# Convert to Polyphonic Midi Freeware? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 1, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convert-to-polyphonic-midi-freeware/328985 "2005-11-01T22:27:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convert-to-polyphonic-midi-freeware/328985/1 "2005-11-01T22:27:37Z")
I’d like to be able to make ringtones for my phone, either of songs that I already have or of my own recordings. My phone will play polyphonic midis, but I can’t seem to find any free tools for converting wav/mp3/cda/whatever audio format into a polyphonic midi? It can be Windows, Mac, or Linux; I have all three. And it does have to be free. I just can’t justify spending even $10 on some program just to make my phone play “Final Countdown.” ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convert-to-polyphonic-midi-freeware/328985/2 "2005-11-02T02:17:38Z")
And you won’t. Check out [midifarm.com](http://midifarm.com) if they still exist. MIDI’s are hand-made. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convert-to-polyphonic-midi-freeware/328985/3 "2005-11-02T02:52:46Z")
Midi is not just another format for audio, it’s a coded musical instrument score. Each instrument has its own coding. I have software that will take a MIDI file and produce sheet music from it, with separate parts for each instrument. So you can’t convert MP3 into MIDI. It would be analagous to a graphics tool that could automatically take a photograph and then identify every single object in the photograph and separate them all out into separate layers. I’m not saying it’s theoretically impossible, but it’s technology prohibitive at the moment, AFAIK. There are zillions of sites with free MIDI downloads, though quality will vary. A MIDI file is created, as **Balthisarp** said, by a musician writing a score then converting it, or recording his own playing on MIDI-compatible instruments. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convert-to-polyphonic-midi-freeware/328985/4 "2005-11-02T05:31:48Z")
If your phone takes in SMAF files and you need a way to convert from MIDI to SMAF, check out PSMPlay. It can apparently also do IMelody, FeelSound an Au-PMD although I haven’t tested them. I use the version 4.5 because version 5.4 and above crash on me. It seems to work well enough. BTW: you can download the final countdown midi [here](http://www.geocities.com/ystradband/finalcountdown.html) or [here](http://www.findmidis.com/download.go/152/Final_Countdown-by-Europe). You’ll have to edit it down to into the snipped you want though. I’ve got a 15 second edit on my computer which I’ve put up [here](http://people.vislab.usyd.edu.au/~xzhang/countdown.mid) and [here](http://people.vislab.usyd.edu.au/~xzhang/countdown2.mid). The first version is a bit richer in sound but might exceed the capabilities of your phone. Why do I know all this? Because I spent 5 hours last night trying to get Final Countdown onto my phone :smack:. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convert-to-polyphonic-midi-freeware/328985/5 "2005-11-02T08:36:31Z")
I realize that MIDI is not just another encoding of digital audio data. However, there are certainly programs that will take digital audio and do a frequency analysis to output a MIDI. I know that such programs exist because I am deluged with offers to buy them when I [search google](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=convert+mp3-to-midi&btnG=Search). I’m hoping that there’s a free one somewhere. I realize that it won’t be as good as a hand-coded one, but on my tinny little cell phone speaker, I’m unlikely to be able to tell the difference. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convert-to-polyphonic-midi-freeware/328985/6 "2005-11-02T15:03:45Z")
Such programs do not work or work very poorly. Maybe theres a version in a lab somewhere that could work better than 20% of the time, but it’s certainly not available for free. You would be much better off just finding a hand coded midi. If it’s reasonably popular, one should exist. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convert-to-polyphonic-midi-freeware/328985/7 "2005-11-02T15:45:05Z")
> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#): > > . . .when I [search google](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=convert+mp3-to-midi&btnG=Search). Damn, I must say I’m taken aback that such products exist. The first sponsored link in that page offers a free trial version that is limited to converting the first 15 seconds, but that might be OK for a ring tone. I’ll try this out and report back later. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convert-to-polyphonic-midi-freeware/328985/8 "2005-11-02T16:19:21Z")
I’ve just tried out [this](http://www.widisoft.com/english/convert-mp3-to-midi.html), which offers a non-saving demo. From this unchallenging audio sample, it produces [this](http://www.owainsutton.co.uk/audio/missa_a_lombre_dung_buissonet.mid). Not what you’d want as a ringtone, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convert-to-polyphonic-midi-freeware/328985/9 "2005-11-02T17:53:21Z")
To be fair, any program would have problems in human voice because it contains so many resonances and cadences. Attempting to do it on a simple piano piece would lead to much better results. However, nothing machine produced is going to beat a hand-coded MIDI of which free ones are readily abundant. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convert-to-polyphonic-midi-freeware/328985/10 "2005-11-02T18:20:21Z")
Keep in mind that even if those sound-to-MIDI programs _did_ work, the end result isn’t going to sound like what you started out with. It’s like converting a magazine ad to plain text format. Kiss the images goodbye and don’t expect to retain more than a bare modicum of the formatting of the ad copy. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convert-to-polyphonic-midi-freeware/328985/11 "2005-11-04T02:22:07Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Damn, I must say I’m taken aback that such products exist. The first sponsored link in that page offers a free trial version that is limited to converting the first 15 seconds, but that might be OK for a ring tone. > > I’ll try this out and report back later. OK, I tried IntelliScore and converted the first 15 seconds of Chicago’s “Make Me Smile.” It allowed to me to identify exactly which instruments are on the song, although did not provide an option for drum set so I left that out. The result sounded like a cat walking across a piano keyboard. A few totally random notes. Utterly useless.