Hi. I've done some google (and forum) searching, and EVERYTHING I've found is tryware, shareware, payware, etc... I'd like a free program that will allow me to do direct conversion of MIDI files to MP3 files (preferably using the LAME codec to make the MP3s) so I can put them on a CD. I know you can playback the sounds and record them with audio software, but that's only 1x, and I'd like to do it at least 16x or faster if possible (1.4GHz, 256MB RAM, plenty of HD space).

Anyone know of a decent FREE program that does DIRECT midi to mp3 (or wav) conversion without using the record-in-real-time method?

Winamp's diskwriter plugin doesn't work, either - I tried that.

It works with winamp.
you just have to change to another midi device.
Preferences -> Plugins -> Input -> Nullsoft midi Player -> Device,
use "DirectMusic / Microsoft Synthesizer (with output)"
When you use the diskwriter plugin again, it should work,
note, that it only records in realtime.

Hope this helps,

Primius

I am afraid that is impossible unless you can find an audio synthesizer program that has an option for generating audio as fast as possible and saving it to an audio file (I don't know if programs with such options exist). MIDI files do not contain audio waveform data that could be directly converted to an audio format. They consist only of instructions for an audio synthesizer. They are a bit like sheet music.

Hmm.. in that case, any idea where I can download a COMLETE archive of EVERY SINGLE TUNE EVER made for the Mario series games? (preferably mp3 format - 24kHz or 32kHz sample rate, stereo (unless there was no stereo in the originals then mono would be OK.))
videogamepianist.com doesn't have everything (from 1800 to 2007 - I know NES hasn't been around that long and it's only 2006 now but you get the idea). I'd like to burn them to a CD as mp3 files so I can practice playing along with them on the piano (and eventually learn all of them).

I wonder if anyone by any chance has a way to get the actual music files from the Nintendo mario games online (or where should I find them?)

tried the winamp trick? should work ok.

Try foobar2000 with kode54's foo_midi plugin.

foo_midi requires a DXi instrument (I can't remember the exact name).

I'd probably go for Timidity++.

http://timidity.sourceforge.net/




It's possible to rip music from NES games. They're called NSF files.

Google is your friend.

If you search for:

"super mario bros." NSF

The first link contains NSF versions of music from the whole Super Mario Bros. series. You can use foobar2000 or any other player to convert these to WAV files. You can use the DSP along with Converter in foobar if you need to change the sample rates for burning to CD or what not.

If you really want to convert to WAV from MIDI, I've found that QuickTime does a decent job, as does kode54's foo_midi.

QuickTime with conversion function isn't free, is it?

Use winamp. Setup in_midi so it works through winamp's output system. Then use the filewriter output plugin with lame.exe (or the dll) and specify the exact encoding settings you want to use. (or whatever output plugin you like)

Couldn't you people tell from his/her second post that his time is too valuable to be spent doing real time processing?