Audio to MIDI
MP3 to MIDI
Wave to MIDI
Very frequently asked questions on the MP3 and MIDI Forums are "How can I convert MP3 to MIDI or WAVE to MIDI?" and "Is it possible to convert MP3 to MIDI?"
Here we are going to tell the difference between MP3 and MIDI formats and how to convert one to another.
Primarily let us note that MP3, as WMA, OGG and others, are just compressed Wave files. Wave files contain the record of sound pressure on microphone diaphragm depending on time. This type of record gives no information about an object producing sound, whether it's a musical instrument, human voice or a noise of a waterfall. This presentation is universal but has a number of peculiarities. First, it doesn't allow to edit components of sound (for instance, it's impossible to replace sounds of one instrument by sounds of another instrument or to change the words pronounced etc.). Moreover, these components cannot be determined and divided automatically. The considerable size of a file, even compressed to MP3 or WMA format, is another disadvantage.
As we speak about musical records, it's quite difficult to recognize from an orchestra record, which instruments have been sounded and which notes have been played. When an orchestra plays a piece, it uses the musical score, that is a record of what and when should be played by which instrument. The orchestra is "converting" score commands to sound, and MIDI synthesizer is doing the same thing. MIDI file received at synthesizer's input (for instance, a mobile phone playing ringtone) contains the commands ordering which notes should be played at which moment. Synthesizer is executing commands and there's a sound at the output - that is a sound wave similar to one contained in a Wave or MP3 file.
Backward conversion from MP3 to MIDI or from Wave file to MIDI is much more complex and generally requires work of a professional musician listening to a record and selecting notes. This work is complicated and diligent.
Nevertheless, there is a method of simplifying music recognition even for the people without musical education. With the help of special algorithms which analyze musical record, it's possible to determine pitch and loudness of sounding notes. These algorithms serve as a basis for the WIDI Recognition System.
Let us note once again, that the algorithms converting MP3 to MIDI cannot perform the transcription completely and automatically at the appropriate quality level, but the amount of the time required is lessening. So one of the key points of MP3 to MIDI conversion with the help of WIDI is the use of TrueTone Editor, which allows bringing MIDI file to necessary quality level. Owing to TrueTone Editor and to additional options of operating settings files, precise bar-lines arrangement WIDI becomes a powerful tool of music recognition and converting MP3 to MIDI.
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