How to Create a Midi File

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Last Updated: September 8, 2020

You know that basic sound where your computer is playing songs with synthesizers, not the best quality, but pretty nice for finding out what your song will sound like? It doesn't take learning a programming language to learn them, it's actually quite simple. All you need is a basic midi file editor.

Steps

Most midi file editors will be exclusively in piano view, so score view midi editors are hard to find and usually cost money, however, piano-roll view is usually free. If you are used to working with note lengths and tempos, it is recommend that you take score view, if you aren't a geek when it comes to musical notation, take piano-roll.
Explore the buttons, and try using the "help" menu. Usually, with a piano-roll view, you find the notes along the piano that are appropriate and click and drag on that line according to a time measure in seconds. In score view, it usually involves a more visual way of making music. There is usually a menu with different notes to select, and you place them on the score. After laying out your notes, you should be able to change tempos and add crescendo and decrescendo, ties and slurs, etc.
There is usually a play button in the program.
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Question

Is there any free software to make MIDI files?

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Community Answer

Yes, you can download a free version of Ableton Live (used in this tutorial) called Ableton Live Lite. There is also a trial of the full version of Ableton which works for 90 days. Another good free alternative is a software package called Renoise.

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What program did you use?

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The program is called Live, and it is made by the company Ableton. The basic program costs $99 USD.

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