converting MIDI to S3M, XM, IT, help please!

[tuplet]

hello everyone~

sorry to bother you all, but i've been searching these forums for a good half an hour and have yet to find an answer to my question.

i need to know the best way to convert a MIDI file into a reasonable sounding mod with the extension of s3m, xm, or it. i'm a professional composer and i actually have a degree in electronic music (i use MaxMSP and Reason primarily), but am completely and utterly new to the whole mod world (cool stuff though), which makes this all the more frustrating.

i've been using proplayer to make this conversion, but as you all probably know the conversion is extremely messy and far too much articulation and information is lost, so it is inadequate for the relatively detailed piece i'm trying to make into a mod. i also tried using mid2xm but i wasn't able to get it to assign the instruments correctly, the file would come out blank. i'm probably making a really stupid and obvious mistake.

so i'm coming to you guys for help, can anyone give me some good advice as to the quickest way to make a mod of reasonable quality out of a midi file? every tracker i've tried makes a mess out of the midi file, i intend on eventually learning to just create the mod within the tracker, but with this project i wrote it out by hand first and extracted the midi file from a finale score.

thanks in advance for your time and advice

[Squirrel Havoc]

hello everyone~

Hi!

can anyone give me some good advice as to the quickest way to make a mod of reasonable quality out of a midi file?

Sure, don't use ModPlug Tracker The MIDI conversion capability is good, but probably not enough for a pro like you. I just play with it for fun.


What are the problems  you are running into? I mean what are you trying to do that isnt working, and what's it doing instead? I might be able to help, I have a little experience with MIDI conversion in MPT

[tuplet]

oh i'm not a pro, i'm here to get advice of the pros  

well the only reason i've been using proplayer is because i'm on a mac and that was the best i could find in 30 minutes online... but i just went ahead and downloaded modplug onto my girlfriend's windows box, and 15 minutes later i have a reasonable .it midi realization  

the problem with proplayer is that it hacks up the instruments in the midi file into way to may tracks, making mixing difficult at best. it was also cutting off some durations, missing some note-offs, and playing some lines with the wrong instrument.

modplug, however, is very clean and easy to use, so thank you so much for your recommendation, you're kindness is much appreciated!

[LPChip]

For midi composers, there's always this phase. MODPlug Tracker is a fine piece of software, but you can't really compose midi with it. The reason is quite obvious actually. Modules are superior in many aspects to midi, but before we start a comparisation war, its kinda impossible to compare modules and midi's so lets skip that part.

Your best go is to learn tracking a module from scratch. It will be a challenge in the beginning, but oh so rewarding after your first complete song.

I even bet that after doing this, midi won't be that interesting to you anymore, because modules offer so much more. For instance, different sounds, more overview, easier to learn, more effects over sounds (like appregio, vibrato, extreme pitchbends, etc...)

[Squirrel Havoc]

I even bet that after doing this, midi won't be that interesting to you anymore, because modules offer so much more. For instance, different sounds, more overview, easier to learn, more effects over sounds (like appregio, vibrato, extreme pitchbends, etc...)

Not to start a war, like you said, but I still use MIDI as a way of sequencing external equipment like my synth and drum machine. Too bad I can't sequence for a bass guitar  :lol:

[LPChip]

I even bet that after doing this, midi won't be that interesting to you anymore, because modules offer so much more. For instance, different sounds, more overview, easier to learn, more effects over sounds (like appregio, vibrato, extreme pitchbends, etc...)

Not to start a war, like you said, but I still use MIDI as a way of sequencing external equipment like my synth and drum machine. Too bad I can't sequence for a bass guitar  :lol:

There's a common mistake, which you've just made.

There are several ways to talk about midi. One is the format .mid, while the other is the language midi.

the language midi is just how certain information is being transmitted between several sources (among software and hardware).

Modplug Tracker uses this midi language to control and use VST instruments.

This is one of the reasons why you can't compare midi. But for the simplified .mid format, my above given point is valid. You should be able to sequence your pattern in modplug too if you use midi equipment with the note recorder.

[Squirrel Havoc]

Now your confusing me, MIDI is a instruction set, but a .mid file IS that instruction set, recorded into a file, instead of signals going through cables. I record midi signals from the synth to the computer to a midi file on the computer, I don't understand the difference...

[Sam_Zen]

MIDI is a instruction set, but a .mid file IS that instruction set

Not quite. I may be wrong, because I'm not a regular midi-user, but in a .mid file only those codes of the instruction set are saved, that are actually used in the specific piece, not the whole set.
It's the same as with tracker files. Only those command-codes are saved in the file that has been used in the song, not the whole set.

When I started tracking, I tested a few times importing .mid files into MPT. It showed to be very inaccurate and rather unpredictable in the (timing) result. After that, I gave up, and considered this to be two different worlds.

[Squirrel Havoc]

When I started tracking, I tested a few times importing .mid files into MPT. It showed to be very inaccurate and rather unpredictable in the (timing) result. After that, I gave up, and considered this to be two different worlds.

Funny thing is most trackers who have done PC only MIDI sequencing, they did that first, then tracking, but it was making music with a tracker that got me into making midi files, then to sequencing external stuff