RE: rendering MIDI files to WAV/MP3

Simon,

The best way I have found to convert MIDI files to WAVE files is to play
your MIDI through an external sound source (I use an old Roland Sound Canvas
& Alesis D4) and then route the output of those sound modules back into your
computer and record as a WAVE file (I use GoldWave to record and clean up
the WAVE files).

This method is probably the most expensive and time consuming...but if you
want quality this is the best way.

Mostly I use this method to record drum tracks...but I have started
recording entire songs now and they turn out really good - at least to
me...if you want I can point you to some examples of the output (in MP3
format) on my web site.

BTW, I use MIDIPERL to create all the drum MIDI files on my web site...its a
great module that has made my life so much easier in creating drum
transcripts - that you can hear and see!

Good Luck,
Scott

http://www.webthumper.com/drums



-----Original Message-----
From: Markus Kollmar [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 1:53 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: rendering MIDI files to WAV/MP3


Hello Simon,

I'm no expert, but I hope following will help you:

As you know, midi is a very tiny music-format, because it basically does
not contain a -real- sound (ok, there exists a
midi-sample-dump-standard, but it is not very public (to slow,...)).
So Midi only says: Oh, please play a piano sound...

Now there are at least 2 possibilities the sound could be played:

1. There is a sample-memory (often rom) on your soundcard, which
contains some audio-samples for each midi-instrument. The midi language
triggers that sound and the soundcard plays it (at audio-output).
Memory is expensive, so cheap soundcards have not much of it (which
causes that the sound isn't so good).

2. The audio-data for each instrument is at a other place (disk, ram)
and will be send to soundcard from a special software, which is
triggered by the midi-data. The advantage is: you can use the
audio-sounds you did enjoy - with high qualitiy (if you have much disk
or memory space...)
I think soundfont is more like this, but it needs special soundcard...
For information on soundfont see:
	http://www.soundfont.com/faqs.html#wherespec

A very public converter is timidity:
	http://www.onicos.com/staff/iz/timidity/

By the way, if we search for a perl-way:
Perhaps you will examine the perl-posibilities at www.cpan.org/. If
there isn't something for your need, maybe you want to create such a
converter by yourself?

Hop I could help a little...

Bye,

Markus