Drumming with MIDI

[Jazz P Bass]

"I thought the entire waveform could be encoded into that command and control language".

Audio can be converted to MIDI.
Where you really hit the snags is when you expect the conversion to be perfect.

Imagine trying to convert a full symphony to MIDI.
Yes it can be done.
But you will 'lose' an awful lot of the information.

[The Dude]

......Audio can be converted to MIDI......

For clarification. Audio itself is not converted to MIDI. Note #, Note On, Note Off, etc. information is converted to MIDI information. The audio is not sampled.


For instance, let's say I play a 'C' note on guitar into a MIDI converter. MIDI knows that I played a 'C'. It knows when I started to play the note and when I stopped. It may also know the velocity or how hard I played the note (depending on the converter). It has no idea what the sound is. It could have been a piano, tuba (thanks Enzo), guitar, voice, or anything else. There is no way for MIDI to recreate exactly the sound played into the converter. The recreated sound is determined by the device triggered by that MIDI information.

[syzygyn]

Gentlemen, MIDI is only a descriptor of the music. We all agree on this. The difference is in how detailed the descriptor result is. Anyone that has been in the graphic arts field understands a postscript file is a descriptor of the image. In its earliest incarnations, it was unable to describe real life images and shading. As it evolved, those capabilities came. I see MIDI the same way. I think Jazz P Bass has the clearest picture of MIDI in its current state. I'll continue to watch this thread but I won't post unless someone posts something to change that opinion. Thanks to all for the help.

[nosaj]

Does this have anything to contribute to the conversation?
https://hackaday.com/2018/10/30/wave...-for-everyone/
nosaj

[syzygyn]

Thanks for the input but this only looks like an Aduino/Raspberry sound card. It doesn't do the MIDI transcription I was looking for as far as I can tell. For that you need dedicated computer software. So far, the results don't work well for complex arrangements.

[Bumeaung50]

Sounds good! Hmm how to download that multi-tracker? Is their any audacity guides to use that? Can this app are able to use on tablet?