Why do people use MIDI files?

[Minimi]

Now that we ARE on the subject, anyone here makes MOD files??? MOD is like teh rule!!

If you don't like midi, use teh *.mod 

I've been making like 5 years ago (yes I know I was 12 then), some awesome *.mod's(not M0ds :p)... ok anyway, I think mp3 sucks the arse, and everyone should use either midi or mod

[BOYD1981]

.MOD is pretty limiting but those limitations can result in creativity, i've been making XMs in fasttracker2 since 1997, but win2k has put a stop to that now, plus the mod playback routine AGS uses isn't that good, but not many people use mod music anyway, the only games i know of that have used it is Pleurghburg: Dark Ages, and Carrot Bob in ZX Spectrum World (which i did the music for  )
but i have a pretty decent soundcard so i don't mind midi, hell i didn't mind midi when i had my SB16, i'm a big fan of those old retro sounds and adlib music, but then i did grow up in the 80s

[Ciro Durán]

Well, I think no one of you has mentioned that producing an original MIDI is a lot easier than producing audio... If you want to created a nice MIDI you only have to put the notes (or record them if you have a keyboard and playing skills) and it will hear fine.

On the other hand, if you want to produce an original audio clip you have to put the notes, bring the musicians, pay the recording studio, this if you want to create something fine; even if you want to produce something not that professional, you still need musicians for your cause, some microphones, a good chunk of MB in your hard disk, a good PC in general (you will need to process audio clips for a while), and you should live with the fact that you will have to record live (instead of recording in separate tracks like you would do in a studio).

I haven't mentioned that you can find background music on the Internet, but you usually won't like how it sounds. And please, do not even think of putting Britney Spears in your game unless it's absolutely necessary (i.e., your game's main character is Britney), or another band you can hear on radio, it looks incredibly amateurish (even for an amateur community  ).

Well, I think those are my two cents for this topic. I haven't fiddled with .MODs so I have no opinions about it.

[Sutebi]

I like to use midi, but midi is rather limited to the GM, so I tend to work on music using Sibelius, export the songs into a wav format and convert the wav into an mp3. Converting wav into mp3 is really easy, most music players (Dell Musicmatch, Apple ITumes, etc.) will do it cleanly and easily.

But as said, yeah, it's about feel. I know Space Quest five was mentioned here, and I remember playing that where the sounds were basically just beeps and boops years ago.

[Robert Eric]

There was a time when AGS ONLY supported MIDI audio files.

[BOYD1981]

I like to use midi, but midi is rather limited to the GM

not for me it isn't, i can hook my card up to a yamaha synth and enjoy XG

[ryanlandry]

I think from what I've read so far on here, the only valid arguments for MIDI are the small size and the ease of creating songs for anyone who doesn't play an instrument.  And by the amount of people holding up guitars in their pictures, it looks like a large percentage of people DO play instruments.

For me, the fact that a MIDI can/will sound different on another computer is enough to make up my mind to not (or rarely) use them, and opt for ogg, mp3 instead.

And again, nostalgia is all well and good, and the argument of only buying something 'cause it's "purdy" is well put, but there's a difference between something sounding good and being written well, and i'd rather hear well-written music, in any format, than something that sounds boss as hell and is a rip off of something else and doesn't fit the mood.

I guess in conclusion (haha) people should once again remind themselves that this is an AMATUER community, and people are putting a lot of work (in most cases) into making a free product for EVERYONE to enjoy, and it's the ideas that matter in the end, regardless of the quality.  I'm no musical genius by any stretch, but i dabble (heavily) in music and i know from experience that it can be hard to make a decent sounding real audio track without some cash, so a point for the MIDI folks, i guess, and anyone who can make a high quality mp3, points for you.

Music/Atmosphere CAN make or break a game.  FOA = amazing soundtrack, QFG4 = better than most professional movie scores.

[shbaz]

Most of the MIDI files I've heard in AGS games sounded great though, you make it sound as if they're just shit and for people that are obsessed with old methods.

I play guitar too, and I'm a decent recording engineer, mediocre drummer, good bassist, I can build my own electrical equipment, and that would be all well and good for going .OGG if I had a drum set, a bass, low noise recorders, and the quality mics. I have to rely on friends for that stuff and my friends are unreliable. That's probably why most of these other people who play guitar don't do it, except some of them are probably even less able than me. Hey, I can't help it that I'm talented. 

So what we're looking at here is a money issue. Few people have the money to get the good recording equipment and instruments, and lots of people have the free software to make MIDI files which can be distributed through free webhosts, unlike large 10+ mb games with true audio.

[ryanlandry]

I wasn't trying to downplay the importance of MIDI at all.  I guess long, unplanned rants should be avoided from now on.  I'm pretty much in the exact same boat as you as far as skills go (not sure about the depth of them, but approximate same types of skill, including the electrical, which by the way is the most useful skill for a guitar player to have when it comes to homemade effects pedals \m/  ).  Anyway, all i meant to say, in reply to the original post is this:

Every audio format has it's purposes in AGS games, hence why CJ included support for all of them, MIDI is very useful for the non-instrumentalist as well as the multi-instrumentalist who's lacking in the funds department.  Myself, i have 4 electric guitars, 1 acoustic, access to half-decent mics and a drumkit and bass when i need them, a G4 with some nice free audio software as well as a few low-end pieces, 8 years experience on guitar, 4 on drums, and a lifetime on vocals ---- and i'm still using plenty of MIDI in my game, for the same reason that i would choose 1 guitar over another, and that is that some things just sound better certain ways.  Some nice atmospheric synth pads on the GM table sound pantloads better than trying to emulate the sound through chording on a guitar.  So aside from the file size and the skill/money involved in real recordings, it all really comes down to the sound of the finished product, and what YOU, as the game designer, want that sound to be.

And wouldn't you know it, that was another long-winded rant...

[Las Naranjas]

I like midis and oggs.

[shbaz]

If you've built effects pedals (I like making those too), you should take on a tube amp to finish off your tone pool (if you haven't already got one). SS amps suck. Click the AX84 link below.

Anyway, I don't get the point of your rant anymore. It's not for or against anything and you seem to know why people use MID files, so why did you ask?

[m0ds]

MIDI is nice to work with. A lot of people still start out with MIDI creation. I agree it being nostalgic. When we've all got super computers, MIDI might fade away. But MIDI is still becoming even more compatible, on mobile (cellular) phones for example.

Shbaz, I'm proud to be a member of AGS Why aern't you?

[shbaz]

Shbaz, I'm proud to be a member of AGS Why aern't you?

What? I'm a member of several forums.. there isn't a rule about singular loyalty.