MP3 to MIDI Conversion

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 2 Sep 2000 1:50 am

I've been looking up some things lately, and have found where you can convert MP3 to WAV and then, another, WAV to MIDI; but are there other programs where you can just go from MP3 to MIDI?

I think WINAMP191 plus MP3Comp gets you from MP3 to WAVE.

Thanks All
Chip

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 2 Sep 2000 4:35 am

Hi Chip,
I didn't think there was a prg that could turn Audio into midi, unless it was just a simple monophonic (Single note and not overlaping ) sound ?

------------------

Basil Henriques
Emmons D-10 1970
and
Emmons D-10 1970
1949 "Leilani"
1949 Dickerson
RICKENBACKER "Olde Uglie" Twin 8
"Fender 1000"

Steel players do it without fretting

http://homepage.tinet.ie/~basilh/

http://www.stax-a-trax.com/

[This message was edited by basilh on 02 September 2000 at 05:39 AM.]

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 2 Sep 2000 5:00 am

Basilh, Once again, I leapt before I looked.
In the mean time I went to WINAMP'S site and scouted around, and someone had asked the same thing>>> MP3 to WAV. Winamp can do it in even the newer versions as well. About 4 or 5 steps. Really easy.

And I believe, within both BIAB and Cakewalk,
they can turn WAV into MIDI?

I won't request Jack to close this just yet.
Maybe some more input will be forthcoming.

Also, I'm not too clear what you are getting at with 'overlapping sound'. Email me on this if you want, instead of tying up the Forum.

Chip

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 2 Sep 2000 5:08 am

Sorry Basilh......forgot to mention the
WAV to MIDI program:

It's called: AKoff Music Composer version 1.45

I found this website thru ASK JEEVES, and the web address is just too long to type in.

There email, however, is:

contacts@akoff.com

Chip

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 2 Sep 2000 7:17 am

Hi Chip,
What I mean to say is that as far as I know the only way a sound can be converted to midi is if it's a monophonic sound like a SINGLE Voice or Flute etc.
If the sound has gissando between notes (Like you would do on steel), I don't think there is a prog. that will convert this into mid pitch bend info.
BTW Thanx 4 the "Jeeves" info

Bill Llewellyn · Post by **Bill Llewellyn** » 2 Sep 2000 9:10 am

Chip,

You ask an excellent question here. There's a very large, fundamental hurdle to jump in an MP3 (or WAV, or AIFF) conversion to MIDI: MP3, WAV, and AIFF all represent digital versions of actual recorded sounds, like a chirping bird, a steel guitar, a violin, an orchestra, 50,000 people clapping, and so on. Sounds are really just vibrations of air, and digital audio files simply directly represent those wiggles in the air in the form of numbers. MP3 is just a "compressed" version of WAV or AIFF, so converting between WAV/AIFF and MP3 involves only compressing or decompressing the information, which isn't too hard to do.

MIDI, on the other hand, isn't recorded audio (I know that sounds odd). It's really just a way of connecting electronic musical instruments (including computers with music capability) together so they can "talk" to each other. MIDI data is neither music nor sound, it is only control information. It provides a way of having a "controller" device such as a keyboard send out data describing which notes were played, when, how long they were held, if vibrato should be applied, if pitch bend should be applied, if a change in the voicing is being called for, and so on. Another way of thinking of it would be if you could take the keyboard off of a piano and walk across the room with it, leaving the rest of the piano behind. All the "stuff" you would need to stretch between the keyboard and the rest of the piano (so you could still play it) would be in the MIDI data. But notice that none of that information going between the keyboard and the rest of the piano is actually sound or audio! So, MIDI isn't audio, so you can't just make a conversion between real sounds and MIDI by compressing or decompressing, as you can with MP3 and WAV/AIFF.

So, in order to convert MP3, WAV, or AIFF digital audio files into MIDI, you'd need a hugely intellegent piece of software. The software would need to be able to recognize that the input audio files had, for example, electric guitar, drums, harmonica, steel, tamborine, sax, and so on (or any other of thousands of available instruments), isolate each of these instruments into separate tracks, determine the notes being played by each instrument, extract vibratos and glissandos, crescendos and decrescendos (volume changes), tempo (with tempo and meter changes), and so forth, then generate a MIDI output file. At present, to my knowledge, this is a task which is just too complicated for the limited processing power of today's computers. And the complexity of writing such software is, I would imagine, so daunting that it hasn't been practical for somebody to try it. I hope someday it happens, though -- it would be very cool! (It will, in time....)

See also www.rahul.net/thinker/midi_explanation.html .

------------------
Bill (steel player impersonator) * MSA Classic U12 * email * my online music

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 2 Sep 2000 3:36 pm

WOW Bill....that was an excellent disertation
and quick learn on MIDI. You just explained better, or for that matter, at all, to me...
after all these years of it being all around and, until now, I have not heard it put in such the way as you have.

NOW.......I can see where the logistics of
putting such an ALL ENCOMPASSING [instruments, voice, natural sounds etc] program together would just be staggering.

That AKoff Music Composer does claim it has a WAV to MIDI software program. I'll email you the link [it is tremendously huge...at least 100 - 150 or so characters] if you'd like. Probably, with your obvious expertise,
you could find out real quick if in fact it is a viable WAV to MIDI program.

Thanks again, Bill

Chip

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 2 Sep 2000 4:46 pm

thanx 4 the run down Bill. Neet !
Steel more comin'