Midi --> Sheet music

[Levchik]

HI everone, many apologies if this has been asked before, but i've had a shocking day at work and can barely keep my eyes open long enough to type this!! :(

Does anyone know of any good quality software that will convert midi files to Sheet music and make a decent fist of it? Oh, and it has to be for free!! :D I downloaded a trial version of Sibelius which did a pretty impressive job, however it wud only let me print one page!!

Thanks for any help

Lev

[kp88keys]

Levchik

Take a look at Finale Notepad Plus (http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/plus/). It's not free, but it's only US$24.95.

Good luck

Ken

[wa7bqb]

It sounds like you might be just getting started with this notion. I say that because you're unlilkely to find ANYTHING that will be up to your satisfaction. In general, midi music when presented as a score, has too much notation congestion to be of much use.

I have found the best approach is to use software such as SONAR (Cakewalk, etc.) that will have a method to import an audio track, such as a ripped song, mp3, wav, etc. If you're lucky, you can probably find tabs/chords and lyrics on the 'net. From that create your own midi track and manually input the melody using the actual audio song as your guide. Finally, including the chords and lyrics will get you to about the best finished {useable} notation I have found. I have tried most of them!

I second approach is to use Band In A Box, which will synthesize chords (or you can input them manually). Then either open a .wav file of the song, or work out the melody for yourself. Trouble with that approach is Band In A Box is pretty lame for meters other than 4/4 or rudimentary 3/4 time. It also doesn't permit key/tempo changes within a song.

Your mileage may vary, but this is my experience trying to accomplish the same thing!

There is also a program called 'WIDI' which makes a very poor attempt to synthesize a MIDI file from an audio file. The result is like hitting a score with a shotgun! Using a subtractive process, though, you could get 'er done. Still, I use Sonar, work through it, and learn as much along the way as I can. It isn't real fast, but you can get there from here.

-Dale-

[dbjorck]

Hi!

You may also want to take a look at MidiNotate (www.midinotate.com). I found it easier to use than Sibelius, and does a good job at even transcribing trills and ornaments to sensible sheet music. It can't automatically pick up beats in midi files that haven't been recorded on tempo though, but I don't think any program exists that can do that yet (unless someone knows of one, in which case I would be very interested to know which)

Brgds

Danny

[Orbit]

I have both Calkwalk Sonar Home studio and PrintMusic.

I'm trying to figure out the most efficient way to clean up files for playing.

I also play a wind-controller, so most of the time what I'm really after is the melody, which can be on different tracks within the same file.

I'm learning both programs above and have 3 options:

1) cut and past tracks in Sonar
-advantage is it's easy to mute and solo tracks, so you can follow the melody
-I'd like to learn how to copy a given part and then insert into one continuous staff (or 2 staves if playing a piano part)

-disadvange of of Sonar is that it's staff view is not that great. I can only get a small part to show on the screen a given time. I think this program's strength is really as a sequener to manipulate midi and audio, with less emphasis on the printed page.

-I'd then clean up with Print Music as needed

2) the second option is to open midi files in Print Music directly and edit from there
-while PM's strength is getting the page layout right, I haven't (yet) found an easy way to play specific tracks - to sample parts to see if I want to keep them in my final printed score

(I would think this is possible, just haven't found it yet)

3) third option - give up on modifying midi tracks, as that is time consuming and just buy fakebooks and sheet music - probably purchase a digital form anyway

-this saves time but gets pricey

Any hints on making the midi workflow more efficient?


thanx!
Orbit