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Midi to wave... The one case when 1 + 1 doesn't make 2.
- Thread starter hotdog003
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You can't really "convert" MIDI files to waveform audio because MIDI files are just notes, instruments, volumes, etc. They aren't actual recordings of sound, so they have to be played by a synthesiser. This is why the instruments can sound different on different computers.
1. If your system is set up to play MIDI files with a software synth, and not with hardware, you can record it exactly the way it sounds. In Volume Control, go to Options, adjust volume for recording, and select "Wave" to record from. Then open any program that records sound (Sound Recorder would work if it could do more than 60 seconds at a time), hit record, play the MIDI, and trim the beginning and end silence off.
2. Modplug Tracker can open MIDIs and save them as wav files. It's the easiest way to do the "conversion" you want. Unfortunately, it doesn't handle dynamics very well. The songs tend to come out rather quiet. You also might occasionally run into MIDI files it won't handle properly.
3. TiMidity++ is probably the best synth you can get. It handles all MIDI files I've thrown at it, and if you get a good patch set (there's a free one going around, "eawpats"), the sound quality will be excellent. The drawback here is that it is phenomenally hard to set up. I won't give you any links, because you aren't smart enough to get it working unless you can find everything you need by yourself. And even then there's no guarantee.
That said, I note that this is a SRB2 editing forum, and I note that you're asking about converting MIDI files to wav files, and I note that wav files are often desired because they can be converted to Ogg/MP3 files. Have you noted that SRB2 supports MIDIs just fine, that they take up a lot less disk space and bandwidth, and that they were actually all SRB2 used until 2K3, when AJ finally lost his common sense? If not, make a note of those things. As someone chronically short of disk space until recently, I'm not particularly happy about the glut wadmakers are causing with unnecessary music changes.
1. If your system is set up to play MIDI files with a software synth, and not with hardware, you can record it exactly the way it sounds. In Volume Control, go to Options, adjust volume for recording, and select "Wave" to record from. Then open any program that records sound (Sound Recorder would work if it could do more than 60 seconds at a time), hit record, play the MIDI, and trim the beginning and end silence off.
2. Modplug Tracker can open MIDIs and save them as wav files. It's the easiest way to do the "conversion" you want. Unfortunately, it doesn't handle dynamics very well. The songs tend to come out rather quiet. You also might occasionally run into MIDI files it won't handle properly.
3. TiMidity++ is probably the best synth you can get. It handles all MIDI files I've thrown at it, and if you get a good patch set (there's a free one going around, "eawpats"), the sound quality will be excellent. The drawback here is that it is phenomenally hard to set up. I won't give you any links, because you aren't smart enough to get it working unless you can find everything you need by yourself. And even then there's no guarantee.
That said, I note that this is a SRB2 editing forum, and I note that you're asking about converting MIDI files to wav files, and I note that wav files are often desired because they can be converted to Ogg/MP3 files. Have you noted that SRB2 supports MIDIs just fine, that they take up a lot less disk space and bandwidth, and that they were actually all SRB2 used until 2K3, when AJ finally lost his common sense? If not, make a note of those things. As someone chronically short of disk space until recently, I'm not particularly happy about the glut wadmakers are causing with unnecessary music changes.
BlazeHedgehog
Member
Most folks have really quite bad MIDI cards, A441, and those that don't still have different ones -- MIDI is a great format, _if_ you have the right hardware for it. And considering there are all kinds of soundfonts and wavetables out there, chances are a MIDI you think sounds cool isn't going to sound the same on another card.
Right now OGG is the most compact and user-friendly audio format, and it sounds _exactly_ the same as long as you have a soundcard and PC speakers. I don't have a lot of HDD space (~500mb combined on my two drives) either but I'm not complaining one bit.
Right now OGG is the most compact and user-friendly audio format, and it sounds _exactly_ the same as long as you have a soundcard and PC speakers. I don't have a lot of HDD space (~500mb combined on my two drives) either but I'm not complaining one bit.
a441, I know you hate OGG, but I put up with larger filesize to have it sound better. When it's bad is when people use it inefficiently.
Because I have the worst sound cards known to man, not using midi is a god-send as far as I'm concerned. On the PII266, it doesn't sound much better than a NES. A couple megabytes is trivial, anyhow. The sound is still smaller than the MP3s I keep to listen to, so it doesn't really matter that much. The only problem I can see is being on a 56K, but 50 MB is nothing compared to other things.
Because I have the worst sound cards known to man, not using midi is a god-send as far as I'm concerned. On the PII266, it doesn't sound much better than a NES. A couple megabytes is trivial, anyhow. The sound is still smaller than the MP3s I keep to listen to, so it doesn't really matter that much. The only problem I can see is being on a 56K, but 50 MB is nothing compared to other things.
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