mp3 to MIDI

[ThePianoPlayer]

I was wondering if anyone knew of any good free programs that can convert mp3 files to MIDI. I've looked around and haven't come up with anything. Most of the programs were able to convert an mp3 to wav, but that was about it.

[Kanthos]

There are none. MIDI files aren't audio: they're closer to taking sheet music and encoding it. Figuring out what notes are playing from an audio file is a very hard thing to do for a computer.

[Gario]

'Fraid Kanthos is right, there. The only way mp3s become midis is if you transcribe them yourself - anything that you've heard online that's taken a song you know and changed them to a midi was done (by hand) by another human being.

Life's tough like that. If you really want a transcription done you can either get a free download (or buy) a midi composing software and do it yourself or ask someone to do it for you on here (I'm afraid I can't; I don't have the equiptment for that, sorry).

If you want smoeone to write it for you try askng around at www.vgmusic.com. you'll probably find more people willing to help you there as they solely work with midis at that site. Good luck finding help.

[Kizyr]

What are you looking for, exactly? As far as VG music goes, there are sufficient fan communities for a lot of older or popular games (particularly series) to where you can often find a good supply of transcribed MIDIs--RPG series in particular. KF

[phill]

There are none. MIDI files aren't audio: they're closer to taking sheet music and encoding it. Figuring out what notes are playing from an audio file is a very hard thing to do for a computer.

I bet that would be a decent project for a doctorate or masters student. A method for not only separating and identifying multiple instruments from a single audio stream, but assigning appropriate musical notes to those instruments without killing an average computer.

[Zarmakuizz]

You can see this (http://www.mp3towav.org/mp3-to-midi.asp) or that (http://www.geocities.com/alantan75/composemusic.html), it depends of what you exactly want.

[ThePianoPlayer]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll ask around VG then.

[SoulinEther]

Are you kidding? This type of thing is doable, but it works best with monophonic music..... polyphonic music comes out pretty bad.

But from my experience, you're going to almost always get poor quality results.

Hm.. programs that do this... well, there's http://www.intelliscore.net/ , which claims to provide multi-instrument support.

[prophetik]

I was wondering if anyone knew of any good free programs that can convert mp3 files to MIDI. I've looked around and haven't come up with anything. Most of the programs were able to convert an mp3 to wav, but that was about it.

there's a really easy way to convert mp3 files to midi. you can find a link to the tutorial here (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Ear.jpg).

edit: intelliscore is horrid. i tried it a while back. it's particularly bad when an instrument plays more than one note at the same time. it's only bad at single-note instruments like a clarinet, it's really terrible at guitars, pianos, and the like.

[big giant circles]

I bet Celemony will be the people to invent an effective audio to midi program if that day ever comes around. I mean, DNA looks like it's basically going to do that...

[prophetik]

the tech from DNA - if they ever get it working properly - will help when it's only one instrument (which is how it works in every demo i've ever heard), but i don't know if there will ever be a way to do, say, a string quartet. you'd think it'd be easier, but i guess it's not.

[big giant circles]

Man, I saw a demo where he loaded up like a full mozart symphony, not a single instrument song.

[prophetik]

was it accurate?