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Topic: Mp3 (Read 5910 times) previous topic - next topic

Mp3

How can I save noteworthy in format MP3?

Re: Mp3

Reply #1 –
Hello Jose,

You cannot directly save NWC files as MP3. You can, however, record an NWC file (while it is playing) to a WAV file, and then use one of the conversion utilities to create an MP3 from a WAV.

I know of one product that can record directly to MP3 format, without first recording as a WAV. See "Internet Audio Mix" product, at http://www.acoustica.com.

Good Luck,

Sue

Re: Mp3

Reply #2 –
Also try http://www.musicmatch.com/. In the settings, you can specify the source of the file (i.e. a midi file on disk as opposed to a CD). It is freeware (unless you want to upgrade). Be sure to set your recording standards up to 44,100 Hz (or similar) to get the best quality without the hiss.

I posted a similar inquiry in the newsgroup. Some folks also like CoolEdit (another downloadable shareware or freeware program). Hope that helps.

Re: Mp3

Reply #3 –
Thanks for the Music Match tip Steve.

I checked out the site and read through the informative documentation but found no mention of MIDI in any of it.
Could you confirm that you can record direct from midi to mp3 - it didn't appear to support this.

Re: Mp3

Reply #4 –
I know what you mean. My initial impression was that it would only record from a CD, but . . .

Go to "Options", "Settings", "Recorder" and select "System Mixer". Then start to play the midi file and record it into the MP3 format. (A few other settings are needed to tell the program where to store the MP3 file; also naming the file being recorded is a bit awkward).

Another nice feature that I have not played with yet is the auto "mp3 snippet", where one can set it to simply record a short mp3 sample file. Figure it might be a nice way of letting folks hear what you intended your midi to sound like, rather than what their soundcard does to it.

P.S. I am sure there are a whole host of great mp3 converters out there that are easy to use. Any other suggestions out there?

Re: Mp3

Reply #5 –
My favourite is "Easy MP3" which is a pretty sophisticated front-end for the original (DOS-based) Fraunhofer MP3 program, l3enc.exe. It sets up the jobs as processes rather than as tasks, and runs great in the background with no noticeable interference with other apps you've got running. It allows you to process a whole whack of wav files in one go, and (best of all) it's completely free.

Re: Mp3

Reply #6 –
Fred, thanks for the suggestion. Do you have a quick hyperlink to the program. I tried doing some advance searches and came up with a bunch of other programs/freeware. Probably be quicker if I have a site reference (if you have one handy). Thanks.

Re: Mp3

Reply #8 –
If possibly depends on whether the sequencer pages the soundcard or other midi output directly, or via the midi-mapper. On some occasions I've had trouble with Cubasis for this reason, yet on others it was actually helpful that Cubasis bypasses the midi-mapper software.

There's a utility driver set called "Multimid" which can be useful to sort out midi-paging problems, especially if you have more than one midi device. It actually came stock with my dual-device soundcard and was installed by its install program to allow it to bypass the native volume control applet, replacing it with its own XG control panel.

Re: Mp3

Reply #9 –
In the "for what it's worth" column, the following are some step by step instructions for recording midi into mp3 format by use of MusicMatch. I find the results to be remarkably free of hiss.

1. On the MusicMatch Menu:

(a) "Options", "Settings", "Recorder": choose System Mixer.

(i) The System Mixer, by the way, is the "thingy" volume control or
comparable control on the system tray in Windows 95 or 98. If it is not
visible, go to Control, Multimedia, and check the box to have the volume
control appear on the system tray. Remember to right click it for the full
body of controls. Depending upon the system mixer, you may have to get to a
different screen to set up recording options. Make sure it is set to record
"all", "mixed output" or something comparable (depending upon the mixer).

(b) Immediately below the System Mixer setting in MusicMatch, indicate the
directory desired for the mp3 output.

(c) Unless one pays for the upgrade, select the "Near CD Quality" mp3, if
that option is not already selected.

2. Recording.

(a) On the Music Match bottom most recorder, type in the desired title for
the mp3 song (i.e. the name of the song without all the path stuff). (This
can be edited later, if needed or forgotten, but it is easier to find the
file in your mp3 output folder if you name it right away).

(b) Open Windows Media Player 4.0. Go "File Open," "Browse", make sure it
is displaying "Media Files (all types)" and go to and select the desired
midi file. The file will start to play immediately. Fine. Just pause and it
will begin over again once you hit the play button.

(c) On the bottom Music Match recorder hit "Start" to begin recording.

(d) On the Windows Media Player, hit "play" to begin the midi masterpiece,
and kick back until its over. You may want to temporarily open the system
mixer if it displays levels to make sure you are not overdriving.

(e) Music Match will automatically convert the playing into mp3 format.
You will find the file in the mp3 output directory you selected. It can be
played either on MusicMatch or the Windows Media Player.

Re: Mp3

Reply #10 –
One last postscript (hopefully!).

I found I was also able to record into the mp3 format by playing Noteworthy (Good!) and my "rack" style Midisoft Audio Pro. Trying to play in from my main sequencing program (Midisoft Studio 6.05) caused crashes. Barry Graham also reports he could not use Cakewalk, so there may be something that creates a problem when attempting to record from a sequencing-capable program (other than our friendly NWC).

Re: Mp3

Reply #11 –
A better way to convert midi to mp3 is to completely bypass the souncard's midi hardware and use a software midi synthesizer that allows hard disk recording thus preventing any hiss. A free program called Timidity does this extremely well but you'll have to go looking for Gravis Ultrasound compatible patches. They're not too hard to find. The only problems are that entire patch sets can be huge (8mb+) so take a while to download and use up lots of RAM.

The positive thing about this is the patch sizes are only limited to the amount of memory you computer has because they do not use the soundcard's RAM. If you have lots of memory you can have higher quality instruments.

Just export the score as a midi file and play it through Timidity!

Re: Mp3

Reply #12 –
I wanth the mp3

Re: Mp3

Reply #13 –
Bar Code:

If you have a duplex card (one that can play MIDI and record a WAV at the same time), then this is very easy. You do not need to go outside the card (speaker out -> line-in) to do this.

1) Open a WAV or MP3 recording software program (Cool Edit, Internet Audio Mix, Windows Sound Recorder, MusicMatch Jukebox, etc.). Put it into record mode, but don't start recording yet.

2) Open NWC and load your file (or if playing .mid, open Windows media player or other MIDI player and load your .mid).

3) Start recording with the WAV/MP3 recorder.

4) Start the NWC or .mid file playing.

5) At end of song, stop the WAV/MP3 recorder and save your file.

Depending on what soundcard you have, you may have some setup to do with it's own software to enable simultaneous playback and recording. (For example, if you have SB Live then you have to open the Creative Mixer and set MIDI as the recording source.)

In a very basic form, the above is one way to do it. You can alternatively use a software program that reads your .mid file directly and creates the WAV or MP3 without involving your soundcard. The previous responses to this post deal with that.

If you don't have a duplex card then my procedure will not work. You will have to use one of the software programs that bypasses your card entirely.

HTH and Good Luck,

Sue