Converting MP3s

Majin Silver

Majin Silver

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I was going to ask this under the FAQ forum, but it won't let me post there so I will ask here.

Under OSX how do I convert an MP3 into a midi file?
 
No. An MP3 is essentially a compressed wave file, that is, the file contains a description of the sound "wave" that makes up the audio. It is a little more in-depth than that, but that will be sufficient.

A MIDI file, on the other hand, contains a description of which musical instruments are playing what notes at what time.

Converting a wave sound to a MIDI file is essentially the same as listening to a song, then writing down the music on a stave. You could CREATE a midi file of a song using MIDI authoring software, provided you had an ear for the sound and were patient enough to work out how to play it.
 
ok thanks guys. My friend's sister wanted this song to put on this site, but it only used midis and she had an MP3.
 
You can convert from MIDI to MP3, but not the other way around. It's the same with vector & raster images: you can turn a vector image into a JPEG, but not the other way around; you will lose your vector information.

MIDI files are composed of digital instruments that use bits of information representing notes, staves, etc. to reference your Quicktime MIDI instruments or other MIDI instruments and play those sounds back. MP3's are compressed files composed of straight, pre-recorded (in a manner of speaking) audio.
 
There's no audio in a MIDI file but only a partition to be played by virtual sequencers such as the Quicktime one.

There are only two ways to get a MIDI file: download it from the Internet or record it yourself using a MIDI 0/1 compatible instrument (eg: synthetizer).
 
toast is right, you can't just convert an mp3 file to midi, they're entirely different things! midi files don't hold any data about sound, just notes, tempo etc.

There is a roundabout way of doing it (kind of) if you really really want to. There's a VST plugin that can convert audio to midi but it wouldn't work very well for a whole song (if at all). I presume its like the pitch-to-midi stuff used for guitars. Anyway http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/2003/Midifier.html.

But as has already been said, there's no point, once you see what midi files actually are/do then you'll get it :)
 
Toast: Here's a third way. Use a program like Melody Assistant to create songs one note at a time, then export the song as MIDI. No actual instruments needed.
 
True, some programs such as Melody Assistant, Player Pro or the such can be used to create MIDI partitions, although the result is often far from being as good as what you can obtain with a real synth. Cubase and Logic also have their MIDI editors, but most of the timer those editors are used to make small edits to instrumentally-composed pieces.
 
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