How to convert MP3 to Mids and vice versa?

[Moth007]

Hi can anyone help, i want to convert some MP3 into midi format, but i dont have any programes that will allow me to do it. the Only one i have is goldwave but it doesnt do midi. Can someone recomends some programs i can try? Any help will do.

[guns1inger]

The magic of Google

[redwudz]

You could do a Google search for 'MP3 to MIDI conversion'.

Here's one link: http://www.mp3towav.org/mp3-to-midi.asp

AFAIK, this would only work with instumental music. Voices would be a problem.

MIDI is more of a format or coding to operate a electronic synthesizer, not an audio codec.

EDIT: guns1inger, you found the same link I did.

[Moth007]

Cheers. Thnks for the help

[frankb]

Hi,

Sorry to burst your bubble, bus as far as I'm aware that is basically an impossible task. I found a link (unfortunately it is in Dutch, my native language) but there are some links to MP3/WAV to MIDI conversion tools. Here is the link: http://www.music-abc.com/newframe.html?/notatie.html Page down to the second part of this link (where its says "De notatie voorbij... muziekherkenning" (which roughly translates as "Beyond notation... music recognition)) and you find a fairly comprehensive list of tools that claim to do what you want.

The only program that claims to work with a multi-instrument source is Celemony Melodyne Studio 3. I have not tried this but you can download a demo from their site (http://www.celemony.com/cms/).

What I always do if I need a MIDI of a song is simply search the internet. If I have found what I'm looking for, I open the file in a MIDI editor and jazz it up myself.

Hope this helps (a little bit),

Frank[/b]

[Moth007]

Cool thanks for that, yeah its hard but it doesnt hurt to try. I guess?

[3dsnar]

Hi, it is not possible to convert mp3 to midi.
This is because, midi format is an electronic format of musical
notations. This means that the mp3 (or any other format where the musical content is represented by compressed, or uncompressed samples representing time domain sound waveform), would have to be analyzed in order to extract all melody lines, recognize playing instruments, percussive sounds, etc.
Ofcourse, there are several publications devoted to this subject, but they are mostly related to some very simple experiments (one instrument playing at a time), etc.

To put it simply, the difference between midi format and wave music (including mp3),
is similar to the difference between text format and recorded speech...
There are tools which can convert speech to TXT, but they are not 100% acurate. And converting music is 1000 time more difficult (due to variety of sounds, articulations, etc)

So please, do not waste your time, because you will not find any useful tool for it.

[frankb]

Hi, it is not possible to convert mp3 to midi... So please, do not waste your time, because you will not find any useful tool for it.

Hi,

While what 3dsnar wrote is correct for any normal song (multi-instrument and vocals), I would have to disagree with the general statement. The results that Melodyne produces on single vocals or instruments are truly remarkable. Check out the audio/video examples section on their website website at http://www.celemony.com/cms/

So, in short: for complete songs MP3/WAV conversion to MIDI is pretty impossible, for single vocals or instruments Melodyne seems to do the trick.

Frank

[3dsnar]

Indeed. I agree with Frank in 100%. I was not very precise.

[mats.hogberg]

mp3 to MIDI is about the same as speech to text. Under ideal circumstances, it will produce acceptable results. Like one voice articulating each word loud and clear (or one instrument playing one note at a time).

/Mats

[3dsnar]

Unfortunately you are wrong.
It is much more difficult to transcribe music to MIDI than speech to text.

Because in case of multitimbre music, it is similar as you would try
to convert to text several people speaking at the same time...

[mats.hogberg]

That's basically what I was trying to get across. The ideal circumstances (one instrument playing one note at a time) is rarely found. Even "speech to text" barely works even under the mentioned ideal circumstances.
Much better to try and find the MIDI file that's often available for the music you want.

/Mats

[3dsnar]

Yes Mats. I misunderstood your post

[frankb]

Just one more, and then I'll shut up

I checked out the demo version of Melodyne 3 as I was under the impression (from their blurb) that the new version could handle polyphonic audio files. Well, yes and no...

It can handle them alright. What it does is: it analyzes the file and splits it up into logical groupings (e.g. a chord). You can then move those groups around. However, it will not split up anything into separate midi tracks.

I think what 3dsnar said

convert to text several people speaking at the same time...

is the best analogy of trying to convert audio into midi that I have ever come across.

While I was at it, I checked Intelliscore at http://www.intelliscore.net/download.html . I was especially interested in their "polyphonic examples". Well, all I can say is: if you want to have a good laugh, listen to these examples (both the befores and the afters).

Well, I guess this is pretty much the holy grail of music - tons of people looking for it but nobody will ever find it, as it does not exist...

I'll shut up now (I think...)

Frank

[mikiem]

FWIW, in case it helps and all that...

"i want to convert some MP3 into midi format,"

Actually no reason to do so that I can think of, so probably little call for anyone to develop something -- less demand means less effort anyway. Going the other way, from MIDI to wav or mp3 or... is a totally different story, but unless you're really into music, probably much more productive to check out prog. like Acid that work with short recordings to assemble compositions.

Given today's level of technology it should be possible I guess to analyse each frequency in a mp3 (or wav or...) & note it & the timeing, then repeat every frequency that occurred as it occurs along the timeline -- like impossibly complicated chords. But when you're done what have you got that you didn't have before? Certainly would run up against problems with the [rather old] MIDI spec & number of tracks. About the only use I could imagine at the moment would be creating sheet music off a recording, & as that's either free already or a copyright violation, not a huge profit potential for a large commercial effort writing code, & not a demand to spur on opensource folks.

Gen info: MIDI is more a method of communications, passing instructions and timing from one place to another, one device (say keyboards) to another device (say synth software), or maybe helping set one clock across equipment. It's common for activating stuff on your pc or laptop, say FX or playback or whatever when you press a certain key. A MIDI file stores records of keys played, & can be invaluable in composition. It's small, but in an era when we're talking about multi-layered blue ray, so what? As a mean of communications or protocol, in many uses MIDI has almost been completely replaced by firewire/USB 2 applications.