Help: Convert Midis to Sheet Music

Subject: Convert Midis to Sheet Music
From: Mulroon
Date: 21 Sep 02 - 11:37 PM

Does anyone know of free software that will convert Midi files to printable sheet music?

Subject: RE: Help: Convert Midis to Sheet Music
From: Sorcha
Date: 21 Sep 02 - 11:38 PM

Not free, but NoteWorthy Composer is great!

Subject: RE: Help: Convert Midis to Sheet Music
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Sep 02 - 12:16 AM

Yes, MidiNotate does a good job, from the few times I've used it. There is a trial version listed at the bottom of the page.

I learned about it here, so I am sure there is more about it...will go see what I can find in old threads.

kat

Subject: RE: Help: Convert Midis to Sheet Music
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Sep 02 - 12:19 AM

Uh-oh, Sorcha! Gotta go read this old thread you started: click here **BG** Little bit of CRS. m'darlin' dear?:-)

Subject: RE: Help: Convert Midis to Sheet Music
From: GUEST,Norval
Date: 09 May 07 - 01:00 PM

Since this thread was opened MidiNotate has had some upgrades and gone through a name change.
It is now 3 products: 1.Notation Player, 2.Notation Musician, 3.Notation Composer.
Notation Player is freeware with the hope you will like it and buy one of their other products. It seems like a good program at first blush.
Notation Player

Subject: RE: Help: Convert Midis to Sheet Music
From: Marc Bernier
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:14 PM

This may seem stupid. How about listening to your midi file and transcribe it to sheet music yourself, either by hand or a music writing program such as musictime or sibelius. It's an excellent mental excercise, and the more you let the computer do your work the less skills you maintain.

Subject: RE: Help: Convert Midis to Sheet Music
From: MMario
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:26 PM

*grin* that's fine if you have the skill; or are able to develop it.

Subject: RE: Help: Convert Midis to Sheet Music
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:46 PM

Almost any notation program will allow you to "Save As" MIDI, and any program that can save as .mid should be able to open any .mid file and show you, in notation, what notes the file plays.

Since there are a few notation programs, especially in freeware, that don't include the dual midi/notation capability, it's worth looking for one that does.

As mentioned, there often are "compromises" in converting midi note durations to note values in the manuscript version, so some midis will produce horribly messy scores. Sometimes it is easier just to listen to the midi and "write your own" score from what you hear; but often you can use the converted score with a little cleanup.

In notation, one frequently uses repeats, to show that a part is played multiple times, but midi will simply play it multiple times, so a score that fits on one page may convert back from midi as many pages (I've seen 20 pp or more for some simple 16-measure tunes). Figuring out what can be cut out using simple repeats/codas/DS/DC in notation can be tedious, since often a "replayed" phrase actually is different, so you may have to make decisions about which to put in repeats and which go in the DS cycles.

It's also common for those who "compose in midi" to use multiple "voices" to get just the right "flavor" for what might be a single instrument in notation. When you bring a midi into a score, you may find two or three staves, all of which contain parts of the melody, with no single one that contains all of it. This is more common with the midis that "really sound great," and isn't usually a problem for simple stuff used just for trading tunes.

Generally, any notation program that says you can save as midi will be able to "open" a midi and show it in notation. There probably are exceptions, but it would certainly be a "clue" to whether a program you can snatch easily will do what you want.

Given the amount of manipulation and massage required to make clean and useful conversions, you probably will eventually want to get one good program that you can study enough to learn the tricks that make it easiest for you; and spending a nominal amount for one you like is quite worthwhile - for most of us.

John

Subject: RE: Help: Convert Midis to Sheet Music
From: Marc Bernier
Date: 09 May 07 - 08:40 PM

I didn't know that. Thank you John.

Subject: RE: Help: Convert Midis to Sheet Music
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 10 May 07 - 12:46 AM

A handy little utility program that I picked up years (maybe centuries) ago called "Midi Colors" (MidiColors.exe 108 KB) will play a midi for you, while showing the piano keyboard keys for the notes as they play.

It also shows each "voice" in a separate staff, and highlights the notes as they play. Each voice can be turned on/off, and the speed can be changed from 1/10 to 10x the original.

With a multi-voiced midi, being able to flip the individual voices on and off (while it plays) and both see and hear what happens, can be a really big help in isolating which voice containt the melody and/or countermelody, which ones are the main chords, and which are the (usually expendable) percussion.

You can't edit the file in this program, but I use it a lot for figuring out what to edit and just for sampling midis to see if I want to mess with them.

It was a free download from the PC Magazine (Ziff Davis) people when I got it, and it's still be available - but not free. I think they're asking about $7?? (US) per download, or you can "subscribe" for a more generous number of things. I haven't looked at what their terms and conditions are since they started asked for money.

A search on their website finds it still up at MidiColors. (You can also look at the mag article that first offered it. I don't know if the look is free or if that's a "back order purchase." They sometimes published source code in the articles, but I don't remember if this one had the code.)

For the terminally curious, the front page for their downloads section is at PC Magazine Downloads

John