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HOW MUCH DO Y'ALL LIKE MIDI?
Posts
flowerthief
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CloseMidi is easier. You can set a loop point in a midi with exact precision in a matter of seconds. You can adjust volume of separate tracks, change notes, change tempo, change key, and countless other things with ease and precision. It's the most flexible of all formats.
My hangup was that I wanted songs to have loop points (not repeat the intro). There were script solutions for that, but they had the drawback of causing a time delay before the loop picks up. I could restructure a piece to loop to the beginning, or cut out the loop entirely, but that, too, would be compromising compositional integrity for higher sound quality; a tough decision to make. Until last night I was leaning towards compositional integrity, which meant going with the only format that promised it -- raw midi.
HOWEVER...last night I found an awesome RMXP script that rewrites the Audio code to make it possible to set loop points for any sound format without time delays! You need to know the point in milliseconds to which a song will loop, but that's a small price to pay to get the best of both worlds. Together with that online midi converter, I'm set :)
My hangup was that I wanted songs to have loop points (not repeat the intro). There were script solutions for that, but they had the drawback of causing a time delay before the loop picks up. I could restructure a piece to loop to the beginning, or cut out the loop entirely, but that, too, would be compromising compositional integrity for higher sound quality; a tough decision to make. Until last night I was leaning towards compositional integrity, which meant going with the only format that promised it -- raw midi.
HOWEVER...last night I found an awesome RMXP script that rewrites the Audio code to make it possible to set loop points for any sound format without time delays! You need to know the point in milliseconds to which a song will loop, but that's a small price to pay to get the best of both worlds. Together with that online midi converter, I'm set :)
MIDI's great for filesizes but you get a lot of corruption issues and inconsistency across computers and builds. Additionally, there are limitations to what soundfonts and etcetera are available to use (they're basically the 2k3 of the music world).
With that said, it is entirely possible to make amazing sounding midis. Look up any of the pre-Windows Touhou soundtracks [Alice in Wonderland is a particular favourite, along with Eternal Shrine Maiden and Infinite Being), and even the MIDI versions of EoSD's soundtrack, and you'll find amazing examples of music.
With that said, it is entirely possible to make amazing sounding midis. Look up any of the pre-Windows Touhou soundtracks [Alice in Wonderland is a particular favourite, along with Eternal Shrine Maiden and Infinite Being), and even the MIDI versions of EoSD's soundtrack, and you'll find amazing examples of music.
author=Allen Hunter
For something as primitive and plagiarizing as RPG Maker, .midi fits right in. In my case, however, I like to think highly of my work. So .mp3 for me. I would rather settle for .flac (lossless), but it's just RPG Maker.
Just saying that a crappy song is crappy regardless of format.
Besides, you can use lossless music in RPG Maker if you really want to: .wav
m4uesviecr
200
Well, just to clarify, I don't think midi is bad. But for me, I'm one of those people who likes vintage music in a vintage game. If I were to hear some midi music in 2k3 for example, I would see it as highly fitting!
Though I agree that midi or not, a crappy song is a crappy song, it is hard for me, personally, to listen to music that is midi if it is within a game that I truly do not think needs to use midi, or has the capabilities of playing music of higher quality.
Would I listen to midi on my mp3 player? Dude, I listen to 8-bit. But when it comes to seeing midi in an rpg maker VX game or higher (maybe even XP), unless it is midi of quality, like this guy,
Bjorn Lynne
I'm going to have a hard time liking it within the context of the game.
Though I agree that midi or not, a crappy song is a crappy song, it is hard for me, personally, to listen to music that is midi if it is within a game that I truly do not think needs to use midi, or has the capabilities of playing music of higher quality.
Would I listen to midi on my mp3 player? Dude, I listen to 8-bit. But when it comes to seeing midi in an rpg maker VX game or higher (maybe even XP), unless it is midi of quality, like this guy,
Bjorn Lynne
I'm going to have a hard time liking it within the context of the game.
gadesx
307
I prefer open a midi that I want and change the instruments with VSTs, and export em to mp3 and I have a arrange track, so its possible with snes soundfonts make the track like played in a snes :)
ivoryjones
75
I have a love-hate relationship with midis.
I love midis that reminds you of old school games, but I loathe songs that are turned into midis.
I love midis that reminds you of old school games, but I loathe songs that are turned into midis.
author=LockeZ
And also see if .ogg does the same thing.
I just tested this today, I converted a midi into an mp3 (using solmire.com, thank you m4uesviecr!!!) using the EAWPats soundfont (my favorite) and then converted it to wav, trimmed the edges and converted it to ogg, and using cherry's patch it ran smoothly, looped great and takes even less space then mp3.
It's great.
Also, with cherry's path the maker can read loop data in mp3 and ogg (so you can have a music tha loops withot repeating the intro) but I haven't tested that yet.
amerk
2539
I've been trying to find an easy online method of converting to MP3 and ogg, so this is a definite plus. While I agree, there are some Midi files I enjoy, especially for nostalgic purposes, MP3 and ogg files are much easier on the ears.
LDanarkos
430
I think it's funny that every 4.5-5 star RM game I've played has been mediocre at best, but we've got people being snobby about midi music. It's almost like... let's make games that are worse than SNES RPG's in every way except a superior music file format.
I semi-agree, why use midi's if you have access to mp3's, etc.? But I've been working on an RM2K game for something like a bazillion years, and if people stopped playing it because it had a relatively good-sounding midi soundtrack, then that's just ridiculous. Might as well deem FF6 unplayable while you're at it. But yeah, if I was using a newer RM, no question I'd use mp3's. I just think it's the last thing to nitpick when every other aspect of every game is lower quality than a midi file.
I semi-agree, why use midi's if you have access to mp3's, etc.? But I've been working on an RM2K game for something like a bazillion years, and if people stopped playing it because it had a relatively good-sounding midi soundtrack, then that's just ridiculous. Might as well deem FF6 unplayable while you're at it. But yeah, if I was using a newer RM, no question I'd use mp3's. I just think it's the last thing to nitpick when every other aspect of every game is lower quality than a midi file.
Kaliesto
583
I think midi needs to evolve in quality in some way without increasing too much of the file size.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
author=LDanarkos
I think it's funny that every 4.5-5 star RM game I've played has been mediocre at best, but we've got people being snobby about midi music. It's almost like... let's make games that are worse than SNES RPG's in every way except a superior music file format.
I think we are trying to improve the other aspects of the games too. Like, that's what every thread in the GD&T forum is for except this one, right? It's not like this is the only thing people want to improve about their games.
gadesx
307
author=Kaliesto
I think midi needs to evolve in quality in some way without increasing too much of the file size.
Do you know soundfont system? A Sf2 is like a midi but inside any instrument can be saved with anything, so if you have a sf2 with snes sounds for example, and load any mid file, the music can be played with the sf2 sounds.
It will be nice a support of soundfonts in rpg maker,
indo: http://woolyss.com/chipmusic-soundfonts.php
Wolfe
538
author=Kaliesto
I think midi needs to evolve in quality in some way without increasing too much of the file size.
Various companies and individuals have been doing that for decades; MIDI is actually extremely flexible. Soundfonts, like gadesx pointed out, special effect definitions like Yamaha XG, and a whole range of software/hardware controllers have all helped MIDI to evolve.
The problem is in a case like ours, when playback quality is often limited by the quality of the synth on the computer being used to play the game. Beyond the fidelity of the instruments, attack/decay rates, dynamics, pitch range, and even pitch tuning can vary from computer to computer, making it difficult to compose a MIDI that will sound the same to everyone. For example, someone might compose a fast and flighty flute part, but if your favorite soundfont has a flute sample that's soft and slow, it'll sound way off.
Inconsistency is the main problem. But if you have control over playback quality, MIDI is fine. Some modern videogames still have MIDI songs, they just come packaged with decent instruments. In theory we could do the same thing with our games; tailor your songs to a common softsynth like Yamaha XG70 (developed for the Windows version of Final Fantasy 7), direct your players to download it, and you can be sure everyone hears the music the way you intended.
Leophard
0
I hope that I'm not interrupting the topic too much, but I have a quick question regarding the default .midi files found in RPG Maker XP.
My question is: How much people actually do dislike them? Because I have managed to convert several of the old .midi files into more advanced .mp3 and .ogg files, but I've had so much difficulty with making these loop correctly without making them interfere with eachother that I've simply given up on trying. Yes, I've tried FModEx.
Anyways, if you'd like, I can show you some of the "advanced" music files that I've mentioned. But I was just wondering about the general opinion of the default .midi music.
My question is: How much people actually do dislike them? Because I have managed to convert several of the old .midi files into more advanced .mp3 and .ogg files, but I've had so much difficulty with making these loop correctly without making them interfere with eachother that I've simply given up on trying. Yes, I've tried FModEx.
Anyways, if you'd like, I can show you some of the "advanced" music files that I've mentioned. But I was just wondering about the general opinion of the default .midi music.
I'd say that most people don't like RTP because it's overused.
Didn't you use something like solmire to convert them?
Didn't you use something like solmire to convert them?
MIDI aren't a bad music source, but they tend to be poorly done. I like MIDI, but sometimes it can be messed up when you go to create the actual file*.
* I have little to no clue what I'm talking about.
* I have little to no clue what I'm talking about.
Leophard
0
author=iddalai
I'd say that most people don't like RTP because it's overused.
Didn't you use something like solmire to convert them?
No, I actually just used the online converter on Hamienet.com, and I've tried creating the loops with FModEx scripts. Mind you, it works fine if you're accurate enough with the timing, but it's very buggy when you try to implement it during battles. Or at least, I never got it to work right.
Is this "Solmire" able to convert them while keeping the loop points, though? Because that would be very helpful.
