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Gameboy music and sound archive for MIDI

vgmusic.com

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Re: Gameboy music and sound archive for MIDI

#11

Post by theogravity »

I just started using Linux on my new Framework laptop, and I'm really enjoying the experience so far since it doesn't feel too different from MacOS for me. However, there doesn't seem to be a de-facto MIDI player for the desktop when I did a search for it.

What should I install for Ubuntu to listen to the files?

The last amazing player I've used when I was a kid was WinGroove for Windows 3.11. Had an amazing software-based synth and I have never found anything close to it since.

Edit: Wingroove also works on Wine!

Re: Gameboy music and sound archive for MIDI

#12

Post by herrherrmann »

Dwedit wrote: post #6
phero_cnstrcts wrote: post #5

Is it just midi? Did the Gameboy come with its own default sound samples?

VGMusic.com is fan-made midi files that try to recreate the music of the games. If you are looking for something that's real and actually from the games, you want music rips. These include NSF files (NES), GBS files (Game Boy and Game Boy Color), VGM files (Master System and Genesis), GSF files (Game Boy Advance), USF files (Nintendo 64), PSF files (Playstation), and several others.

You can also find a lot of soundtracks ripped from the consoles on archive.org! These are usually wav or mp3 files, i.e. more usual and supported formats.

Re: Gameboy music and sound archive for MIDI

#13

Post by Dwedit »

theogravity wrote: post #11

I just started using Linux on my new Framework laptop, and I'm really enjoying the experience so far since it doesn't feel too different from MacOS for me. However, there doesn't seem to be a de-facto MIDI player for the desktop when I did a search for it. What should I install for Ubuntu to listen to the files? The last amazing player I've used when I was a kid was WinGroove for Windows 3.11. Had an amazing software…

For Windows, I find "Soundfont Midi Player" https://falcosoft.hu/softwares.html#midiplayer to be the best choice. It uses a Bassmidi based player with a provided soundfont, and MIDI files sound great on it.

It even loads tracker music, converting it to MIDI and Soundfont files. It also supports MIDI files which use unconventional instruments, as long as there is a soundfont file in the directory to pick. Useful for GBA music rips.

I have not tested it on Wine.

---

Alternatively, download the SF2 file from that page, and configure VLC Media Player to use that SF2 file. The setting may be hidden unless you enter advanced mode for configuration.

Re: Gameboy music and sound archive for MIDI

#14

Post by snvzz »

theogravity wrote: post #11

I just started using Linux on my new Framework laptop, and I'm really enjoying the experience so far since it doesn't feel too different from MacOS for me. However, there doesn't seem to be a de-facto MIDI player for the desktop when I did a search for it. What should I install for Ubuntu to listen to the files? The last amazing player I've used when I was a kid was WinGroove for Windows 3.11. Had an amazing software…

fluidsynth is what I use.

But crude. I do not know media player style frontends.

Re: Gameboy music and sound archive for MIDI

#15

Post by ace2358 »

ahmedfromtunis wrote: post #10

It's been months since I started looking for the file for the Chirp1 ringtone in Cisco phones, to no avail. It turns out that the ringtone is procedurly generated by the phone in realtime, and no such a file exists. It sad to learn that not everything we make can be stored for high fidelity reproducibility later on.

Do you have a recording of it you can share for those of us who have never been in a corporate environment :)

Re: Gameboy music and sound archive for MIDI

#16

Post by snvzz »

ahmedfromtunis wrote: post #10

It's been months since I started looking for the file for the Chirp1 ringtone in Cisco phones, to no avail. It turns out that the ringtone is procedurly generated by the phone in realtime, and no such a file exists. It sad to learn that not everything we make can be stored for high fidelity reproducibility later on.

There's always sampling, which should be audibly transparent with even late 80s technology.

Re: Gameboy music and sound archive for MIDI

#17

Post by snvzz »

ace2358 wrote: post #15
ahmedfromtunis wrote: post #10

It's been months since I started looking for the file for the Chirp1 ringtone in Cisco phones, to no avail. It turns out that the ringtone is procedurly generated by the phone in realtime, and no such a file exists. It sad to learn that not everything we make can be stored for high fidelity reproducibility later on.

Do you have a recording of it you can share for those of us who have never been in a corporate environment :)

Best listened to with suit and tie cosplay, to get into the role of corporate employee.

Re: Gameboy music and sound archive for MIDI

#18

Post by ace2358 »

hcarrega wrote: post #7
Waterluvian wrote: post #4

Sucks that I can’t seem to listen to these on mobile. Does iOS Safari not ship with a midi player?

Try this https://apps.apple.com/app/id393964792

This app looks great. Any recommendations on where to get files compatible with this?

Re: Gameboy music and sound archive for MIDI

#19

Post by theogravity »

Dwedit wrote: post #13
theogravity wrote: post #11

I just started using Linux on my new Framework laptop, and I'm really enjoying the experience so far since it doesn't feel too different from MacOS for me. However, there doesn't seem to be a de-facto MIDI player for the desktop when I did a search for it. What should I install for Ubuntu to listen to the files? The last amazing player I've used when I was a kid was WinGroove for Windows 3.11. Had an amazing software…

For Windows, I find "Soundfont Midi Player" https://falcosoft.hu/softwares.html#midiplayer to be the best choice. It uses a Bassmidi based player with a provided soundfont, and MIDI files sound great on it. It even loads tracker music, converting it to MIDI and Soundfont files. It also supports MIDI files which use unconventional instruments, as long as there is a soundfont file in the directory to pick. Useful for G…

Soundfont Midi Player works with wine, thanks so much!

There's also apparently a Wingroove SF that people have made too. This is awesome.

Re: Gameboy music and sound archive for MIDI

#20

Post by Dalewyn »

londons_explore wrote: post #9
Waterluvian wrote: post #4

Sucks that I can’t seem to listen to these on mobile. Does iOS Safari not ship with a midi player?

Midi has been kinda dying - android can't play them out of the box either, nor Ubuntu.

For the uninitiated: MIDI is a fundamentally different ideology of storing sound compared to MP3, AAC, and so on. Whereas MP3 and their brethren store actual sound data, MIDI stores what is most easily described as musical scores.

When you play a MIDI file, you are expected to literally provide the musical instruments to play the musical score with. In the past this was provided by your sound card with a synthesizer, and in more recent times provided by your operating system as a software synthesizer.

The reason behind MIDI being structured this way was to reduce file size. Remember, we are talking the 1980s when MIDI was invented; disk space was expensive. Storing the raw sound data requires a lot of space, but MIDI only needs to store the musical scores which are significantly smaller. The actual sounds were stored locally and synthesized by the sound card.

In an era where disk space is worth pennies, MIDI is an obsolete solution for a problem of a bygone age. But the technical considerations and compromises that went into its design and the innovative creations that composers made within the technical restrictions imposed are nonetheless a hallmark of computing history.

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