MIDI files sounding different

[Karl]

I know this doesn't have much to do with MMF2, but this got me curious. For some reason, I noticed MIDI files tend to sound different on various computers. It retains the same instruments, but they sound slightly different. I noticed this, when sometime ago, my computer had an update and then the MIDI songs sounded different. When I had to wipe my hardrive, it reverted to the other way it sounded. I want to find out why it does this so I can create the music for my games using the intruments that sound the best. Some of the really cool ones are in one version, and some are in the other.

[N64Mario]

I think it mainly depends on the hardware and software installed on certain computers. Back in the day, 10 years ago maybe that computers had some sort of MIDI configuration device (whether it was hardware or software, I forget) that changed the MIDI's to sound really awesome. But I don't think that kind of format for MIDI exists any more. Though I could be wrong.

But yea, you are right. It does NOT have anything to do with MMF2.

[Novabrain]

That is one of the problems with MIDI files for computers: consistency.

If you are a stickler and want your intended music to sound the same way you are hearing it, it is not going to happen.

Think of MIDI as the instructions that can play ANY synthesizer. Now, consider that different computers can use different samples and synthetic sounds to play the same song. Some computers have excellent sound card synths with full rich sounds and even effects, (reverb, echo, chorus, etc.) and others have a very bare bones, (usually onboard) synth with tinny, buzzy, cheap sounds.

That is the drawback of MIDI, so it depends on the music, the audience, and your expectations for your output.

[Popcorn]

Look upon midifiles as sheetmusic which can be handed over to anyone who will then play it their way. As Nova says, it's a set of instructions, and not actual sound. That's why the filesize is so small, it doesn't include audio at all.

In the older days filesize was important and that's one of the reasons why midifiles where used directly as source of audio. Today midi is more used as a 'language' between different software and hardware.

If you want small filesize you can go for mod files. Modfiles (.mod, .xm, .it etc) is also a set of instructions, but they include all the samples they use so that they will sound the same on all computers.

Today, of course, mp3, ogg and other compressed wav formats is the recommended standard.

[Jesse]

If you want full scores, then go with MP3/OGG/WAV. If you want "game" music and don't mind the inconsistencies that MIDI brings, use MIDI. If you're like me, I like "game" music with a punch and that sounds the way I want it to sound on any PC it's played on, so I write music in IT (Impulse Tracker) format.

1/2 - 1/3 the size of an MP3/OGG and 1/50 - 1/100 the size of WAV files, depending on what samples you use for your tracked music and what not.

Mine rarely exceed 2.9MB for a full song that loops endlessly with good instrument samples, stereo playback and is kinda of moderate/standard length.

Jesse~

[Karl]

Technically, I make the songs using MIDI instruments and then convert them to WAV so I get the same instruments each time. So it just has to do with the hardrive of the computer?

[Bruto]

Technically, I make the songs using MIDI instruments and then convert them to WAV so I get the same instruments each time. So it just has to do with the hardrive of the computer?

Karl, convert your .wav tile to an OGG and use in one of the sample channel, not music.