What Happened to MIDI? | Nostalgia Nerd
Go to brilliant.org/NostalgiaNerd/ to sign up for free. And also, the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual premium membership.... Remember the days when you had to define a separate music card and sound card for DOS games? When your mate's Wavetable Soundblaster AWE32 was the bees knees? When you had a vast collection of .MID files to listen to? Ahhh, the days of MIDI. What happened to those days? Where did FM Synth and Wavetable cards disappear to? Let's delve in.
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If you enjoyed this, you might also appreciate this www.wothke.ch/blaster/
@Ezekiel Jaxxon trying it out right now. Looks great so far :)
Foebane72 Two different things. MIDI is not a music reproducer as the trackers were. It is after all a control protocol/hardware for handling inputs such as pedals, keyboards etc, and then sending controlling signals to synths and other outputs. The reason it sounded so bad; the MS Software Synthโs representation of a music instrument that was atrociously bad. If you listen to a true MIDI synth it is something completely different.
I was hoping you would mention Yamaha S-YXG50 or Yamaha S-YXG100plus soft-synth's for Windows. For small Linux ARM based systems, I've often used TiMidity++ which was a worthy soft-synth as well. After retiring my AWE64 Gold and Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro which were attached through MIDI to a Yamaha PSR-730 keyboard, those soft-synth's made sure I could still enjoy MIDI music.
Nothing happened to MIDI musicians still use MIDI but people are working on a replacement to MIDI. As for games, MIDI was just a crutch until videogames could do pre-sampled audio recordings and now that we can MIDI is obsolete for games.
@Foebane72 Just shows how much physical age has to do with it. Currently you're both acting childish and I'm 40 - if I'm telling the truth. See how relevant stating ones age is on the internet?
what happened to MIDI? nothing....still in constant use today
The whole begining is sarcasm right?
Anyone remember the .MOD format? I loved that!
You really playing Quake with that framerate?
For MIDI to control all aspects of a near endless variety of old-school computer video games, vintage hardware synthesizers, modern software synthesizers, and all of their provocatively musical parameters, as well as control-and be controlled by-an unending array of MIDI controllers, mixers with flying faders, wireless mice & qwerty keyboards, mobile devices and their apps, and the most sophisticated modern DAWs is nothing short of the musical equivalent of getting the flying cars we were promised in the 1950โs.
MIDI always sounded terrible
It's GENERAL Midi that went away, the kinda midi used for controlling synths still exists, it's just shifted to USB Midi
The OPL3 version of Doom sounds damn near identical to what it'd sound like played on floppy disc drives
Man that Packard Bell brings back so many good memories. I was in the Military from 87-95 and Packard Bell had a deal with AAFES and sold their computers in the PX. All the computer nerds in the barracks had Packard Bells and we would drag our computers down to the day room on the weekends and set up a local area network and play multiplayer doom.
I remember the AWE 32 had memory slots and you could install ram to load more sound fonts.
What happened to MIDI? All the equipment ever made for it it is at LGRs house.
LOL SO true
12:42 Wtf is a Blake Stone? Asking for a friend
(My friend is underground and might get lobotomized again if they keep asking...)
Midi was fun to play with, but mod tracking was even more fun. Finding and creating your own samples, and then creating music with the samples. A weird cross between midi and mod files were the Ad Lib trackers, where you could edit the FM synth sounds on the sound card and then use those to create music. Mod trackers made the leap to Win32 versions, like Mod Plug Tracker, but Ad Lib trackers were only DOS versions.
In general, I think your presentation confuses MIDI the data format with the way it used to be synthesised in hardware. Musicians have never used MP3 to record, they just crunch the final mix down to MP3 for distribution. We also still use MIDI files every day, just to control samples - it's still the same principle, MIDI is an instruction format, like program code for music. It's quite likely that during the last two films and ten TV shows you've watched, you've barely heard a single real instrument performance (and all that sampling is driven by MID files). Btw, FM synthesis (Fourier based) was a big deal and a signature sound of the Yamaha DX series. One of the reasons these synths defined a period in the early '80s was that even the biggest acts only used the stock presets. This was because, while the DXs allowed you to freely programme them, it was so complicated that only about 0.1% of users did it. Oh, and leitmotif is pronounced "light mo teef".
MIDI is very much alive, hasnโt gone anywhere. I use it everyday on every project I do in Logic X...
Midi music was ok so I was blown away by mod files when they came out.
I am amazed that you skipped the Yamaha XG midi completely. I had a DB50XG (sold it - shoudn't have), still have an SW60XG card, and there are software XG players (YXG50 AND YXG100) to be found on the net. XG, to me, was the most realistic midi by far if programmed using it's full capabilities. Even on non XG midi files it sounds great.
good clip.
I remember the first time I was able to successfully get my MOTU firewire soundcard working with my Yamaha MOTIF keyboard. I had so much fun downloading MIDI files and playing them back using all sorts of different patches. Mind=Blown.
I miss those old school soundcards. Although it wasn't ISA but rather PCI, for my money and sheer compatibility the Aureal Vortex (AU88xx) was probably my favorite from that era.
I thought this video was weird when I first saw it, and I just watched it again to get my sense of bemusement back. The assertion that "MIDI's back" is absurd. I've been using MIDI since 1982 when it was introduced. It's a protocol used by us musicians to send note and control change data to hardware and computers, and it can also keep things in sync. It's not going away. The MIDI 2.0 specification seems like just another sad attempt to fix something that isn't broken, just as General MIDI attempted to do. Don't fall into the 8-Bit Guy's shoes. He makes plenty of boneheaded comments about things he hasn't researched well enough.
I think he means MIDI and its usage in PC's. Not MIDI in general.
These days the only way I can enjoy midis on a modern PC is VirtualMidiSynth and various downloaded soundfonts. I like a soundfont called Arachno. I use it when I play games in dosbox. It makes the music sound great IMO.
What Happened to MIDI? It went to Nintendo.
I love FM, and WaveTable synthesis, they are both cool.
I think this should be labeled what happened to MIDI files in gaming, and MIDI file players. MIDI is alive and well in my life, I used it with all my DAW's, synthesizers etc..
there are midi files in c://windows/media in win10
Go Yamaha MU-50!
If you want to listen to midis, the free and open source game simutrans uses midi files. Unfortunately they're some of the worst God awful songs to have been made.
that external midi device you show... The make-noise "shared system" is perhaps my single greatest desire
16:08 mic change really made me think it was a different person.
8:45 does its smallest include: "ACK ACK ACK" *Snort* "bugged mechanics dood" "Impahsible dood"
An interesting use of midi in the modern era is the Musician addon in World of Warcraft. It uses a variation on wavetable midi to play custom music in game for you and others around you. Takes a huge chunk of ram because it has literally a bank of .wav files for every note and instrument, and uses the play sound function paired with a hidden chat to allow other people in game to hear the song you're playing. Even allows for live play over a midi keyboard, but struggles with pitch bends. Sounds interesting, super limited system, but pretty cool.
Man I do love MIDI!! Thatโs why I do remixes very well.
Check this out - A digital synthesizer that generates audio files from MIDI files: tropicalcoder.com/MIDISynth.htm You can adjust the sound by changing various parameters such as attack, decay, and the harmonic content, set delay, feedback, and mix to give a performance life, as if it were performed in a room, hall, or auditorium. Option is provided to load in an alternative to the default Even Tempered Scale tuning. Three different tunings are provided. Listen to Just Interval tuning or make up your own!
I first tried LimeWire very late 90's, almost 2K to get movies and music from.
I think I still have a few surviving Napster grabs that weren't lost to the inevitable BSOD from that era. Wonder how many people actually made it out of the piracy era with their collections fully intact?
i have this audio card but.. still have the GS Synth wavetable from MS nothing changed .. still hear the normal MS midi synth how can i use the audigy synth wave table ? can't get figured out..
Nowhere. You mean General MIDI right?
Does anyone remember the Yamaha Hello Music CBX sound module? I have one new and boxed.
still using midi
11:56 I had a Turtle Beach Maui card, which was like a roland knock off. Was pretty great at the time...
6:00 what a flash-back that music test screen for Descent gave me. It felt so cool and modern...
Wavetable in software? Oh, you mean MOD. (Seriously the first Unreal Tournament's soundtrack was my favorite example of the art form)
My first wavetable card was a Terratec Maestro 32 with a MPU401 and a 4 MB wavetable. These days I use VirtualMidiSynth with about 600 MB of soundfonts loaded at startup. The biggest problems doing something "live" these days (connecting a MIDI keyboard to the PC or playing on the standard PC keyboard) is the lag between pressing a key and the actual production of the sound. Sadly there are quite some layers of drivers in between. VirtualMidiSynth is quite good, but the days of direct hardware access are gone.
Yay 2021..
passport; 2nd best midi
nice. i was very fuzzy on what happened after we stopped needing to buy audio cards. i think my last was an audigy card and hey... did soundblaster buy audigy? i remember them being competitors. for a brief moment, for gamers, they recommended not using on-board sound because it induced cpu overhead but real fast, we blew past that until audio just became a minor bullet point for the motherboard. how times change.
13:27 The *iMuse Engine* soundtrack for 'Tie Fighter' might still be my favorite of all time. It really DID what it was intended to do which was to make the entire experience more IMMERSIVE.
Hi, I had the same yamaha keyboard back 2000.
Care to share where you got the vga cable for your Atari "ST"?
Ah I see what you did there at about 24:30 "...and it sounds pretty decent" and then, plays "DESCENT" that very odd ball first person shooter where you control some space ship inside labyrinths :-) PS: Oh Boy, it's been a long time since this game came out, if I remember correctly, it was 1995 ! 25 freaking years ago ;-)
Back in the day I've used to have exactly those speakers!
Anyone else triggered by the fact that video shows canyon.mid playing during the intro but he's actually playing passport.mid. I think he's trolling us a bit :)
The AWE32 was the last sound card i bought... after that every pc i bought had onboard sound.... I didn't use small crappy speakers though, i had my 200watt stereo receiver next to the computer :)
Was watching this, and had to pause @6:55 , because I realized that the Yamaha PSR-330 Keyboard he was using is the exact same model I have on the other side of the room from me right this moment. I have the extra expansion cart in the cart slot there, though.
MIDI still exists. M-Audio UNO will give you a usb interface and you can get Synthesia to turn .mid tracks into Guitar Hero for keyboard. Have fun.
The main reason personal users don't use MIDI anymore: MP3 Solution: Purge MP3 off of the face of the planet.
8:00 You were playing Decent, weren't you?
I have to offer a nod to the original Serious Sam โฆ the use of leitmotifs to change up the music to match what was on screen โฆ It did that with mp3 audio. But that was the exception and kind of still is. In the days of FM, it was just what was done.
MOD (including its clones like XM, S3M, IT) audio sounded way better in general.
if you have problems identifying MIDI protocols versus soundfonts (SF2) or audio output options, please see: www.midi.org/forum/1627-what-is-the-name-of-the-soundfont-that-comes-with-every-computer ...
FM synthesis is to MIDI what spectrum analysers are to equalizers...makes no sense.
what do you mean, what happened to midi its in every synthesiser made now
I used to stick to an old PC where it is an ABIT KT133A mainboard, PC133 SDRAM and AMD Athlon XP-M Barton Processor, which many people already running 64bit processors in their desktop. Because I wanted to keep the ISA slot alive for my AWE64 card. PC was disposed of when I move house, sadly. Wasn't sure what was in my mind then.
You missed out the other casual use... ringtones! Polyphonic ringtones had it's fair run until mp3's ringtones could even be used.
I think it is very important that during the entire video there is a irritating sound loop playing literally every second no sound is demonstrated. Heck, image we would just hear the presenter's voice.
what just 50 voice channels typical intel dino tec.
9000fps at all these games (Doom or Quake) e.g. play it on new Xbox series X
There used to be a yamaha soft synthysizer something like xy250 producing realistic sounds where can i find a modern one
MIDI isn't gone. It's just changed. Instead of a 5-pin DIN, it's run through USB which is faster. MIDI used to have only 16 channels. With it now being more where it about the device connected to the track, you essentially get 16 channels on each device instead of 16 total. Some even have MIDI groups where there's 16 on A and then B and so on. I'm assuming you know this already, but I like rambling on so I can show off my big brain
So you're saying I can tell Dosbox to pretend my midi keyboard is a Roland sound card?
Ya, midi is still alive and well
You didn't mention Apple QuickTime on All Macs
...MIDI never went anywhere. It's still being used today.
Anyone Atari ST owners that remembers MIDI Maze? We had some fun playing that game, and it might be the first networking game I played. It supported up to 16 players, but if I recall correctly it would lag badly even with just 8 machines connected due to the limitations of the bandwidth of the MIDI-serial interface. We had a rule not to use the in game map, because it someone did, the game would just pause for everyone. BTW, I bought my first ST to use it with Steinberg 24 and MIDI. Later I mostly used it for games and programming. I still have my STE, but havenโt used it for ages.
Thank - you .
I have a sound blaster x, usb audio dac. It is an unbelievable experience and one of my all time favorite purchases.
Wow !!! I canโt believe the trouble that all the Microsoft users had to go through... .....And if you wanted to upgrade, you had to take apart your computer and change the card.. Iโm so glad that the soundcard was replaced by interfaces..
"What Happened to MIDI?" Er, nothing.
In fact MIDI never dies, it's just evolved and go USB, im still using it on my new hardware computer and synth to communicate with old drum machine, it was never intend to be a gamer assets, but a computer musician friendly interface to produce music, the good thing of this is you can use any kind of Hardware or Software Synth and Sampler, for example my brand new computer, can still send midi data note on my vintage Roland MC 303 Groovebox and also comunicate with a Minimoog or a Nord Lead synth with using software sampler and synth in the same time ^^.
No mention of Roland Sound Canvas?!
This video has just reminded me how dead sound cards are...Remember those? Now your motherboard has a great one built in so you don't even need to think about it. You might not even use it anyways as your USB headset might have it's own built in, I know mine does lol But I remember back in the day how vital they were. Remember they had options like "Concert hall" or "Bathroom" etc.? Those options were totally pointless and sounded absolutely shite, but ALL the cards came with software that had those same options lol I actually kinda miss them. It was another module to customize to make your PC truly your own custom machine.
"Modern" uses for MIDI - Piano Learning Software. Still producing new music via Virtual Studio Instruments with a MIDI Controller Keyboard. Controlling effects and lighting for live bands. MIDI has been with us the whole time. I wonder if the alt.binaries.sounds.midi channel still works.
Trying to upgrade my creative speakers, the PC surround speakers market is dead; soundbars, headphones and so on. Evwn logitech now only has the 906 as a real pc speaker and the z606 look like a Chinese rebranded product from Tv lineup.
I have never been more than distantly aware of the MIDI standard. But having watched this video, I am reminded (as an old codger) that the original MOOG synthesizer (and so many of its successors) used many similar techniques to obtain funky ad-hoc synthesis of electronic original and/or simulacrum reproduction of acoustic instruments.
MIDI's still kickin' around in my home. It's some of the ways I listen to music, and a lot of the ways I compose it.
0:28. Your a Microsoft sucker. You work for your computer. Change the motherboard, PSU, etc..... Get an Apple, that just works, and donโt need a right / left click...
13:34 Phantasy Star Online did this on the Dreamcast and other consoles.
Do you know of a good midi player for Windows 10? The only freeware one I could find is an old vanBasco's Karaoke Player. Which has a good playlist feature that I need. However vanBasco doesn't visually scale well to modern Windows 10 PC because it was written for the Windows 98 era with small screens. I have a s***load of midi files that I play through vanBasco's Karaoke Player to my Caiso Keyboard which sounds super, especially the grand piano wave table on that keyboard.
Twas a simpler time... nlworld.info/key/video/yYalapWVeqCSnIg
my last app was a midi-app made in python , it lives still
Playing Quake to 'The Fat of the Land' is based as fuck.
Why no MacGyver-style intro for your MIDI video?
Today there are some pretty sick soundfonts. Some of them are synthesized from real instruments, it's amazing.
Isn't midi still used by a Japanese drunkard with an obsession with raining bullets?
I used USB C MIDI today for my synthesizer and ableton. It even supports BLE midi on my Mac. The new MIDI Standard was recently announced too.
as a producer this title confused the hell out of me for a second, i use midi on a dialy basis & i did not know that most people thought it was dead.
What game is he playing at 1:16 and later again at 19:34?
I love the description of creating chords on a key board as inputting a set of instructions.