The Place Of Modern MIDI Music? 261
-1-Lone_Eagle writes "With the free availability of literally thousands of MIDI files on the Internet, and increasingly powerful home desktop systems and software, virtually anyone can take a MIDI file and using a program such as GarageBand or Reason create a near-studio-quality rendition of their favorite song. This opens up an interesting discussion, is a remixed MIDI file an original creation? Or is it simply a copied work with the rights belonging to the original author? Is it piracy? What do you think?"
Copyright gets confusing... (Score:3, Informative)
a few thoughts (Score:3, Informative)
Two kinds of copyright. (Score:5, Informative)
This would clearly be infringing on the second copyright (on the song), but not the first (on the recording).
Well, sorta (Score:5, Informative)
Free samples that are any good are much harder to come by. There are plenty of free soundfounts, but many are quite bad and non I've seen are near what you get with good ample packs. Also, a large number out there that are free did no checking on the legality of what they are using. So you may get a free sample you like, but it may actually be ripped off from somewhere else and not legit.
Unfortunately in the good sample arena, I'm not aware of any non arm n' leg solutions. You just seem to get what you pay for. If you pay $200 for an orchestral set, it'll be pretty good. If you pay $2000 for one, it'll sound almost perfect. If you pay nothing for it, it'll sound fake and may not even be legit.
Open Source Music software (Score:4, Informative)
- ardour, Digital Audio workstation / http://ardour.org/ [ardour.org]
- Rosegarden, audio and MIDI sequencer, score editor, and general-purpose music composition and editing environment / http://www.rosegardenmusic.com/ [rosegardenmusic.com]
- LilyPond, music notation / http://lilypond.org/web/ [lilypond.org]
- MusE MIDI/Audio sequencer / http://muse.serverkommune.de/ [serverkommune.de]
- Audacity, music editing station / http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]
- Music Theory (free, not oss): http://www.musictheory.net/ [musictheory.net] and http://andyvn.ath.cx/Software-Aquallegro.php [andyvn.ath.cx]
- general link: http://linux-sound.org/ [linux-sound.org]
Cheers
You can do better than you'd think (Score:5, Informative)
Depends on what you aim is (Score:5, Informative)
However it's one thing to be doing an orignal work, it's another to try and do a "studio quality" rendition of an existing peice. No matter how good a composer you are, a little 1MB piano sample is going to sound, well, fake. You aren't going to fool anyone for the real thing. without a couple hundred MB sample at least.
Both are laudable goals. I am a huge fan of music done on older technologies (espically game music, hence the remasters I do) and I have a big collection of MOD (and derivitive) files. However it's a real different challenge to try and make a rendition of a MIDI that sounds like it was done with real isntruments than to compose an orignal MIDI to sound cool using a given sample set.
It's a different kind of MIDI programming even. I find that often, some of the best sounding MIDIs on my SoundCanvas translate the worst when played with higher grade samples. They are designed with certian assumptions in mind that just aren't valid and would need ot be redone. However some of the ones that come of as cheesy end up sound pretty damn good when you throw a few GB of samples at them.
A lot of it depends how close your samples are to the ones the composer used. For example the Edirol songs sound the very best on my SoundCanvas. No supprise, that was the hardware they were composed on.
Re:Is there an free or open source version of (Score:5, Informative)
Re:not piracy (Score:2, Informative)
There are two distinct sets of rights - publishing rights and mechanical rights.
Whoever writes the song owns the publishing rights until such time as they sign their rights away to the publishing arm of a label (which is required for most deals for a limited time, e.g. 3-5 years, or life, or beyond the grave, or whatever). These rights cover the song itself, and includes the melody and lyrics, but does not include the chord progression. The publishing rights prohibit pretty much any emulation of the work, unless it is altered significantly enough (as in some karaoke). Fake books (the books which contain chord charts for working musos and buskers) don't pay royalty to the publishers because the chord progression cannot be protected. Those books don't contain any melodies, you have to remember those yourself.
The mechanical rights are the ones you usually attribute to an actual recording. If an artist goes into the studio, and his Aunt Bertha pays for the sessions, then Aunt Bertha owns the mechanical rights. Any distribution of the work requires the consent of both the artist and Aunt Bertha. Similarly, if you remix a track, you own the mechanical rights, but you do not own the publishing rights. If you sample someone's track for a new track (like most 80's hip hop), you've then infringed the publishing and mechanical rights and have to get clearance from the publisher... you only defence I think is post-modernism, but I hear that doesn't work too well.
The artist may or may not choose to do a deal with you (sometimes they do) to release the remix, in which case the label will usually offer a one time remixing fee... I've not actually seen a remix contract so I'm not sure
hat the procedure is for the label acquiring the mechanical rights.
Both of these sets of rights are managed for performance and broadcast by a performing rights association (they're the guys that collect the royalties from MTV and send you a paycheck).
A midi file would then fall under the first set of rights, and royalties need to be paid to the publishers. Ring tones (which are midi files) incur a royalty payment to the owner of the publishing rights. As I mentioned, you need to significantly change the melody in order to avoid it, which is what you normally hear at karaoke bars, the shopping mall and in elevators.
Re:Is there an free or open source version of (Score:2, Informative)
Linux MultiMedia Studio - "...aims to be a free alternative to popular (but commercial and closed- source) programs like FruityLoops, Cubase and Logic giving you the ability of producing music with your computer by creating cool loops, synthesizing and mixing sounds, arranging samples, having more fun with your MIDI-keyboard and much more."
Re:Is there an free or open source version of (Score:3, Informative)
You might want to look at DSSI [sourceforge.net], the Disposable Soft Synth Interface, which is kind of the Linux version of VST. It doesn't do quite as much as VST does but the programming interface is not quite as Byzantine and perverse.
Shameless plug: I've written a couple of DSSI synths, based on Xsynth-DSSI [sourceforge.net]. One is a kind of wavetable synth, and one is a TB303-style monosynth. You can get them at http://www.gjcp.net/wsynth.html [gjcp.net] - try them and send me any suggestions or comments. Yes, I know the web page looks crap.
enjoy, don't worry (Score:2, Informative)
Re:It is copyright infrigement (Score:3, Informative)
The RIAA doesn't own all music, you know...
Piano Roll (Score:5, Informative)
The original composer of the music holds all rights to the music until he signs it away to a music publisher. The original composer is important because copyright lasts for the entire life of the composer plus an additional 70 years. (Thanks to Disney and Sonny Bono)
At this stage the Piano Roll maker is not allowed to transcribe it into mechanical (digital) form until he gets permission from the publisher - or - someone else performs it first.
Once the copyright owner of a musical composition records and distributes the work to the public, or allows someone else to do so, anyone that wishes to record and distribute that same work may do so without permission (subject to certain limitations) by issuing the copyright owner a notice of intention to obtain a compulsory license. After that the only legal requirement is to pay a compulsory mechanical reproduction fee of 6.95 cents per copy to the publisher or their agent (Harry Fox - who license from 1,000 copies upwards).
So, how does this apply to MIDI? Those "free" MIDI files you can download off the internet are only legal if someone else performed them first and if the creator of the MIDI file pays 6.95 cents for every download made.
Re:56k Modem (Score:2, Informative)
Not the same. (Score:3, Informative)
Besides, an artist, as I recall from a IP class I took (IANAL), has first recording rights to whatever they write. I write a song, I have all rights to it. As I recall, Bob Dylan once used this to deny himself permission to record a song of his. He was in a dispute with his record company, and this was the only way he could get around their demands legally - they could make him produce a record, but not one with content he did not have permission to use, and the songs had not yet been recorded by him or anyone else. Once recorded, however, anyone can cover the song - you can sell tickets to a performance by your band, "Metallica-Lite" and play all Metallicas songs, and sell CDs of your band doing so, but you can't represent yourselves to be Metallica.
If you distribute commercially, you may have to pay royalties, and that seems kinda crappy, but I would think it would be 'a piece of the action' rather than a fixed amount - so if your Metallica tribute album sells 4 copies, you owe a percent of those four sales. I'd get a lawyer if you go that route...
Short answer - replicate/remix/reproduce all you like - derivative works are just that - the property of the creator, unless they are so close to the original that they are identical, in which case, it is a replica and (as of now) illegal to sell/distribute without permission.
My $.025 (inflation, y'know...)
MODERN Midi Music??? (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.motu.com/products/software/msi/mp3.htm
This sounds pretty real, and I think is sort of what this article was after.
MIDI vs. General MIDI (Score:5, Informative)
First, a couple things to get cleared up:
MIDI is just a serial protocol, nothing more. It's been around since the early 80's. The protocol defines 128 MIDI notes, on 16 channels, and 128 controllers that have values of 0 - 127. That's basically it, along with a few other things like channel change and bank change messages. MIDI itself does not define any instruments, because MIDI is used to control non-instrument devices like effects boxes too.
Now, when most normal computer people think of MIDI, what they are actually thinking of is GM or "General MIDI." GM defines a standard set of instruments, for example instrument 1 is always a piano, instrument 74 is always a flute, etc.
It's up to the hardware or software to actually implement these instruments, usually done with wavetable samples. The idea is that a MIDI file played through any "GM compatible" device will sound roughly the same on any other GM device, although the quality of the samples varies widely. Roland's GS is an extension of GM.
GM used to be used for games primarily (think Doom1 and Doom2!) but has fallen by the wayside now that everybody is using full audio tracks for music.
But most of the music created for video games these stays was still created using MIDI! The file format is specific to the studio application, but MIDI is still used internally to communicate with various synthesizers and samplers including virtual synths that run on the local machine.
So if you were to get the original data files, you would need to also have the sample libraries-- which are VERY high quality, and can cost several thousand dollars. And you need to be using software that works with these libraries, which rules out free/OSS software-- you're gonna NEED something like Sonar, Logic Audio, etc.
Almost all video games and most TV shows that have symphonic music are actually MIDI based, but use enormous sample libraries like EastWest [soundsonline.com] symphony orchestra. In fact I believe that the Return to Castle Wolfenstein soundtrack was created mostly with that sample library.
Other examples, the "fire baby" sequence in The Incredibles is created with Voices of the Apocalypse [soundsonline.com] so even realistic choirs can be created using MIDI.
You don't have to spend THAT much though-- the libraries I use the most are Storm Drum [soundsonline.com] and Garritan Personal Orchestra [garritan.com], both of which are very affordable but good enough that they are often used in hollywood. All of these are plugins that can be used in many different software packages on both OSX and Windows, but not linux that I'm aware of.
So, nowadays MIDI is still an integral part of even the most modern studios, but General MIDI is nowhere in sight. GM still has a place in cell phone ringers.
"No longer the same song"? (Score:3, Informative)
Of course, all it takes is a few modifications to sheet music and it's no longer the same song
Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's a wrong reading of music plagiarism case law [columbia.edu]. The real case law is worrisome [slashdot.org].
Arguing over definitions gets us nowhere (Score:2, Informative)
"Song" is a colloquial term; the legal term is "musical work". But if "song" is defined in a document (either explicitly or implicitly) to refer to any musical work, then for purposes of that document, a "song" can have no lyrics.
TFA's argument proceeds from false assumption (Score:3, Informative)
MIDI data - at its most basic - records that a note is played (note on) the note location (pitch), the duration of said note, and the volume (often expressed in terms of note velocity) and that the note has stopped playing (note off). However, there are other pieces of data that can be transmitted, such as patch change up, patch change down, pitchbend, and data generated from continuous controllers such as modulation wheels.
If you take a typical and ordinary piece of MIDI data, it only has detectible relation to a given piece of music if the note data is matched to tones produced by a synthesizer or sampler (or a computer program that functions as such) that permit the possibility of melody and harmony. If the tones are, for instance, Latin Percussion, and their is a different non-pitched tone for each note on the keyboard, one would be extremely hard pressed to detect that the MIDI data making it happen was derived of a particular song.
MIDI note data, in point of fact, has NOTHING to do with the timbres generated by the end device, be it synth, sampler, and computer. Also, MIDI note data is easily dislodged from time, and it can be cut up, pasted, and used to trigger other MIDI generators (such as arpeggiators), and can also be subjected to randomisation and processing schemes.
So, one could easily take some drippy POS tune from the likes of Celine Dion, delete entire ranges of its data, take a section that might be too slow but is interesting, loop it and play it at 400 beats per minute, and then have the remainder trigger an arpeggiator that then triggers some Big Beat Drum machine sounds or a selection of machine . I seriously doubt anyone would be able to tell whether it was pulled from Celine Dion or Britney Spears or Claude Debussey, because:
Data that is used for pitch is not inherently tied to a pitched tone.
MIDI can functionally resemble a piano roll, but only if a player piano plays it. If you remove the pitched instrument (the player piano) the data of the "piano roll" can be used to trigger other kinds of nonpitched events (a drum, an explosion, a "thwip", a car engine, a generator, or whatever sample you assign to a given key position, etc. etc. etc.) and thusly make a lot of interesting sounds. Also, the piano roll can be played backwards (i.e., MIDI data is easily processed.)
Hence: the relationship between MIDI data and a given stream of MIDI data's copyright is actually rather problematic. Recreating a track by Celine Dion (or any other pointless musical product puked out by the music industry's star system) is an interesting academic exercise in MIDI programming, but it's not terribly creative. It would be much more interesting to mulch her MIDI data and make something interesting out of it.
RS
Re:Instrumental Music (Score:2, Informative)
Not true. Though a song traditionally has at least one vocal line, a number of classical composers have written songs without words, most notably Felix Mendelssohn [google.com].
Re:Depends on what you aim is (Score:3, Informative)
Wavetable synthesis, however, you don't.
The idea behind wavetable synthesis is to take short samples- one cycle of the waveform- for different stages of the sound. Loop and manipulate them appropriately.
The reason for this form of synthesis is to conserve memory.
These days, every sampler that I know of is capable of this form of wavetable synthesis. It's standard. There will be an attack sample, a sustain sample (which can be looped), and a release sample, for example. Some instruments work well with this, but others don't. Instruments that are capable of sustaining indefinitely work well for this, although longer loops will generally sound better than shorter loops if done correctly.
In a lot of cases there are multiple attack samples to be used for various articulations.
Another trick is to only sample maybe 3 notes per octave and then speed up or slow down the sample playback for the other pitches.
A really good piano sample can't have looped samples because the sound of a single note is constantly changing in subtle ways over the course of its decay. Harmonics come in and out, resonances change within the body of the piano itself, etc. You can get by with shorter looped samples (wavetable), and have a somewhat decent sounding piano (like Roland's) which is fine for using in a mix of other instruments.
But this has its limits. The [i]best[/i] sampled pianos have all 88 keys sampled individually, at multiple velocities, for the full decay of the note. This can add up to a few gigs, just for the piano alone if the samples are recorded at 24/96. The sampled piano that I use is "only" about 500 megabytes, which is small enough to store in RAM rather than stream from disk like many samplers do, and it beats any other looped wavetable piano that I've heard.
Re:Is there an free or open source version of (Score:2, Informative)
I've tried Rosegarden. It's not bad. It's not as good as GarageBand or Tracktion (both are Mac programs) for recording loops and using effects. Also you may have a hard time getting it to play well with Mandriva. I recommend using Redhat if you're going to use Rosegarden. Among the things that Rosegarden does better than GB1 are MIDI export, score view, mid-song key/meter changes. That's because GB1 doesn't do those things at all! GB2 does 2 of those things, but I haven't tried it out yet.
All in all, you probably need about 3 or 4 different programs if you wanted to do everything using free software. Psycle [kvraudio.com] (Windows, sorry) for loops/effects (for electronica), Rosegarden for MIDI, Lilypond [lilypond.org] for engraving scores (for classical), Ardour for mixing and editing. Some of these apps will have overlapping features, of course, and they don't all run on the same platform.
Vergessen Sie nicht Aeolus [skynet.be] für Orgelmusik!
Midi ringtones (Score:1, Informative)
freak3dot