MP3 to MIDI Converter

[casiokid]

What do I need to convert an mp3 song file to midi?  Ideally something simple to use.

[pieterpan]

This cannot be done.

[EileenL]

No way can this be done. Midi records information from your keyboard as to what notes are being played and what effects are added. MP3 just records what it hears and not the information that is required for a midi file to work.

[GeirH]

Actually, it's not that inconceivable!

AI-powered computers are already able to pick apart an audio recording into individual voices and instruments, allowing engineers to hear the most important parts in isolation. The actual software is of course a well-guarded business property, and not something you get for free, but do yourself the favor of visiting e.g. Splitter to hear some examples. Not perfect yet (you'll certainly hear noise, artifacts and "bleed" between tracks), but I'm quite sure that subsequently converting each part to MIDI is within reach, technologically speaking.

There are a few websites that use less sophisticated means to perform online conversions from audio to MIDI for free. The technology behind these online converters are literally decades old, though, and definitely works best on very simple recordings containing as few instruments as possible (e.g. Classical piano or guitar pieces). As soon as the complexity increases, the output becomes less predictable. The resulting MIDI files often contain a lot of stuff you wouldn't expect to hear (or see when opened in a sequencer). The explanation lies in the fact that older algorithms focus purely on pitch and spectral information. There are several potential problems tied to this fact:

• Natural harmonics from the main instrument will often be misinterpreted as additional notes, high above the actual notes.
• Prominent effects, such as delay or distortion, will also be interpreted as additional notes.
• Percussive elements and noises are notoriously difficult, and a single drum hit is often rendered as a tightly-spaced series of notes.
• Sliding notes and vocals - in fact any sound that can't be defined as a single note - will be treated as a series of notes.

The list goes on, but we can already see that it fits very poorly with most modern genres of music, where these things occur all the time. As an example, i uploaded an MP3 file of The Hooters' "Karla with a K" to BearConverter. In the MIDI file I downloaded afterwards, the mandolin intro is handled relatively well. When the rest of the band joins in, however, things quickly fall apart, and the song ends up sounding completely chaotic in places.

Last but not least, the websites are not able to detect what instruments are actually being played, so the output file is usually just a bunch of piano tracks, that try their best to replicate whatever is heard in the original file. Therefore, don't expect a polished MIDI file, ready to load into your favourite arranger keyboard. Depending on the original recording, you'll probably have to spend quite some time working on the MIDI file in a sequencer, in order to arrive at something worth listening to. At least for now.

- H -

[mikf]

So as far as the average person is concerned I would interpret all that as "can't be done".
Mike

[Fred Smith]

What do I need to convert an mp3 song file to midi?  Ideally something simple to use.

You need to re-record the song as a midi.

Cheers,
Fred

[mikf]

Fred - I don't think he has made a personal MP3 recording. If he had surely he would know he can just make a midi recording instead. I think he wanted to convert commercial MP3s to midi. As everyone has said, to all practical intents, that's not possible.
Mike

[Jørgen]

Hi
During many years I have tried several software programs that claims it can convert mp3 to MIDI.

Each time it has been a complete waste of time!!!

Single instrument playing very, very simple melodies can be done to some point. But what can we use this for???

Jørgen

[GeirH]

... But what can we use this for???

I hate to point out what should be obvious, but if you combine the two mechanisms I described, you could be able to generate better MIDI files from audio. It can't be done all in one single step, though.

So as far as the average person is concerned I would interpret all that as "can't be done".

Agreed, but only because one of the necessary tools has to be payed for at the moment.

- H -

[andyg]

Audio to MIDI (or to notation) is a myth, and probably always will be - or at least until some form of AI gets as good as the human brain when it comes to discerning what's being played.

As Jorgen said, an accurately played single note melody with good intonation, can be recognised by some apps and can give a decent result. But anything complex, I'd forget it.

[pjd]

I hate to point out what should be obvious, but if you combine the two mechanisms I described, you could be able to generate better MIDI files from audio. Not in a single step, though.

- H -

Hi --

I get what GeirH is saying. Cubase SpectraLayers is getting darned good at separating audio into individual stems (parts). There are other software players in the same tech space, e.g., Audionamix XTRAX STEMS. I mention SpectraLayers specifically because I have some hands-on experience with it. Celemony Melodyne is pretty decent at note recognition both mono and poly within a track. Combine the two technologies, why not?

So, the situation isn't entirely hopeless going forward. Yeah, there are still tough problems to solve and nobody sells a complete, no-brainer tool that converts mutli-track audio to MIDI (i.e., unmixing to audio). Folks are still trying, however...

All the best -- pj

Forgot to mention hardware devices like sonuus i2M musicport Audio to MIDI Converter for real-time mono to MIDI.

[rodrigo.b]

What do I need to convert an mp3 song file to midi?  Ideally something simple to use.

If the song is a piano track only, you can try Concert Creator AI or Pianoscribe

[Gulio]

I tried this with celemony melodyne and the result is 70 % - 80 #% right
After the melodyne session i worked with mp3tomid ( free programm ) and it looked resonable but not all scores are correct.
Then alter the midifile with cubase audio to correct the wrong notes
It is some work but it works

[pjd]

It is some work but it works

For now, this may be as good as it gets. [For now.]

zplane deCoda might be another tool to try although it requires a bit of work to transcribe audio. deCoda displays the audio in a frequency spectrum laid out across a keyboard (the vertical axis) and note start/duration (time, the horizontal axis). One draws MIDI notes over a note (pitch, start time, duration). Thus, deCoda is an assistant that relies on the ear of the human user.

Have fun, everyone -- pj

[Drsun19]

You can always use the tools above mentioned as a first layout, then you can edit it or record what is missing and voilá! I've done this procedure with some songs.

Luis.