More Fun With MIDI

Want to avoid all of the hoopla associated in downloading MP3 music files over the Internet? Then check out MIDI. (Musical interface – digital interface) Midi is an entirely different animal than what you may be used to. With MP3 and wav files, you’ll most likely be downloading your favorite artists and recordings. The same ones you hear every day on the radio. You can’t change the way things sound.

That’s not so with midi. Midi allows you to control the mix on each instrument. You are the arranger. Midi files are tiny compared to their MP3 counterparts. The midi equivalent of a three megabyte MP3 file might easily be less than thirty thousand bytes in size. That’s because midi files are not really music files at all, but rather a series of commands that cause your computer’s sound card to play the notes they represent. So, instead of receiving huge sound waves, you are receiving small packets of information that tell your sound card which notes to play. The quality of the music you hear depends on your speakers and also on how good of a sound card you have. If your card uses wave table sampling, you are going to be very pleased with the results.

Midi files are everywhere on the Net. You can find just about any song you can think of in midi format, probably dozens of copies of each. One of the neatest things about midi is that you can change the key, the tempo, and even the instruments that were used to record the song. The melody might originally have been played on a piano, but you can easily change it to a guitar, violin, banjo, or whatever…it’s up to you. Try that with an MP3 file. For those of you interested in karaoke, this allows you to change the key to fit your voice.

Another thing that you can do with midi files is print them to sheet music. There have been several occasions when I’ve needed a piece of music transposed into a different key. With a midi file, I can do that with just a few keystrokes. Then I can print the musical score so that anyone needing it can play it.

You can play midi files using almost any popular media player. I use Windows Media Player because it’s included with Windows. But to transpose keys, change instruments, and print sheet music, you’ll need a dedicated midi sequencing program.

Midi sequencing programs can be found on the Net as well as at your local computer retailer. Here’s one I stumbled on while using Copernic. It’s called “Quartz Audio Master.” You can download a freeware version that will do about everything you can imagine by logging onto www.digitalsoundplanet.com. Please, don’t ask me for advice on running this software. There are numerous “help” files that come with the program and you can also get help from their website. I once taught a course on midi in Nashville, believe me, it’s not something I can explain in a few emails. You’ll have to fill out a registry form to receive the unlock key for this software. But it’s free, and it does everything including printing.

Use your favorite search engine to find midi files. Then play, edit, and print them using the software I mentioned above. There are tens of thousands of midi files on the Net. Most are Free. Through midi, you can be the arranger, producer, and recording engineer! Or, just sit back and listen. Either way, if you like music, you’ll like midi. Reach me at www.randybenjamin.com.