# good MIDI to MP3 converter?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-midi-to-mp3-converter/396236>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 16, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-midi-to-mp3-converter/396236 "2007-03-16T18:04:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-midi-to-mp3-converter/396236/1 "2007-03-16T18:04:04Z")

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I got stuck, and anything I’ve found so far is shareware.

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**Author:** ![guppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7feea3/32.png) [@guppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guppy)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-midi-to-mp3-converter/396236/2 "2007-03-16T19:11:30Z")

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I’m not sure exactly what you mean, but [Cakewalk](http://www.cakewalk.com/) may be what you are looking for.

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**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-midi-to-mp3-converter/396236/3 "2007-03-17T03:36:28Z")

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Unfortunately I don’t know of any program that does a straight conversion from Midi to Mp3.

I use [Audacity](http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) to record while I’m playing my Midi files. It does a pretty good job.

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**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:** [March 17, 2007, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-midi-to-mp3-converter/396236/4 "2007-03-17T05:19:38Z")

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QuickTime, at least the Pro version, will open any MIDI file and will let you export as AIFF, as MP3, or as WAV.

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**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-midi-to-mp3-converter/396236/5 "2007-03-17T09:35:47Z")

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[Timidity](http://timidity.s11.xrea.com/index.en.html) (with a GM SoundFont file - Chaos is pretty good and big) + Audacity

All free.

Timidity renders the midi file to a WAV file (it may go directly to MP3 now - _I see it now does_ ) using the Soundfont to provide the instrument source - Audacity can convert WAV to MP3.

Si

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-midi-to-mp3-converter/396236/6 "2007-03-17T18:16:32Z")

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Note that the MP3s will be a lot bigger than the MIDIs with no gain in quality: A MIDI file is just a sequence of ‘notes’, whereas an MP3 actually records all of the sounds those notes make when played. It’s the difference between sheet music and a CD.

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**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-midi-to-mp3-converter/396236/7 "2007-03-17T19:27:16Z")

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[QUOTE=Derleth]  
Note that the MP3s will be a lot bigger than the MIDIs with no gain in quality: A MIDI file is just a sequence of ‘notes’, whereas an MP3 actually records all of the sounds those notes make when played. It’s the difference between sheet music and a CD.  
[/QUOTE]

Converting a MIDI file to an MP3 is a matter of changing to a format that can be played on more devices reliably and with a defined measure of quality. Most computers don’t have very good instrument banks for playing midi, so they _suck_ (as my daughter just said). Mobile phones that play midi are even worse. So rendering a MIDI file to WAVE (or MP3) is usually about finding a decent MIDI soundfont to get something that sounds realistic for what you want to use it for.

Si