CELEBRIN'S PROFILE

Well obviously I'm a day late and a dollar short to chime in on this topic, but I registered, so I might as well provide my two cents.

I enjoy midi format. Yes, in general it doesn't have the kind of sound-quality that an MP3 or higher level of sound format has, but there are many things to like.

My greatest affinity with midi is quite simply because I use Finale. I was an avid instrumental performer (on a range of brass instruments {mainly trombone}) all through middle-school and high-school. Sat first chair in our jazz-band...yada yada. I also have some background in music theory, so the easiest and most-familiar way for me to compose music is via programs that allow me to write a virtual paper score, like Finale. Now my version of Finale is (admittedly) rather old, Finale 2k3, but it still gets the job done. One of the many nice things about Finale is that you can instantly save the score you've written as a Midi playback file compatible with any music-player capable of playing midi format. I do have to run it through a midi-editor just to program the tempo changes in, but that can be done in a matter of minutes, especially since I can check the bpm playback speed in each measure of my Finale score. Just program a tempo-change event, type in the correct bpm, and voila. I love that I can write a full orchestral score and then have it instantly converted into digital music. Unfortunately I don't have the money to employ an orchestra...so this is rather useful for me. :p Also, when Finale rips a score into a midi format, it takes into account any repeats you've programmed into the score...so that partially solves the "repeat only this part of the song and not the intro" problem, though you do have to balance midi file length with desire to avoid a repeat of the song's intro.

Midi also has a certain type of nostalgia. Honestly, the types of RPG's we played in youth all used midi. I have RPG XP which is basically the same graphics quality as FFIII, the first Final Fantasy I ever played, and the one that made me Square Enix's B*atch. (Chrono Trigger started it, but FFIII sealed the deal).

I'm just starting to get into sound-fonts. I admit I've never dabbled with them before, so if anyone experienced would care to weigh in on how I should start messing with them, I'd welcome the information. Honestly when I want to listen to my original scores just to listen to them, I play them in the RPG XP sound-test module because they sound so much classier than if I play them in something like WMP. I assume this is because of a more-advanced sound-font in the script, but I've never messed with the scripting itself, so I really don't have a clue.

I guess in a game like one I could create in RPG XP, I think midi file formats are just fine, especially since I can use my original scores. ^^ Most things I've written were inspired by video-game music, which is almost the only genre of music on my phone, so they fit right in. My battle theme works perfectly for fighting off evil octopi and whatnot. :D