Curious why choose mod formats over midi?

[Uhfgood]

Hello my name is Keith Weatherby II.  I enjoy listening to chip music.  I've made a couple of very poor mods for a couple of my old games.  Now I have a question and decided to go ahead and register.  I plan on learning to write chip music for inclusion in one of my future games as i'm a programmer.

Why choose mods over midis?

Okay I know some part of this is obvious.  You can do stuff like use sound bytes, human voices, and the like for samples.  But what about stuff like chip music?  What makes it better to use mod samples to recreate electronic music than using actual electronic sound hardware to recreate it?  Mostly some people that have heard it assume it's midi because it sounds electronicly made instead of digitized.  To me it sounds like mods have more flexibility, and that midi music is more restricted into what instruments you have on your system.

My apologies if this has been asked before.  I've looked through the forums and saw nothing to suggest it has been posted lately here.

Any insights is appreciated.
Keith Weatherby II
aka Uhfgood
Uhfgood -AT- verizon -DOT- net

[SoundCrafter]

Hello Keith.

You already covered the obvious advantages, mostly how you can use samples rather than system sounds, but it seems to me that you're asking a question which, to me, has a simple answer>

Why not use hardware? Easy. Modplug (and other software) is free, whereas most (legal  :lol: ) hardware is not.

[Uhfgood]

Of course I didn't mean, buying new hardware verses using a software solution.  I meant using midi's instead of mods :-)  I mean couldn't you recreate chip sounds with current sound cards, or are they so advanced now that it would take alot just to make it sound remotely decent?

Keith

Thanks for replying

[speed-goddamn-focus]

if you want to use midi, you'd probably want to use some softsynth to ensure that the result is predictable, and you'd probably have a hard time finding good chip type sounds if you use general midi.

another option is to use farbrausch's v2, very nice if you want a rich sound and small size.

[LPChip]

I seem to be the only one to understand the question I guess..

Uhfgood is asking the difference between a .mod/.it file against a .mid file.

True you can use .mid files in sequencers using VSTi's, but that wouldn't allow him to share the .mid in his game because there wouldn't be support for the VSTi.

To answer your question:

You should not use midi because:
* Midi sounds different on every system, so its not sure how your song will sound on his system.
* most midilibraries do not have good chip sounds. True, they have a saw and a sine sound, but they're too spiced up. Chiptunes should be raw and sharp. Midi's sounds are not. If you use the default sounds, like a bass, then you practically don't have a chiptune.
* Is it at all possible to make good chiptunes in midi?

You should use a module because:
* Modules can break the rules which are required for chiptune effects. (think about immense pitch slides, appregio's etc.)
* There are loads and loads of songs, so you have plenty of examples to learn from and gain inspiration.
* There are loads of sites that describe how to make chiptunes using modules

[speed-goddamn-focus]

True you can use .mid files in sequencers using VSTi's, but that wouldn't allow him to share the .mid in his game because there wouldn't be support for the VSTi.

If you're talking about V2, obviously he would save as a v2m and use libv2 to play back, don't you think? or he could use directmusic to use midi with chip samples or he could write his own softsynth.

Midi sounds different on every system, so its not sure how your song will sound on his system.[/qoute]
Only if different devices are used.

most midilibraries do not have good chip sounds. True, they have a saw and a sine sound, but they're too spiced up. Chiptunes should be raw and sharp. Midi's sounds are not. If you use the default sounds, like a bass, then you practically don't have a chiptune.

midi doesn't necessarily equal general midi.

Is it at all possible to make good chiptunes in midi?

That's a question, not a reason.

There are loads of sites that describe how to make chiptunes using modules

Not loads. There are a few tho.

[LPChip]

There are loads of sites that describe how to make chiptunes using modules

Not loads. There are a few tho.

chiptune.com, chiptune.fr/forum, louigi has a chiptune blog, modarchive, here, milkytracker has a few tutorials, and those are just chiptune related sites. There are also tutorial related sites that cover tracking and chiptunes as a part of their site.

[Uhfgood]

Thanks for the reply, guys.  That's what I was looking for.  Good tips all.

I will definately still be using module formats for my music.  Like I said in the first, really I was just asking because I had people tell me it sounded like midi, and I guess to the extent that chiptunes are electronic, it's true.  So at least now I have something to say back :-)

Keith