First we started one of the MIDI renderers, and listened to some of the hundreds of small WAV file sounds that it uses to make the various instrument sounds for MIDI. Instead of using the MIDI generator built into your sound card, this program uses several actual recordings of musical instruments, and maps them to the General MIDI instruments to generate a large WAV file of the entire song. For example, there were about 8 different recordings just for a grand piano, or about 1 per each octave. This gives a very realistic sound. When you put them all together it can sound like a real orchestra making music.

Next we listened to several WAV files that had been created using various MIDI renderers, and at various settings. If you record using a low setting, the WAV file is not as large but the sound is not as good. A 3 minute song can be about 5MB in size using a medium setting. It grows to about 20MB when recording at the high CD-quality, stereo setting. So you need lots of disk space to save the WAV files.

Finally, we played some MIDI files live directly through a MIDI renderer. The sound of the MIDI song is much better than what the sound card's own MIDI player can produce. The MIDI renderers we looked at were Audio Compositor, MIDINight Express, DiAcoustics, and Galileo Designs. If you search the Internet for these names, you should be able to find them and download a demo copy of the software.

The October meeting will be a Music Swap Meet, so bring your blank floppies and your favorite MIDI programs and files to share with others. The November meeting will be for you beginners that want to learn how to get started with MIDI music on your computer. Come join the fun at the Harmon Foundation, 2901 S. Harvard, on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM.

For more information on the Tulsa Computer Society click here