I'm trying to put together a MIDI soundtrack by converting normal metal songs to MIDI. It didn't work. What the hell do I do?

[Archfiend]

So here's the song I'm trying to convert, Infinite Misery by Cannibal Corpse:

 

I put that through a MIDI converter and got this monstrosity:

So now it's all piano. What the hell do I do now? I need to turn this into a nice, retro-style song with low audio quality fit for a DOOM OST. I am bad. Please help.

 

(Also, I'm sorry for the orientation. I'll offer my blood to the Doomworld admins in penance once I get a soundtrack.)

 

Edit: I've seen the "Roland SC-55" mentioned here and there. I looked it up but I couldn't even figure out what it's for. Is it important...?

Edited October 8, 2021 by Archfiend

[Redneckerz]

11 minutes ago, Archfiend said:

Sooo... MIDI converters = bad?

What Gez is saying with his comic book example is that you lose the illustrations, but only keep the bare text.

 

That's the analogy here. With the midi converter, it strips away everything that makes the original sound like it does.

 

Thus, a midi conversion needs to be handcrafted, with midi guitars in its replacements.

 

Sekajiu is a midi composer. So basically, you would be recreating the song yourself, if someone else hasn't done so already.

 

This also answers your other question. Like Doom modding, stuff like this takes practice - There is a reason why seasoned Midi musicians in the Doomosphere are few and inbetween.

[TheUltimateDoomer666]

Automatic audio to MIDI conversion (that doesn't sound awful) is impossible. Everything will need to be transcribed manually. You can try searching online to see if there is already a guitar tab or MIDI for the song you want to convert. If a tab is available, then you can use that as a reference or base for creating a MIDI.

 

For example, I found a Guitar Pro 5 tab by waldochj for Infinite Misery on the Ultimate Guitar site. I downloaded the GP5 file, opened it with Guitar Pro 5, exported a MIDI file, and then cleaned up the MIDI (GP5's MIDI export isn't perfect) with Cakewalk. Be sure to credit the original transcriber if you use this method.

 

Guitar Pro tabs can also be edited with TuxGuitar, a free, open-source tab editor.

Edited October 8, 2021 by TheUltimateDoomer666

[P41R47]

Cannibal Corpse - infinite_misery.zip

There you are!
not a bad redition i may say.

Sometimes is far easier to search for the midi on internet.
Maybe you will have to do some Russian or other language juggling while searching, but most certain is that if you think of something would be cool on midi, someone already thought it and probably made it.

[ViolentBeetle]

MIDI is basically a note sheet. It's not the same kind of audio as mp3 or wav. Turning audio into MIDI would require identifying all the notes and instruments and computers can't pull it off right now. It usually take human composer to put the notes down.

[Gez]

Have you ever tried to run some OCR software on a comic book page, so that you could convert, I dunno, Watchmen for example, into a .txt file? That's kind of what these MIDI converters do.

[Archfiend]

16 minutes ago, Gez said:

Have you ever tried to run some OCR software on a comic book page, so that you could convert, I dunno, Watchmen for example, into a .txt file? That's kind of what these MIDI converters do.

Sooo... MIDI converters = bad?

[Archfiend]

31 minutes ago, ViolentBeetle said:

MIDI is basically a note sheet. It's not the same kind of audio as mp3 or wav. Turning audio into MIDI would require identifying all the notes and instruments and computers can't pull it off right now. It usually take human composer to put the notes down.

What would be the easiest way of converting it manually? Or the easiest way to learn?

[Mr Masker]

Perhaps you can find a midi version that someone else has made already? Idk where to look for that but I guess it's worth a look

[Gez]

20 minutes ago, Archfiend said:

Sooo... MIDI converters = bad?

Rather, they are a lot more limited than people would like. The optimal situation to use them is if you have a melody played by a single instrument. As you noticed, they focus on getting the notes, and don't try to match the instrument at all, that's why you end up with default piano (instrument number 0 in general MIDI...). When you have a complete song with several instruments and vocals, the result is, as you found out, a complete mess.

Edited October 8, 2021 by Gez

[continuum.mid]

3 hours ago, Archfiend said:

Edit: I've seen the "Roland SC-55" mentioned here and there. I looked it up but I couldn't even figure out what it's for. Is it important...?

The Roland SC-55 was a retro sound-card that played General MIDI. It was popular among video game composers in the 90s, including Bobby Prince, who composed Doom's soundtrack. Samples from it form the basis for Windows's default MIDI sound bank, and to some extent the sounds are still popular today, as sort of the "way retro PC games should sound."

 

Owning one isn't important though; you likely have all the tools you need for decent-sounding MIDI playback already on your computer.

[Archfiend]

3 hours ago, Mr Masker said:

Perhaps you can find a midi version that someone else has made already? Idk where to look for that but I guess it's worth a look

I did find a few YouTube channels already that do MIDI conversions that are free to use. And I planned on possibly using songs from Heretic, HeXen, Strife (which has MIDI music right?), and DOOM 64. But it'd be cool to be able to convert songs myself that haven't been converted already.

1 hour ago, P41R47 said:

Cannibal Corpse - infinite_misery.zip

There you are!
not a bad redition i may say.

Sometimes is far easier to search for the midi on internet.
Maybe you will have to do some Russian or other language juggling while searching, but most certain is that if you think of something would be cool on midi, someone already thought it and probably made it.

Ho-lee shit. Would you mind if I used this in my WAD? I'll credit you.

[Archfiend]

3 hours ago, Gez said:

Rather, they are a lot more limited than people would like. The optimal situation to use them is if you have a melody played by a single instrument. As you noticed, they focus on getting the notes, and don't try to match the instrument at all, that's why you end up with default piano (instrument number 0 in general MIDI...). When you have a complete song with several instruments and vocals, the result is, as you found out, a complete mess.

Is there a program that can take a song and separate the different instruments somehow?

[P41R47]

15 minutes ago, Archfiend said:

I did find a few YouTube channels already that do MIDI conversions that are free to use. And I planned on possibly using songs from Heretic, HeXen, Strife (which has MIDI music right?), and DOOM 64. But it'd be cool to be able to convert songs myself that haven't been converted already.

Ho-lee shit. Would you mind if I used this in my WAD? I'll credit you.

i didn't made it, as i said, i searched it and just poped up on a Russian site :P
So yeah, you can use it.
Here is the link if you wanna credit the site or something.
https://midistock.ru/files/c/cannibal_corpse/cannibal_corpse_infinite_misery/706-1-0-19618

Edited October 9, 2021 by P41R47

[Dubbag]

Almost any CC song you want in MIDI. Just not Infinate Misery. Great song to try to use though very underrated.

http://en.midimelody.ru/cannibal-corpse/

Edited October 9, 2021 by Dubbag

[Archfiend]

1 hour ago, P41R47 said:

i didn't made it, as i said, i searched it and just poped up on a Russian site :P
So yeah, you can use it.
Here is the link if you wanna credit the site or something.
https://midistock.ru/files/c/cannibal_corpse/cannibal_corpse_infinite_misery/706-1-0-19618

This site is extremely shady, thank you so very much.

59 minutes ago, Dubbag said:

Almost any CC song you want in MIDI. Just not Infinate Misery. Great song to try to use though very underrated.

http://en.midimelody.ru/cannibal-corpse/

Father my children.

 

Seriously, you guys are the best. I think I might be set. Thank you all so much.

 

Edit: Sorry I can't mark all of your helpful answers as "answers".

Edited October 9, 2021 by Archfiend

[Archfiend]

Hey guys, check out this MIDI conversion of Holy Wars by Megadeth. It is terrible.

https://midistock.ru/files/m/megadeth/megadeth_holy_wars_2/1338-1-0-40487

 

Edit: Oh, my God, guys, this site is comedy gold.

https://midistock.ru/files/c/c_other/cage_the_elephant_ain_t_no_rest_for_the_wicked/787-1-0-22018

Edited October 9, 2021 by Archfiend

[Dubbag]

2 minutes ago, Archfiend said:

Hey guys, check out this MIDI conversion of Holy Wars by Megadeth. It is terrible.

https://midistock.ru/files/m/megadeth/megadeth_holy_wars_2/1338-1-0-40487

 

Edit: Oh, my God, guys, this site is comedy gold.

https://midistock.ru/files/c/c_other/cage_the_elephant_ain_t_no_rest_for_the_wicked/787-1-0-22018

yeah dont use that one

[Archfiend]

Just now, Dubbag said:

yeah dont use that one

Hahahahaha

[P41R47]

42 minutes ago, Archfiend said:

This site is extremely shady, thank you so very much.

yeah, you have to be careful sometimes, but i downloaded it from there.
Once you start downloading things, you get the gits on what sites are good, what are garbage and what are those that offer what you want but you have to watch out for traps.

[Dubbag]

I wish more people knew about the site I posted its got everything and is legit

[Archfiend]

2 minutes ago, Dubbag said:

I wish more people knew about the site I posted its got everything and is legit

Yeah, I'm listening to some of the songs on there and it fucking rocks. Maybe I'll advertise it in my WAD. Of course, I'll also have to give credit to everyone who helped me here, including you. Thanks, man.

[Dubbag]

You're welcome absolutely! 

[TheUltimateDoomer666]

2 hours ago, Archfiend said:

Is there a program that can take a song and separate the different instruments somehow?

Sort of. There are tools like RX 8 and Spleeter. The results would probably be less than optimal however as accurate instrument identification and separation is a near impossible task for computers. It would be a bit like asking a computer to look at a photo of a forest and then separate each tree into its own layer.

 

To further complicate matters, most professionally recorded songs make extensive use of effects like delay, reverb, EQ, etc. Listen to a commercial song with a lead guitar in it or such and you'll hear that the lead guitar notes will "echo", perhaps even across the stereo spectrum. That can confuse a computer algorithm as it will have trouble figuring out which notes in the music are "played" and which are produced from effects. The computer also isn't going to know which effects should be considered separate instruments.

[Archfiend]

2 minutes ago, TheUltimateDoomer666 said:

Sort of. There are tools like RX 8 and Spleeter. The results would probably be less than optimal however as accurate instrument identification and separation is a near impossible task for computers. It would be a bit like asking a computer to look at a photo of a forest and then separate each tree into its own layer.

 

To further complicate matters, most professionally recorded songs make extensive use of effects like delay, reverb, EQ, etc. Listen to a commercial song with a lead guitar in it or such and you'll hear that the lead guitar notes will "echo", perhaps even across the stereo spectrum. That can confuse a computer algorithm as it will have trouble figuring out which notes in the music are "played" and which are produced from effects. The computer also isn't going to know which effects should be considered separate instruments.

Damn, never mind. I'll stick with those websites the others listed. Thanks for the answer.

[TheUltimateDoomer666]

As an experiment, I put the isolated monophonic bass line from a metal MOGG (Multitrack Ogg) through an audio to MIDI converter on a site called Conversion-Tool. The result was still a disaster. Even with an original instrument stem, the conversion tool couldn't tell the difference between notes and the sounds of the bassist's fingers moving around, the frets squeaking, etc.