Explanation of MIDI files

MIDI Files

MIDI files are NOT audio files as you have on a CD. They are an 'instruction set' to a
computer to play notes.

MIDI stands for "Musical Instrument Digital Interface". If you click the previous link,
you can read all about them. In a way, a MIDI file is just data, by which we mean
something like this in english...

1) Play a 'C' for one note duration
2) Play another 'C' for the same one note duration
3) Now play a 'G' for one note duration
4) Now play another 'G' for one note duration
5) Now play an 'A' above that 'G' for half a note duration
6) Then play a 'B' above that 'A' for half a note duration
7) Then play a 'C' above that 'B' for half a note duration
8) Then play an 'A' below that last 'C' for half a note duration
9) Now play a 'G' below that last 'C' for two notes duration

Did you hear any music? No, of course not, and that's why your Hi-Fi can't play it
either; it doesn't understand this language (it is the instruction set for the first few
notes of "Baa baa black sheep" by the way).

However, modern computers do recognise these files such that when you click on
them, they will be opened by an 'application program' such as "Windows Media
Player", "Real Player" or "Quicktime". For example, Windows XP has "Media Player" as
part of the software package, and can be used to play MIDI files. These programs know
how to interpret the data and turn them into something you can hear.

You can play them anytime from this website, but you may also want to save them on
to your computer. To do this simply 'right click' on the part, e.g. "Soprano1" and select
'Save Link As' (or similar expression). This will allow you to save the file to your local
disk, so that you don't have to be logged on to play them.

If nothing happens when you click on these files, it may be that your 'permissions' are
not set correctly in your web browser. This might be because you have set your
'security settings' to 'high' and your browser thinks that the KLFC website is
dangerous or something. If the file won't play, can you save the file as described
above (right click and 'save as')? If you can, note where you are saving the file, and
then try to open the file from your hard disk. If you can save the file but you still can't
open it, it probably means you don't have a suitable application program. If you can't
save the file, you definitely have a setting in your browser that is not allowing you to
download a file from the web. Please see Fraser Reich if you get really stuck.

I'd like to make a rehearsal CD

Don't try to make a CD using these MIDI files- they won't generate audio for your car
or Hi-Fi. If you want to turn these files into audio files, you can convert them into the
WAV format using the following free program

MIDI to WAV or MIDI to mp3 converter

This link takes you to a website and you will see "download switch audio converter".
This link downloads switchsetup.exe to your computer.

This is a tried and tested 'executable file' (it's quite safe to download and run). It has
the extension 'exe'. Download it to some place on your computer then double-click on
it to run it. Select 'Wave Pad Audio Editor" from the list that is presented; this is the
program that converts MIDI to WAV (audio).

The Wave Pad Program

Use "add files" to select the MIDI files you have downloaded,

AUDIO CDs- IMPORTANT: Set the 'output format' to WAV, (default is mp3 format which
will not play in a normal CD player)

and use the 'browse' button to set where you want the WAV files to appear. Click the
big 'convert' button on the right hand side of the screen to make the file conversion.
After you have created a set of WAV files, you can then create an audio CD. If you are
unsure about how to do this, ask a friend (son, daughter, nephew, niece, neighbour,
person in the Chorus).

MP3 Files- As above, but use the default setting of mp3 for the 'output format' to
create your set of mp3 files