guitar variants, even if only 1-2 are present as tracks Inserts `program_change` at tick 0 for every instrument on every track Reserves channels for all 5 guitar variants - preparing the file for guitar variant switching in subsequent Preserve runs Normalizes all note velocities to 127 (FFXIV has no dynamics)	New or unconfigured MIDI files, files exported from a DAW, files with scrambled channels
🛡️ Preserve (Minimal Changes)	Keeps all existing channel assignments (uses `assignedChannel()`) - percussion tracks included Non-guitar channels completely untouched - no PCs removed, no events moved (unless the optional instrument re-sync is enabled) Recognizes reserved guitar channels from a previous Rebuild (e.g. CH5, CH6 for unused variants) Refreshes guitar program changes at tick 0 and writes the switch PCs at variant change points anew - running Preserve again does not stack them, on reserved guitar channels either Auto-renames guitar tracks if first note sits on a different variant's channel (an octave suffix like `+1` stays) Normalizes all note velocities to 127 (FFXIV has no dynamics)	Already configured files needing a guitar touch-up, files after manual note editing, files partially fixed by MidiPilot AI

Auto-Detection Logic

The tool auto-selects the mode based on these criteria:

Rebuild is selected when the file has FFXIV instrument names but no guitar program at the start of the song
Preserve is selected when a channel starts with a guitar program, or when a guitar track has notes on more than one guitar channel (indicating a pre-configured file)

MidiPilot and MCP clients (setup_channel_pattern) choose the mode by the same rules, so the dialog proposes the mode they would run.

Optional: Re-sync Non-Guitar Instruments (Preserve mode)

When you rename a track to a different instrument - say Trumpet becomes Trombone - the track name changes, but the channel's program change still plays the old instrument. Preserve mode has an optional checkbox for exactly this case:

☑️ Re-sync non-guitar channel instruments from track names - rewrites a channel's program change at tick 0 when it no longer matches the track name. Available under the Preserve mode selection; off by default.

Preserve mode with the instrument re-sync checkbox

Preserve mode with the optional instrument re-sync enabled

What it does - and deliberately does not do:

Only mismatched channels are touched - a channel whose program already matches its track name is left byte-identical
Only the program change at tick 0 is rewritten - instrument switches you placed later in the song survive
Running the fixer again changes nothing - once names and programs agree, repeated Preserve runs with the option enabled are no-ops
Percussion and the drum channel are never touched - the drum instruments follow their track names at playback; Timpani (a tonal instrument) is re-synced like any melodic track
Shared channels follow the playing track - when several tracks point at one channel, the track whose first note sounds earliest on that channel decides the instrument
Tracks without notes on a channel cannot claim it - an empty or moved-away track never overwrites another track's instrument

Result Summary

After the fix completes, a structured result popup shows exactly what was changed:

Result summary - channel mapping table, program change statistics, and undo hint

The result includes:

Mode used - Rebuild or Preserve
Channel mapping table - Track → Instrument → Channel → Program number
Removed program changes - how many old PCs were cleaned up
Guitar switches - how many mid-song variant switches were inserted
Velocity normalization - how many notes were set to maximum velocity
Track renames - any guitar tracks auto-renamed to match their actual variant
Guitar notes on other channels (Preserve) - guitar notes that sit on a channel without a guitar program, for example the Flute's, get no switch program change; the result lists them with their track and channel so you can move them onto a guitar channel

Before & After

Left: channels and programs unconfigured • Right: MidiBard2 mapping applied

Rebuild Mode Demo

Rebuild - full channel reassignment from scratch

Preserve Mode Demo

Preserve - minimal changes, only refreshes guitar channels

Supported Instruments

The fixer recognizes all FFXIV Bard Performance instruments by track name. Track names must match exactly (case-sensitive). Octave suffixes like +1 or -2 are automatically stripped.

Category	Instrument	GM Program	Channel Rule
Keyboard	Piano	0	Track index
Keyboard	Harp	46	Track index
Wind	Fife	72	Track index
	Flute	73	Track index
	Oboe	68	Track index
	Panpipes	75	Track index
Reed	Clarinet	71	Track index
Reed	Saxophone	65	Track index
Brass	Trumpet	56	Track index
	Trombone	57	Track index
	Horn	60	Track index
	Tuba	58	Track index
Strings	Violin	40	Track index
	Viola	41	Track index
	Cello	42	Track index
	Double Bass	43	Track index
	Fiddle	45	Track index
Plucked	Lute	25	Track index
Guitar	ElectricGuitarClean	27	5 shared channels with mid-song variant switching
	ElectricGuitarMuted	28
	ElectricGuitarOverdriven	29
	ElectricGuitarPowerChords	30
	ElectricGuitarSpecial	31
Percussion	Timpani	47	Track index (tonal)
	Snare Drum	118	CH9
	Bass Drum	117	CH9
	Cymbal	119	CH9
	Bongo	116	CH9

Guitar Variant Switching

FFXIV electric guitar supports 5 tonal variants that share channels via program_change events. The fixer handles this automatically:

5 channels reserved - Rebuild mode ensures all 5 guitar variants get a channel, even if your file only uses 1-2 variants. These reserved channels persist across saves and are recognized by Preserve mode.
Reserved channels visible in Preserve - when you manually place notes on a reserved guitar channel (e.g. Guitar harmonics on CH6), Preserve mode detects them for auto-rename and switch-point insertion.
Mid-song switches - when notes jump between guitar channels, a program_change is inserted at the switch point
Auto-rename - in Preserve mode, if a guitar track's first note is on a different variant's channel, the track is automatically renamed to match; an octave suffix like +1 stays
Program from the track name - in Preserve mode, a guitar track that plays on a channel without a guitar program (for example a Viola track you renamed to ElectricGuitarOverdriven) gets the program of its own variant on that channel; the analysis dialog lists such tracks. An empty guitar track parked on another instrument's channel leaves that channel alone, and so does a guitar track on a channel another instrument plays on - the channel keeps that instrument, and the analysis dialog and the result list the guitar track so you can move its notes.
Your instrument choice counts - when you give a guitar channel another variant with the channel's instrument dialog, Preserve keeps that program at tick 0 and writes the switches with it, and a guitar track that starts on that channel is renamed to match

Validation - Check FFXIV Playability

Setting the channels up is one half of the job; the other is making sure the arrangement is something a performer can actually play. Tools → Check FFXIV Playability… examines the file the way the game will play it - notes colliding on the same tick, stacked duplicates, range, track names, channel spread and voice load - and offers the matching repair for each kind of finding, this fixer among them.

👉 Full documentation: Check FFXIV Playability - the checks and the in-game rules behind them, reading the findings list, the selection-scoped repairs, the AI analysis, and the validate_ffxiv tool.

Undo

The entire Fix X|V Channels operation is wrapped in a single undo action. Press Ctrl+Z to revert all channel assignments, program changes, and track renames at once.

Tips

Name your tracks correctly - the fixer identifies instruments purely by track name. Use the exact FFXIV instrument names listed above
Run Rebuild first - for fresh files, always start with Rebuild mode to get a clean baseline
Use Preserve for touch-ups - if you only need to fix guitar variants after manual editing, Preserve keeps everything else intact
Split the drums first - the FFXIV Drum Split turns a GM drum track into named percussion tracks the fixer routes automatically
Combine with MidiPilot - use "Convert this for FFXIV Bard performance" in Agent mode to compose, then Fix X|V to clean up channels
Check afterwards - run Check FFXIV Playability once the channels are set up; it needs no AI and its findings are clickable. Ask MidiPilot to run validate_ffxiv when you want the same verdict inside a conversation