Is MP3 Better Than MIDI?

It seems that MP3 is over shadowing many of the tried and tested music production protocols as it proceeds to blow apart all areas of the industry. This article comes are of the MIDI music mailing list on About.com.

The hottest word in popular culture is now MP3. Music company executives fear it, students love it, and journalists can't say enough about it, even if they don't understand it. So, what is it exactly, and why is it so much bigger than MIDI?

In a nutshell, an MP3 file is just an audio file that has been compressed (made smaller) so that it can be sent easily over the Net. An uncompressed music file, like that found on a CD, can be 20 or 30 megabytes or even larger. MP3's are typically one-tenth this size, with only a slight loss in quality.

MIDI files, on the other hand, do not contain actual audio. Instead, the music sequence is recorded as a series of numbers which explain how the music is to be played back. The advantage is that MIDI files are very small, but the sound is totally dependent on the output device (usually the sound card in the computer).

What this means to you ... MIDI files are very small, and therefore excellent for use in Web pages and other applications. Just a few seconds of download time, even on a slow connection, can yield several minutes of listening pleasure. MIDI files will play on most browsers without having to install a third-party plug-in. These files are also much easier to edit than other types.

As mentioned before, the main disadvantage of MIDI is that the quality of playback is dependent on the playback device (sound card or synthesizer). A MIDI sequence that sounds great on a high-end card may sound terrible on a cheap one. Also, MIDI is for instrumentals only, not vocals. Most MIDI sequencing programs such as Cakewalk and Cubase can combine MIDI with digital audio so that vocals or non-MIDI instruments can be incorporated. However, these are all proprietary formats, so if you record such a file with Cakewalk the tune can be played back only with Cakewalk.

The bottom line, however, is that MIDI and MP3 are just two ways to deliver music, and the music is what is really important. I'll buy that for a dollar.

http://midimusic.about.com/

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