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Topic: Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3? (Read 10323 times) previous topic - next topic
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Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

I am using Windows XP and wanted to know what the optimal and cheapest way to convert from Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?  I have a one time job of 3 files and was looking for any freeware that would accomplish this task for me.  Thanks Phil

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #1 –
Quote
I am using Windows XP and wanted to know what the optimal and cheapest way to convert from Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?  I have a one time job of 3 files and was looking for any freeware that would accomplish this task for me.  Thanks Phil
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=289247"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Download a freeware wave editor program (eg audacity) and record it directly from the "stereo mix" (or equiv) input of the sound record mixer. Most sound cards have the ability to record directly from their own analog output, this input is usually called "stereo mix", look for something similar on yor recording mixer panel.

BTW, you just play the midi (or whatever sound source you want to record) from Windows media player (or whatever) and record it at the same time from your wave editor software. It's very easy.

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #2 –
You might want to try foobar2000 (using kode54's foo_midi).
"To understand me, you'll have to swallow a world." Or maybe your words.

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #3 –
Little known fact that iTunes (free download) can do this for you!

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #4 –
Quote
Download a freeware wave editor program (eg audacity) and record it directly from the "stereo mix" (or equiv) input of the sound record mixer. Most sound cards have the ability to record directly from their own analog output, this input is usually called "stereo mix", look for something similar on yor recording mixer panel.

BTW, you just play the midi (or whatever sound source you want to record) from Windows media player (or whatever) and record it at the same time from your wave editor software. It's very easy.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=289543"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Does this catch the output while it's still digital?  Or does it re-digitize the analog output?

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #5 –
Quote
You might want to try foobar2000 (using kode54's foo_midi).
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Actually, the virtually only thing I use Winamp for today are playing midi's (I can't really get myself to totally uninstall it, for sentimental reasons). I use Winamps in_midi, in which I load the kXsynth (as I use the [a href="http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1]kX Project[/url] drivers with my SB card, and yes, I will buy a better card when the money is right....). The kXsynth depend on loading SoundFonts to make sound. So you'll need a good GM compatible SoundFont for this to be useful. I got one (good & big) from someone at some point, and this is still the best sounding setup I found for midi's....

For any other format foobar2000 are my player now....

Anyways, the only working way to "convert" midi to wav is as uart said, to find a good sounding setup for midi playback and record with a wave editor (like Audacity) while you play them. Afterwards you can trim & cut the wav's and convert them to mp3, mpc, ogg or whatever if you would like...
I know there are some programs that claim to do a "convertion" "on-the-fly". I've tried a couple, and I must say the result are pure crap.
"ONLY THOSE WHO ATTEMPT THE IMPOSSIBLE WILL ACHIEVE THE ABSURD"
        - Oceania Association of Autonomous Astronauts

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #6 –
Hmm, well if anybody finds a way to do a proper digital copy I'd love to know - it'd certainly save some time.

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #7 –
Quote
Quote
Download a freeware wave editor program (eg audacity) and record it directly from the "stereo mix" (or equiv) input of the sound record mixer. Most sound cards have the ability to record directly from their own analog output, this input is usually called "stereo mix", look for something similar on yor recording mixer panel.

BTW, you just play the midi (or whatever sound source you want to record) from Windows media player (or whatever) and record it at the same time from your wave editor software. It's very easy.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=289543"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Does this catch the output while it's still digital?  Or does it re-digitize the analog output?
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=289662"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


I think it depends on the sound card, but most of them probably just capture the analog and re-digitize. It's still not a bad method as a last resort when you want to convert something that you cant do any other way. Copy protected audio (non)CD's for example, with the right sound card you can still get a very good result.

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #8 –
Timidity

http://timidity.sourceforge.net/

directly converts MIDI to wave using the desired SF2 soundfont!!!!
you can do this without a soundcard!!!

soundfonts search
http://www.personalcopy.com/sfarkfonts1.htm

if you download a high quality soundfont, which is quite large, will have sets of instruments at sampling rate of 44 kHz, low quality soundfont will be sampled at 22 kHz

no need to capture from soundcard, worrying about the quality of the analog recording of the soundcard etc etc

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #9 –
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directly converts MIDI to wave using the desired SF2 soundfont!!!!
you can do this without a soundcard!!!
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Yeah ... tiMIDIty is the best!

But using PAT is better than SF2, try download from:

[a href="http://freepats.opensrc.org]http://freepats.opensrc.org[/url]

The incredible sound is really worth for the HUGE size!

But sadly almost no activity at all, both the PAT and tiMIDIty ...
Hong Kong - International Joke Center (after 1997-06-30)

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #10 –
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But using PAT is better than SF2, try download from:


I haven't heard of PAT before, what's the difference?
 

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #11 –
While SF2 is a superior format, TiMidity only has partial support for it. That's not to say there aren't any good Gravis Ultrasound patch sets, which it does mostly (fully?) support.

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #12 –
I think more important than direct digital or via the soundcards is having good models for the instruments, at least if they are supposed to sound like real acoustic instruments  instead of purely synth instruments.

Yamaha used to have some good ones.  Probably a good rule of thumb is ones from a company that also makes pro quality midi equipment will be better than what comes bundled with the OS or a shareware program.

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #13 –
I'm having problems with TiMidity (Or TiMidity++ - the only windows binary I could find) - it'll usually work once and then fail to do anything whatsoever - on the console it will give a message like

Instrument `acpiano' can't be found.
Couldn't load instrument acpiano (tone bank 0, program 0)
No pre-resampling cache hit

for every instrument in the midi file. To get it to work again I have to completely delete all the files (TiMidity and the patches) and then copy them again and even then it seems to take a long time before working again. The strange thing is, though, that if I check when any files have been modified, it shows the .ini files, but changing the values back to what they were doesn't solve anything. Any pointers?

I'm downloading PAT now to see if it fixes anything.

edit:
Using PAT, the console comes up with the same thing.

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #14 –
Quote
While SF2 is a superior format, TiMidity only has partial support for it. That's not to say there aren't any good Gravis Ultrasound patch sets, which it does mostly (fully?) support.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=291225"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Sorry for my "incomplete" English, I mean ... tiMIDIty works best with PAT. Also the status of PAT is now OpenSource, but SF2 still copyrighted by Creative (please update me if I'm wrong, not so sure after so many years).

As I say, if someone pick up the tiMIDIty's code and KEEP improve it, it should surpass other soft-synth even more.

The Japanese seems stop updating ... why?
Hong Kong - International Joke Center (after 1997-06-30)

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #15 –
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I haven't heard of PAT before, what's the difference?
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=291208"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


How can I describe by words  ?
Why not download and have a try?

Remember to set the correct path in the Timidity.cfg, good luck!
If no sound coming out, check all the .ini
Hong Kong - International Joke Center (after 1997-06-30)

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #16 –
Quote
Instrument `acpiano' can't be found.
Couldn't load instrument acpiano (tone bank 0, program 0)
No pre-resampling cache hit
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=291307"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

You may be missing some file (or wrong path) such as "gravis.cfg" or "ultrasnd.ini"!
My PAT is under "k:\sound\timidity\pat". I post my "timidity.cfg" here for your reference, I remove all the commented lines (those have #) :

[quote begin]
dir k:/sound/timidity/pat
source gravis.cfg
source gsdrums.cfg
source gssfx.cfg
source xgmap2.cfg
[quote end]

Those "cfg" should be in the PAT directory.

MOST IMPORTANT! To change the path setting in the "ultrasnd.ini"
Hong Kong - International Joke Center (after 1997-06-30)

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #17 –
I didn't have any of those .cfgs and there wasn't a copy of them with PAT. But I copied the ones from the eaw thing and it still works no better. Using a timidity cfg like the one you posted also gives it another error on startup - if I use the freepats.cfg it doesn't do the startup error but still no sound.

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #18 –
Quote
I think more important than direct digital or via the soundcards is having good models for the instruments, at least if they are supposed to sound like real acoustic instruments   instead of purely synth instruments.

Yamaha used to have some good ones.  Probably a good rule of thumb is ones from a company that also makes pro quality midi equipment will be better than what comes bundled with the OS or a shareware program.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=291298"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


I couldn't agree more. MIDI instruments generally sound so awful that you can hardly worsen it by making an analog recording of them (or compressing them at very low bitrates).

I've had exactly the same problem as tgoose some time ago. After a few tests I settled on (don't laugh) sending the midi to my Yamaha synth (using the Yamaha patches, not the GMI ones because these suck anyway), and connecting its "headphones" outlet to the "analog-in" of my (bottom-end) SBLive! card by means of a male-male cable I made from two broken sets of headphones (it was sunday and I hadn't one lying around).
Now before everybody starts flaming me for violating several "best practices" at once, let me tell you that the results were vastly superior to any "all-digital" or "in-sound card" recordings I succeded to make.

Basically, if you use MIDI, you can consider yourself lucky if you can actually *recognise* some of the instruments. Noise is the least of your concerns.

O yeah, I also experimented with the mp3 encoding. I needed the lowest bitrates I could get without obvious distortions. After some experimenting I settled on recording the analog source at 32kHz (midi patches ordinarily don't contain very high tones that you'll miss), and then applying
lame --alt-preset standard -b 32 -V9 -m m
for my mono fragments. For stereo, you can just use
lame --alt-preset standard -b 32 -V9
and if you want somewhat better quality, I'd use
lame --alt-preset standard -b 56 -V9
I *know* it's a deadly sin to add additional parameters to an alt-preset and it's a blasphemy to post such things on HA, but it really works fine for me. Hey, it's only midi! And you're not obliged to use my parameters. As always, YMMV depending on the nature of the sample.

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #19 –
Quote
I didn't have any of those .cfgs and there wasn't a copy of them with PAT. But I copied the ones from the eaw thing and it still works no better. Using a timidity cfg like the one you posted also gives it another error on startup - if I use the freepats.cfg it doesn't do the startup error but still no sound.
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My collection was built from the age of DOS 6.20, and I found that the FreePATs have some PAT (sample) missing ... that's why you can't hear some of the instruments.

I'm sorry that I don't know how to create PAT, otherwise I'll help FreePATs to make some instruments 

Visit link below and download another complete patch kit:

[a href="http://www.anime.net/~goemon/timidity]Goemon's timidity patchkit[/url]

Step by step:

1) extract the "goemon.tgz" under timidity (such as c:\timidity\goemon)
2) find the "goemon.cfg", it should be move to "c:\timidity" for easy manage
3) change the "dir goemon" to "dir c:\timidity\goemon" (if your patches elsewhere, change to your own path)
4) start Timidity++, config -> preference -> config file -> goemon.cfg
5) Play you own favorite MIDI

Enjoy!
Hong Kong - International Joke Center (after 1997-06-30)

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #20 –
Quote
lame --alt-preset standard -b 32 -V9
In this example -V9 overrides everything that precedes it, so why not simply lame -V9?  You may want to look the Table of Presets and corresponding bitrate values.
Quote
and if you want somewhat better quality, I'd use
lame --alt-preset standard -b 56 -V9
Which will produce exactly the same results as your lame --alt-preset standard -b 32 -V9, i.e. -V9.
Quote
I *know* it's a deadly sin to add additional parameters to an alt-preset and it's a blasphemy to post such things on HA[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=291433"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Don't be silly.

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #21 –
Quote
Goemon's timidity patchkit

Step by step:

1) extract the "goemon.tgz" under timidity (such as c:\timidity\goemon)
2) find the "goemon.cfg", it should be move to "c:\timidity" for easy manage
3) change the "dir goemon" to "dir c:\timidity\goemon" (if your patches elsewhere, change to your own path)
4) start Timidity++, config -> preference -> config file -> goemon.cfg
5) Play you own favorite MIDI

Enjoy!
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=291526"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thankyou! - I've sorted it now. It only seems to work if it's in C:\timidity (I use program files for putting pretty much everything else in). I'll try putting all the patches on now, and see what I can work out.

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #22 –
Quote
Quote
lame --alt-preset standard -b 32 -V9
In this example -V9 overrides everything that precedes it, so why not simply lame -V9?  You may want to look the Table of Presets and corresponding bitrate values.

My fault. I should have mentioned that I'm still using the "official" 3.90.x branch. The table you speak of is for 3.96.1, which handles its parameters quite differently.

Quote
Quote
and if you want somewhat better quality, I'd use
lame --alt-preset standard -b 56 -V9
Which will produce exactly the same results as your lame --alt-preset standard -b 32 -V9, i.e. -V9.

In the case of 3.90.x, most certainly not.

Quote
Don't be silly.

At HA, I've seen people being flamed to hell for less.

And I have specific reasons to be cautious. The "standard" preset in 3.90.x implicitly has a -V 2 in it, and all other parameters and internal tweaks Dibrom added to that are fine-tuned to give the best possible results in combination with that -V 2. If you add a -V 9 to that, you kinda overthrow the whole thing. People knowing this quickly get upset when some n00b posts some custom-tweaked alt-preset, especially since it already happened hundreds of times. For the record: I really would never recommend the settings above for real-life audio. But they did quite well on my specific midi files. It is very well possible that the --alt-preset standard has an adverse effect in this context, and that I should drop it and use only the two other parameters.

--- EDIT: ---
As from today, I'm moving to 3.96.1. And, I updated my "MIDI to mp3" settings. I now use
lame -V 7 --lowpass 16 -m m
This produced exactly the result I've always been unsuccesfully trying to obtain with the 3.90.x branch! It gives a slightly better quality (very subjectively measured) than the bloated 3.90.x settings from my previous post, coupled to a 30% decrease in average bitrate. This proves:
1. how counterproductive it was to add extra parameters to an alt-preset
2. that the new system of choosing your quality in lame is not only more transparent, but also more flexible.
Since its encoding speeds are also higher, and the preliminary ABX results show that the quality at the very least comes very close to 3.90.x, I'm sold for 3.96.1

Anyway, my new midi settings should be really sound if you need low bitrates. And if you don't, you can always decrease the -V parameter. For values of 6 and below, the lowpass should be omitted (cfr the Table of Presets).

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #23 –
Quote
Thankyou! - I've sorted it now. It only seems to work if it's in C:\timidity (I use program files for putting pretty much everything else in). I'll try putting all the patches on now, and see what I can work out.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=291914"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Well ... you can change path but you need to examine all the text config. such as ".ini" and ".cfg" and see if any PATH inside, change them all.

Enjoy!


Rgds,
Johnson.
Hong Kong - International Joke Center (after 1997-06-30)

Conversion of Midi to Wav or Midi to MP3?

Reply #24 –
I thought I'd found every single config file with a path in before, but anyway it doesn't matter now since it works just fine.