MIDI -> WAV ?

[-N-]

I believe the title is self-explanatory. Any way to convert MIDI files to WAV files?

I understand that MIDIs aren't real sound files - just commands sent to a PC synth - but there's gotta be a way somehow. I read somewhere that you can feed the MIDI to an external synth, and have the external synth play it into a wave file on the computer, but I don't have that...

Any insights?

edit: A friend just told me about Cubase, which apparently performs the said task. Any information on this?

[Citizen Bleys]

I tried to do this a couple of years back, and after several weeks of screwing around, concluded that it required more technical knowhow than I posessed at the time. It's certainly a nontrivial operation.

[eestlinc]

you need a sequencing program, a la cubase, logic pro audio, cakewalk, etc. Those are expensive. good luck with it.

edit: alternatively, you can play the midi on your computer and record it manually using a minidisc recorder or whatnot, then refeed it into your computer. This isn't the best way, but it would work.

[Dr Unne]

Creative soundcards, which is what I've always bought, come with a recorder program that lets you pick what input source you want to record, one of which is "What You Hear". It records whatever is playing through your speakers. Playing the midi and recording it that way would work, but it'd be sloppy and you'd probably have to edit the file afterwards. But oh well.

[Yamaneko]

Originally posted by eestlinc
Those are expensive. good luck with it.

If you have no piracy moral issues, KaZaA is your new friend.

[eestlinc]

well, logic pro audio, which is the best, requires a USB dongle to operate. I'm sure you could get somthing less good on kazaa though.

[Ø]

hokay, to convert a midi file into a wave file...

First of all, what's the point? You increase the size of the file by about a million times and it still sounds just as crap as a midi file played on a PC

Seriously, if you want your midi's to sound good you either need a hardware synth module or if your computer rocks really hard you can install an XG software synth. I use both methods, as it gives you much better sampled instrument sounds and proper effects modelling. None of this GM Wavetable bollocks for me!

Anyway, to the actual method...

The best way I have found so far is to use a software synthesiser called WinGroove. This will give you better instrument sounds than your standard midi sounds (in some cases, unless you've got a really amazingly expensive card), and some basic effects modelling too, like reverb and chorus.

By far the grooviest thing about WinGroove is it's ability to convert a midi file DIRECTLY to a wave file. It has variable sampling rates up to 44.1KHz 16bit Stereo (CD quality) and converts pretty fast. Download this program, play around with it, maybe it'll work for you. The results aren't amazing (next to my Korg Triton nothing is amazing!) but it certainly works, and considering it will cost you nothing it's most definately worth playing with.

[Citizen Bleys]

The point is to burn it to a CD and listen to it away from the computer; Nero only burns WAVs and MP3s...and maybe s3ms and mods, although I think I used CubicPlayer to convert my s3ms to WAV to get that CD full of Andre Karwath stuff...

I've never tried What You Hear, but maybe I shall.

[crono_logical]

I find changing which devices you record from/mute in Volume Control easier (just mute everything except Midi/Synth in the recording set), I can mix and match the different things and my card is a cheap crappy one

[-N-]

eestlinc: Come back! I have Logic Audio Education; how can I use it to do the said task?

Ø: How about in order to convert it to actual audio data? Then you can burn it onto CDs. I'll try out WinGroove, but what's Korg Triton? And does the soundpack that Logic uses good enough to match an XG software synth? Or am I way off? (Still a fledgling in this business...)

edit: I'm using microsoft gs wavetable sw synth, actually... Is XG better or worse?

edit again: Bloody hell! I can only convert the first 30 seconds with the unregistered version... but even so, it didn't use the Microsoft GS table, it used its own Wingroove table - which quite frankly sucks majorly. How can I get it to use my table?

[Ø]

Originally posted by princeofdarknez
eestlinc: Come back! I have Logic Audio Education; how can I use it to do the said task?

Ø: How about in order to convert it to actual audio data? Then you can burn it onto CDs. I'll try out WinGroove, but what's Korg Triton? And does the soundpack that Logic uses good enough to match an XG software synth? Or am I way off? (Still a fledgling in this business...)

edit: I'm using microsoft gs wavetable sw synth, actually... Is XG better or worse?

edit again: Bloody hell! I can only convert the first 30 seconds with the unregistered version... but even so, it didn't use the Microsoft GS table, it used its own Wingroove table - which quite frankly sucks majorly. How can I get it to use my table?

Okay so Wingroove failed to please sorry about that. If you want REALLY uber-professional sounding midis, Wingroove's table can be a bit crappy as it's based on the Roland GS voice set which isn't all that great.

For the record:



THAT is a Korg Triton. And she's all mine... Everything I need for studio-quality sampling and song production, composing and live performance. And I'm going to have to be harvested for my meat to pay the bills!

Anyway, about XG...

XG, or eXtended General MIDI is a voice set developed by Yamaha for their newer portable keyboards, and is designed to expand upon your basic 128 GM voices plus standard (and usually troute) drum kit sound.

The XG voice set includes 480 instrument sounds and 12 drum kits (I think) and also has more varied digital effects which can be accessed through XG-compatible midi players.

To enjoy the benefits of XG sound on your PC, you'll need a software synth. The best one I know of is Yamaha's SYXG100, which I'm downloading as I type to make sure I get my facts right..

[-N-]

Wow. That is an awesome keyboard. *robs RadioShack*

I actually managed to convert the MIDI to WAV using GoldWave. So that's solved.

Another question about XG: Do I need to have a Yamaha keyboard in order to use it? Or can I just download, install, and use it through Logic? (Well, I guess you don't know yet since you're still downloading, but let me know when you do.)

Thanks for the help so far, guys. It's really cool converting the MIDI to WAV/MP3 and then adding an IDE3 tag with my name as the Artist.

[Ø]

No, you don't need a yamaha keyboard to use XG, when you download the official* version of SYXG100 you get all the wave information for the sounds and effects with it. Of course I only use my PC for midis when I want to send them somewhere. Everything else I do on my keyboards

You don't even have to use the XG player unless you really want to... you just change your midi settings to use the XG wavetable instead of whatever built-in crap your card was shipped with, and then all your midi's are instantly beefed-up. You can get other programs such as XG Gold which allow you to tweak voices and effects parameters in real-time: examples of this include adding overdrive and distortion to guitar parts, chorus to strings parts and other neat stuff.

Unfortunately my soundcard is a tiny bit fuxed right now, so I'm having issues getting the thing to work, but I've had it running on my old PC and it really does rock.

*I reccommend ONLY using the program from Yamaha's site. You have to pay for the full version but seriously, if your PC can run it, it's worth every penny. Getting it from anywhere else might mean you get the player but not the wavetable... which is pointless as it won't sound any different!

[-N-]

Of course I only use my PC for midis when I want to send them somewhere. Everything else I do on my keyboards

Because you have a beast keyboard...

I only see the SYXG50 available for download on their site... But anyways, I'm assuming my soundcard can handle all 480 sounds... the computer I'm using is about 2 months old, so it should work. I don't think I have the actual Yamaha-XG compatible hardware in my computer (it's a laptop, so it's minimalisic), but I suppose I can try their trial version (of the 50, of course). Let's give it a shot...

[Ø]

Yeah the SYXG50 will do it's the same basic thing. I managed to make that run on a 166MMX with 32mb of RAM, so if your computer's only 2 months old I believe it will work.

(when I say "make that run", it would ONLY run that one thing and it caused more blue-screens-o-death than I can remember, but it was a really awful system, held together with tape and cable ties!)

You don't need any XG hardware, it's done entirely through software, and all your soundcard does is handle the actual midi data. I was impressed with what the SYXG50 could do, hopefully stuff will work out alright with you