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Topic: MIDI to CD audio format (Read 50664 times) previous topic - next topic

MIDI to CD audio format

I would like to transfer a MIDI file to CD (as music, not as data backup). Can this be done without a lot of expense? I have access to a CD writer. Will the nice piano quality I heard on my Yamaha Clavinova 560 and then recorded to a MIDI file on disk be translated to the CD audio format (WAV or ??). Are there MIDI to audio converters available to download? Thanks in advance for any help.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #1 –
In order for you to be able to have the song saved on a CD, you must have a writeable AUDIO CD, similar to the ones used for today's music CD's. Then you use either Windows Explorer or File Manager to access the file, save it to the CD (if it is in NWC format, it is recommended that you convert it to MIDI or WAV first), and when you wish to play it, open an audio or midi player from your windows directory and open the file through the CD.

Kassandra

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #2 –
More info: Yes, you'll have to convert your .nwc file first to .mid, then to .wav. The .wav has to be "raw pcm" (not Microsoft ADPCM), recorded in stereo at 44,100 samples per second.

Most modern soundcards will let you do this - i.e. record the .wav while playing the .mid (using the native Media Player / Sound Recorder, or via a third-party wav recording/editing package. I'm really happy with CoolEdit, which was actually included bundled with my soundcard).

You then basically just have to transfer the raw pcm .wav to the CD burner via the appropriate software.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #3 –
Thank you! I'll try it.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #4 –
Priscilla, you asked <Will the nice piano quality I heard on my Yamaha Clavinova 560 . . be translated to the CD audio format?>

OK, I've never done this, but I suspect that the recorded .wav file quality will be dependent entirely on your sound card - the nice sound from the Clavinova is produced by the high quality guts of said machine, not the computer. So unless you play your MIDI file through the Clavinova and record from its output, or you have an extremely good sound card with excellent samples, you may be disappointed by the result. Let us know how you get on.

Peter.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #5 –
What Peter said was exactly right. I downloaded a MIDI to WAV converter and the resulting WAV file was not high quality, not even sounding like a piano. So to be able to translate the high quality sound from my Clavinova to CD I may have to have a better sound card? Or might it be the MIDI to WAV converter's abilities?

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #6 –
Perhaps the clavinova has speaker out or line out connection?
Perhaps your sound card has line in or mic in?
Perhaps you could hook up one of the above outs to one of the above ins and use wave recorder software to sample at 44.1 or 48 khz, 16 bits, stereo or mono and save a .wav of your music as produced by your very fine synthesizer?

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #7 –
Wow, I'm getting some high-powered advice here. Thanks, Bill... (aren't you a little busy for this)?

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #8 –
No, you won't even need to mess with cables to route the soundcard's synth output to the wav (i.e. mic or line) input. Your software mixer should take care of that for you... at least it does on my system.

I'll have to admit, though, I had to resort to reading my soundcard's instruction manual to find this out... ;-)

Fred

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #9 –
I wonder, Priscilla what sound card you have. I used to use an ordinary Sound Blaster 16, which had a tinny piano sound. I now have an Awe 32 which is much better. So the first thing to decide is whether the sound from your computer is acceptable, particularly when played through a Hi-Fi setup - after all, your Clavinova has a quality amplifier/speaker system. If not, then you must record from the Clavinova output - I'm sure it will have a line out socket. Or you may be able to load a better sound sample depending on your sound card. Anyway, if your sound card output is acceptable, but you're not happy with your MIDI to Wave converter, have a look at the software that came with your sound card. I can only comment on my own system - I've just had a go making a .wav (it's amazing what this forum prompts you to try). My SB AWE 32 comes with a software suite including 'Wave Studio'. I set up a file ready to play (it can be a composition direct from NWC, or a MIDI file played through Windows Media Player or Noteworthy Player), then set up Wave Studio to record at the maximum available fidelity (stereo, 44100 KHz, 16 bits). Started recording, then started the tune playing. And there it was - a faithfully reproduced wave file, just as Fred suggested earlier in this thread. Beware - at 10 Mb per minute you need lots of Hard Disc space. This may solve your problem, but if I were you I would try and record from the Clavinova output as Drake suggests - there is line input on my sound card and associated software to pick it up, hopefully this will apply to you also.

Best of luck, Peter.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #10 –
Peter's answer is perfect, as usual.
with this only exception: set to 44100 Hz, not KHz or you'll explode your disks in a few seconds ;-)

And do not forget that your card (if not good enough) may not interpret stereo as your Clavinova. The best is to listen with headphones to get in idea of what you can obtain.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #11 –
I'll try what Drake and Peter suggest with the speaker output. I'm not sure if my sound card has the stereo connectors but I bet it does (I'm at work and can't check now). Not sure what my sound card is, but I think it's fairly good - one year old, came with my Compaq Presario. The driver is ESS something if that tells you anything. Do I just need to buy a cable with stereo connectors at either end and then configure the sound card to use the stereo input instead of the microphone? I never realized you could bypass the MIDI file - that'll be great if it works. Thanks for all the suggestions - I'll let you know what happens tonight!

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #12 –
Hi, Bill, I wondered why my office suddenly filled up with bits of shredded Hard Disc! Well spotted!

Peter.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #13 –
Well, it works great. Going directly from the Yamaha to the sound card via the speaker jacks. Recording via Compaq's Wave Maker. Didn't have to mess with the sound card except to turn the volume down so I could turn the Yamaha up to the volume I wanted. The quality came through just fine for me.

Thank you all for the advice. Couldn't have done it without you!

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #14 –
You probably also also a "line out" plug somewhere on the rear panel of your Clavinova.
Connecting that plug to the "line in" of your sound card should provide a better, undistorded, record as both signals levels and adaptation do match perfectly.

Best of luck as said peter.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #15 –
Peter,

Don't worry, this "scale error" appears often. Don't you remember when I said "640 Kb should be enough for anyone" some years ago ? I obviously meant "640 Mb..." but twas too late.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #16 –
One problem I've been having since I've been using the stereo output. Update: I bought the cable that goes from the Yamaha AUX to the sound card and then use my sound card's wave maker to record. At first it was good but then the next night the cable was somehow picking up a radio or TV station. And it gets recorded, too! It keeps happening. Not good.

I'm back to wanting to convert the MIDI file to a Wave file. The MIDI file is just so much cleaner and nice. I'll try what Peter suggested, using my sound card's software to record a wav file while the midi is playing.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #17 –
That sure sounds like a bad cable, i.e. one of the "grounds" (the outside part of the cable) isn't making contact... or it's not a shielded cable.

Isn't technology wonderful (when it works)?

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #18 –
I certainly am not against technology, but isn't the conversion of NWC Midi files to .Wav files a little too much technology as described in previous posts to get the job done?

What has anyone against merely recording the midi onto a high quality tape recorder? Certainly less hassle. Or is the supposed quality of a CD that important to get the job done?

A tape recorder is so much more versatile and easier to edit or change as recordings are made.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #19 –
Well, I think the point is that, having a CD burner available, and given the low cost of blank CD's, longevity and stability, sound quality, as well as the other benefits, why not?

Some of the problems that were discussed in this thread - e.g. interfacing to external synths, bad cables, etc. could happen with a tape recording also. Conversion to .wav is actually the easy part - once the hardware is in order.

Interestingly, I'm in the process of going in the other direction - making wav files of some of my old archive tapes so I can clean up the tape hiss, try to recover lost highs, and fix dropouts and other anomalies using wav editing.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #20 –
In reply to Fred's reply, you may find pretty efficient softwares able to simplify the process like CD Spin Doctor.
CD Spin doctor, from Adaptec, is part of the EASY CD CREATOR suite delivered with some CD burners.
His main purpose is to transfer old vinyl recordings to CD performing hiss and scratches removal as well as automatic track switching.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #21 –
If you still want to convert your mids to Wav, try Wavmaker with which I've been very happy. That is what the program is meant for. A demo can be found at www.polyhedric.com

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #22 –
>Does anyone know of any software out there that lets you save a .wav file
>(or other recorded audio file) onto a cd so that a regular audio cd player
>(not a cd-rom) can play it?

Most CD-R drives come with bundled software for buring a variety of CD formats. In this case, you want to burn "CD Audio" using source wave files. If you already have a CD-R drive, you should look through the bundled software to see if you already have software for burning a CD Audio disk.

Other things of note:

-> Some CD-R software allows you to burn an audio CD directly from source music, with no intermediate step of creating a collection of WAV files. If you do not have 700MB of free disk space, you might want this (the tradeoff is that you are, in effect, writing the CD at 1X speed, since you can write the CD no faster than the audio can actually be played.

-> If you plan to make a CD of NWC compositions, you probably want to record the play back of your songs while they play in NWC. To do this, you need a program that can record digital audio at 44.1 KHz stereo (the format used in CD Audio). Your sound card must also be "Full Duplex" capable, which means that it can record and play back at the same time.

-> If you have not purchased a CD-R drive yet, make sure you look at the bundled software list so you ghet what you want to make audio CDs. Also, if you want to avoid gaps between your audio tracks, you will want a drive that support "Disc-At-Once" writing.

-> You need to use CD-R disks, rather than CD-RW disks, to create audio CDs. The reflectivity of a CD-RW disk is different, and normal audio CD drives (and many computer CD drives) do not contain the necessary laser for reading CD-RW disks.

-> In my experience, CD-R disks are a little heavier than manufactured CDs (from a glass master), and may not be playable in all audio CD drives. One of my old CD players cannot get unlabelled CD-R gold disks spinning fast enough to play them. If they are labelled, it just makes this situation worse.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #23 –
But how do I get my NWC files changed to .WAV files?
Thanks, Inez

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #24 –
Hi Inez,

You need a WAV recorder (a small one comes with Windows, but you will probably need something that can record longer).

You play the MIDI file and record the result with the WAV recorder. I use Cool Edit, there is a shareware version available at:

http://www.syntrillium.com

(My SoundBlaster Live! came with Creative Wave Studio, that can make the WAV file too. And there are many other WAV recorder programs out there on the 'net.)

HTH,

Sue

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #25 –
A good program for converting sound from any source is, total recorder which can be found at http://WWW.Download.COM

There are many other FREE!! programs there that can do this stuff, Just type Keyword: CD Audio

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #26 –
I've been writing my own MIDIs for a long time now, and I've always played around with MIDI to WAV conversion. Let me tell you, when you just want to hear a familiar tune, quality isn't that important, but when you want to show off music that you've created to your friends, quality is probably the most important thing. I write my music for the Yamaha XG Soft MIDI driver, but most MIDI to WAV converters will not let you use your computer's midi driver, they come with an instrument set of their own...IF ANYONE KNOWS ANY MIDI to WAV CONVERTER THAT WILL LET YOU USE YOUR OWN MIDI DRIVER, PLEASE LAT ME KNOW THROUGH THIS FORUM OR THROUGH E-MAIL...THANX IN ADVANCE :)
P.S If anyone is interested in hearing my music, feel free to e-mail me.
KoolKat

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #27 –
You can use a great software tool - Audio Compositor.
Search the name and download an evaluation copy from their web site.
The process is done "offline" - the WAV file is created in memory using your soundfonts - I suppose it will find your softsynth data.
Check it out.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #28 –
No, sorry. AC won't work with Yamaha XG (either the softsynth or the firmware versions). Yamaha apparently uses a proprietary wave file format that AC can't read.

I've tried quite a few sf2 soundfonts with the trial version of Audio Compositor, and though I'm still seriously considering registering it, it would only be for "special effects." For general use I haven't found any sound fonts I prefer to the Yamaha sounds. Your best bet is to use the "old" way of recording your midis/nwc files, i.e. record to .wav directly from your sound card or external synth using an analog connection.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #29 –
Please forgive and ignore me if this request should not be here.

I've been using Audio Compositor for a while now... and for the simple stuff i'm doing with my SBLIVE and soundfonts... i find it gets the job done well enough, (converting midi to wav that is). I was just wondering however... i am using Cakewalk Express Gold, (came with the card), and occasionally i like to record a midi track to a wav track while it's playing... (i.e. all recording is done in cake walk)... however for some reason and on a regular basis... cakewalk seems to be able to only record for a few seconds, (say 15), before it just conks out. The program doesn't crash... it just stops recording... no error message at all, (and yes i have plenty of HD space). Has anyone experienced something like this before? (There is a reason why i want to do it all in cake walk and not just record it to an external wave program like soundforge... but this message is long enough... i won't blab on.)

Thankyou for any help...

SD.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #30 –
I've got my album recorded nicely in wav. does any one know where i cant get a resonablely priced cd burner with easy cd creator 4

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #31 –
Hey people,

I want to make my midi files into wav and i dont really understand much about it and its real confusing if anyone could help i would be vaery thankful.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #33 –
hi
I was trying to record some songs from my casset player to my pc and I wanna record them to the CD rom coz I have a CD writer but before I do that I want the quality of the songs to be in a CD quality, so how can I do that.
thank you

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #34 –
The GIGO principle applies here ("garbage in, garbage out"). If you have a muddy old cassette recording and transfer to CD, you'll have a muddy old CD recording. There are utilities (such as CoolEdit) which allow you to do various manipulations such as noise reduction, filtering, and equalisation, but they all carry a price; for example, too much noise reduction will introduce other distortions, etc.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #35 –
I would like to convert Real Audio File's To a cd as a music backup how do I do that

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #36 –
The RealAudio format, like mp3, uses the playback wav driver of your sound card. So your sound card needs to be full-duplex, i.e. capable of recording and playing at the same time. The procedure would be, basically, open your wav recorder and start it recording. Open up RealPlayer and start playing. Adjust playback and record volumes as required to get a good recorded level (not too high so it clips, not too low so it's down in the mud). Repeat until satisfied. :)

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #37 –
Hello! I have a big problem: I have a AWE64 Value soundcard and would like to convert midi into wav. The card should be able to do this by playing the midi with one player and recording it with CoolEdit. But it says "device already in use"...and I don't know any progs, that can convert it directly. WaveMaker III would be great but I don't have the money to buy it, secondly, I would have to order it and I live in Europe, so it would be expense. So I'd need a small freeware prog. that can convert it...any ideas? What should I do? Please mail me, if you have any suggestions!
(also if you have an AWE64 Value and it works)

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #38 –
Unfortunetly for all I have no reply's to previous questions and comments. My interest is to read from my school text book through a microphone (via mic input on my sound card) and to change the wave format so I'm able to burn a CD and listen to "my voice" in my car on my way to work. If anyone has a suggestion or comments I would be greately appreciative.

Thank's alot.

Jeff c

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #39 –
Jeff, there should be no need to "change the wave format". If you have a CD/RW drive, the odds are that it came with CD-burning software. All such software that I've heard of can write .wav files (such as Windows Sound Recorder produces) to CD, performing the necessary format translation automatically. You might want to check your software's documentation or Help file.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #40 –
Thanks for the advise Grant!! Let me look into this (I need to purchase some blank cd's) and I will reply with my progress.

Thanks again, Jeff

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #41 –
I am trying to use micorphone wwith yahoo messenger voice chat but when i try it says error and that it cant find audio mixer,can someone please help me and tell me what i need to do as soon as possible. Thank You

Pebbles

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #42 –
I have been reading each of these messages... and I thought i saw a free Mid-to-wav.. All those SHAREWARE progs have limits.. and I have tried all of them.. Im not seeing anything i like. Is there a FREEWARE prog to do this? (Yes I have tried the cord, Plugged into the MIC and Line out and it doesnt come out good quality I want.. I used a Shareware prog, and it did 30 seconds, and it sounded better that way..)

If ya can help Email me TIA. Cid Highwind

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #43 –
ther is a program on www.musicmatch.com
when you download it you go to file and create cd and that's

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #44 –
I tried that Music Match thing
It will Convert wavs and a few other types to MP3 but not Midis

Ok Lets change the Question

How Bout Midi To MP3?

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #45 –
From what I've heard, the way to do this is to convert the MIDI to WAV and then convert the WAV to MP3. For MIDI-to-WAV conversion, check out the extensive discussion in https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=850.

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #46 –
Well Grant, I have finally found the time and scratch to purhcase CD-R's. To my delight you were right. I did not have to alter the wave format! My plextor writer copied the wave files nicely. Now I can safely, on my 40 minute drive to work, "study" with my own lechure. Thanks again and keep up the good work. You have been supportive to all involved on this site.

Jeff c

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #47 –
Ah, the famous converting mid to wav file paradox. I think the only reasonable way to do this is to GET A CREATIVE SOUNDBLASTER!! Fine if you don't like their quality, but their included software always has an easy-to-use recording program (such as the Creative Recorder that comes with Live!Value), which, if used with any soundblaster with fullduplex (haven't tried it with any other brands) will amazingly convert midis to waves!! I just dropped by to tell you that there are people out there who've been using this kind of software for years. And no, it doesn't require fancy external cables and line-ins/outs, just the program. If you are really needing for a solution to ur converting dilemma, don't take my word for it, give it a try. I'm sure you can find out where to download it (mine came with my compaq's quickrestore disk, which has free drivers for the live!value even tho mine is only pci128). Sorry to write so much, just thought it would help someone. Later!

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #48 –
Hey out there to all of you with trouble converting MIDI files to .wav or .mp3. I have tried just about every progam mentioned in all of the internet forums, and only 1 has ever worked for me! MODPLUG TRACKER:

http://www.modplug.com/index.shtml

All you do it open a midi, then go to File/Save as Wave or Save as MP3, how much easier can it get? I tried plugins for Real, WinAmp, have tried Cool Edit, WavMaker, Total Recorder, Wav2Mid, Wingroove and all of them either didnt work or had registration limits. This is free and worked for me!!!

Re: MIDI to CD audio format

Reply #49 –
I'm trying to record a casset tape onto my cpu and record onto cd. What device or equipment do i need, and what type of software shuold i use.

Thank You