TCS - Midi Music and Multimedia SIG

Midi Music and Multimedia SIG

by Don Singleton
Tulsa Computer Society
From the December 2001 issue of the I/O Port Newsletter

We had a whopping 14 people at our November meeting, where we talked about converting between different music formats, such as MIDI, MOD, WAV and MP3. We took a song that was originally written as a MOD (music module), a format that was popular about 5-6 years ago. We converted the MOD file into a MIDI file, and showed the music as notation on a piano Grand Staff. We then saved the MIDI file, then converted it to a WAV file, then an MP3 file, all using a program called Melody Assistant. See a quick review of Melody Assistant in the October issue of the I/O Port.

We also used a program called Audio Compositor to convert a MIDI file into a WAV file. We also showed how the process works, including how the 128 different MIDI instruments are represented by several hundred small WAV files, one or more for each instrument. These instruments are used along with the MIDI data to construct the final WAV file.

The resulting WAV file can be very large. A typical stereo WAV file, recorded at 44KHz and 16 bits, will use up about 10MB of disk space for every minute. So a song of 3 minutes will take about 30MB of disk space. When you convert a WAV file to MP3, it uses a compression of about 11:1. So the same 3 minute song would take only about 2.7MB of disk space. This is why the MP3 format has become so popular. Instead of putting 12-15 songs on a CD, you can now fit over 150 songs on a CD. And the newer CD players you can buy nowadays will play the MP3 files, just like typical audio CDs.

Last, we used MusicMatch to demonstrate how you can "rip" song tracks from a CD and store them on your hard drive as MP3 files. You can then play them back in any order, or write them out to a new CD using your CD burner.

The December meeting will be about recording and editing video using your PC. Come join the fun at the Harmon Foundation, 2901 S. Harvard, on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM.



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Tulsa Computer Society 12/02/2001
Don Singleton, President