# Creating MIDIS and 3 track audio



## JustJimAZ (Aug 19, 2010)

Looking for a relatively low tech solution, and I can think of no one better than haunters to help!
What I want is first to convert music into MIDI. I want to create a "bass" midi and a "high" midi from an existing piece of music. Let's say it's "This is Halloween".
I am not sure what software exists to help with that.
Next, I want to play this music form a computer or MP3 player. Simple, right? Well, I want the original version and the MIDI bass and MIDI high to go to three(or four, it that helps) speakers.
The whole point is that they are synchronized. So out of one ow two speakers the full version with vocals and all plays, out of another, only the bass line and out of another, only the high end.
I am wanting to use MIDI because I want pure tones. One clear "key" at a time.
I cannot buy some kind of multi-track DJ equipment to make this happen. I have no trouble splitting right and left channels, of course, but three channels?
Any thoughts?


----------



## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I've been researching this on line and have yet to find any way to convert an audio file to midi (which would be a really useful capability to have). The issue appears to be that midi is not an audio file itself - it's a set of instructions. iTunes has the ability to convert a midi file to an audio file format, but not the other way around. Audacity will let you import a midi file for editing and export it as midi, but does not appear to give the option of importing an audio file and exporting it as midi.


----------



## mikkojay (Sep 15, 2014)

I also started to look and realized that the audio to midi is a very non-trivial task. This is a very interesting video that helps describe things:


----------



## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

One thing you might try, Jim, is to run a Google search to see if there is an existing midi version of the song you're interested in using. If you find it and if you're also lucky, the person who created it will have put each "voice" on its own track, making it easy to pull out the bass or treble or whatever for individual use.


----------



## neverhart (Sep 5, 2011)

Hey ya'll: I'm a composer who uses MIDI all the time so I'd be happy to answer questions on the subject.

Yes: converting audio to MIDI is a complicated issue because audio is a representation of frequencies and MIDI is instructions on how to play a MIDI device. If the audio is a relatively clear "monophonic" track (i.e. it contains only one note at a time) there are plugins that can more or less get you there... and of course technology gets more advanced every day. BUT: it's still going to be much simpler to have a musician play the notes you're interested in from the audio.

I'm a little unclear as to why the OP wants to use MIDI for two out of the three tracks... as RoxyBlue has said, MIDI is an instruction set meant to go to a MIDI device (or software instrument,) which will PLAY those notes and produce sounds. But if you had a computer sequencer playing the audio and MIDI, the computer's audio could be routed to the main speaker. The MIDI would need to be routed to a hardware MIDI instrument, but could then be sent out LEFT ("MIDI HI") and RIGHT ("MIDI LOW") to another amp. There's your three tracks... but the specifics are really going to depend on what software you're using, what MIDI gear you have, etc.


----------



## JustJimAZ (Aug 19, 2010)

The purpose of using MIDI for two tracks is precisely because they convert to pure tones. Most music has several things going on at once - maybe different instruments, multiple note, whatever. What I want is clean, pure tones coming out of two speakers while the actual music plays from the third.

Pure tones create clean sound waves. 








VS most music which looks like this:









I have managed to create a file with music playing from one channel and MIDI tones from another, so that's simple enough, but it's not great, and not what I am looking to do.



neverhart said:


> Hey ya'll: I'm a composer who uses MIDI all the time so I'd be happy to answer questions on the subject.
> 
> Yes: converting audio to MIDI is a complicated issue because audio is a representation of frequencies and MIDI is instructions on how to play a MIDI device. If the audio is a relatively clear "monophonic" track (i.e. it contains only one note at a time) there are plugins that can more or less get you there... and of course technology gets more advanced every day. BUT: it's still going to be much simpler to have a musician play the notes you're interested in from the audio.
> 
> I'm a little unclear as to why the OP wants to use MIDI for two out of the three tracks... as RoxyBlue has said, MIDI is an instruction set meant to go to a MIDI device (or software instrument,) which will PLAY those notes and produce sounds. But if you had a computer sequencer playing the audio and MIDI, the computer's audio could be routed to the main speaker. The MIDI would need to be routed to a hardware MIDI instrument, but could then be sent out LEFT ("MIDI HI") and RIGHT ("MIDI LOW") to another amp. There's your three tracks... but the specifics are really going to depend on what software you're using, what MIDI gear you have, etc.


----------



## neverhart (Sep 5, 2011)

Gotcha, Jim.

-MP3 players do not output more than 2 channels. (You might be able to find a multichannel ZOOM unit or similar, but I don't think you want to buy anything.) So, you're looking at a computer to run this.

-If your computer only has one stereo audio output, then you only have 2 channels- Left and Right. (You might be able to put in another sound card, or a multichannel sound card, or a USB audio output, but again: something to buy.)

-The software that lets you play back multiple tracks of audio and MIDI all synchronized is usually called a DAW (digital audio workstation.) Plenty of free examples are available online (PC users might start looking at Reaper, OS X has GarageBand that comes with it.)

-Most DAWs come with software MIDI engines, which take MIDI data and convert them into audio, but it gets mixed together with the audio tracks and routed out the computer's audio out (so again, you're limited to two outputs L and R.)

-With your criteria the only, best and dirt cheap solution I see is to find a hardware MIDI sound module, and (providing you have a way to get MIDI out of your PC) hook it up like I've illustrated in the attachment. You should be able to find one free or at the very least dirt cheap. Maybe you already have a MIDI keyboard at home, or know a musician you can borrow one from, or can check Goodwill/garage sales or whatever, but even the oldest MIDI module can produce "pure" tones like the sine wave you illustrated. This is the only way to get 3-4 channels out of a stereo system AFAIK.

If you could provide some detail about what OS you're on, and what audio/MIDI output (sound card?) your computer has I could get more detailed. I could have a Pro Tools session together in about 5 minutes but that probably wouldn't help you much.


----------



## JustJimAZ (Aug 19, 2010)

Thanks neverhart. I may be able to provide some of the specs you asked about.


----------

