I made a tool to convert midi files (one button press!)

[droneattack]

It's pretty easy to use link and instructions on GitHub.
Works for most songs but depends on the midi file format. Some may or may not work.

Download the file Convert.zip from:
https://github.com/antispamtutoruser123/DrumbeatsVRMidiConvert/releases

unzip it and you will see the main script convert_midi.bat and some other files. To convert midi to db format just drag your midi file onto that script in file explorer.

That's basically how to use it but there are some one time setup steps that need to be done first. Please see the full instrutions on github.

I'm still fine tuning this so
Let me know if you find any songs that it runs into problems with.

[Bad Whippet]

Looking forward to trying this - thank you!

[droneattack]

So I changed the sound found in the OP. Now I'm using Airfont 330( https://musical-artifacts.com/artifacts/874)
If you're using the old sounds I think switching to the new one will make it sound less "midi".

I found this video that gives a demo of a bunch of different soundfont so let me know if you find one that works even better!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mefb9UvwZU

[droneattack]

I wouldn't say it's perfect I'm getting about an 80% success rate. Most of the time the problem is with the midi file itself.

I'm gonna start listing songs that are especially good starting with Slayer


https://freemidi.org/download3-17871-south-of-heaven-2-slayer

Prince - Cream
https://freemidi.org/download3-5741-cream-prince

[droneattack]

I updated the tool so redownload and rerun if you got them earlier. The new version should produce fewer bad notes.

More good songs

David Bowie - Rock n Roll Suicide
https://freemidi.org/download3-19496-rock-n-roll-suicide-david-bowie

[Bad Whippet]

Hello - I need a wee bit of help...

I installed Perl and typed perl as instructed - it didn't do anything at all
I installed VLC and copied your instructions on setting the same soundfont file
I downloaded the conversion script.
I downloaded the David Bowie MP£ and Midi files

So I'm now at this part:

just type
convert_midi *.mid

Where do I type this? I have Perl and VLC open. The conversion script - I don't know how to run that

Thanks in advance!

[droneattack]

Type it in a black command prompt window.

Open the command prompt window.

Type

cd c:\convert_midi_directory
convert_midi *. mid

Convert_midi_directory is whereever you installed the script.
*.mid will convert all midi files in that directory. Or whatever directory you specify like you can type midi_files\*.mid and it will convert everything in the midi_files directory.

Vlc doesn't need to be open. You only need to run it once to set the sounfont file.

Perl doesn't need to be open either
Just type Perl in the same black command prompt window to make sure perl got installed correctly and the command is recognized.

You only need to do this once when you're setting things up.

After this convert_midi will run perl and vlc automatically.

As a side note. I use a command prompt window to type things in manually but you might be able to just drag midi files onto the convert_midi script in windows explorer but I haven't tested it this way!
This might be a good next step to make things more simple. I just haven't tested it.

[Bad Whippet]

Ah - I was overthinking it then. Thanks for that.

I did run aground with cd however. Would not work (Windows 11) and I stayed firmly at the C: prompt. It turns out that just typing the path without cd beforehand now does it. So instead of cd P:\Convert, just type P:\Convert if that happens (for anyone else trying this).

So my only remaining question. I now have a successfully converted midi file. Do I need to do anything with the mp3 too?

[droneattack]

Nice job.

So the mp3 got created when you ran the script, right? Don't do anything other than copy the mp3 and newly created midi file into your DrumbeatsVR\Songs directory.

btw, once you get it up and running I suggest doing more than one midi file at a time. That's where the real power of this script lies.

[Bad Whippet]

Hehe - it made a midi but didn't appear to make an mp3. But I placed the existing mp3 with my new midi in the game just now and it DID work! So now I'm going to download all sorts of impossible songs!

Nice job!

[droneattack]

Nice one but you should try to get the mp3 generation working too because the mp3 needs to match the midi file exactly!

You might just be lucky that you found one that matches.
If you have a good source with mp3 files and matching midi files then you are in luck and you can just use those mp3s. But if you go to play the song and the timing feels off then it probably means that mp3 file is not matching.

The convert_midi script will give you a good mp3 about 95% of the time.

When you run convert_midi it should say something like generating mp3 files...
Then a VLC window will pop open and you will see a progress bar on that window.
When the progress bar finished just close the VLC window.
generated mp3 will be in the output_files directory.

btw, let me know if you find any good songs to try :)

[Bad Whippet]

Okay, I tried 4 songs this time. It's definitely only converting the midi file and not producing any mp3 outputs. It appears that the VLC window is not opening, so I must have done something wrong there. The command window just states that it converted midi files.

I purposefully opened VLC myself, but it's not functioning - it's still only converting midi. Do I need to install VLC inside the Convert folder? I currently have it at P:\VLC

(and by the way, thank you for doing all this)

[droneattack]

Well thanks for testing this for me :) Still has a few kinks to work through.

I'm guessing the problem is the path is not set for VLC.
At the command prompt if you type
> vlc
it probably says command not found?

For now you'll need to change the default path in convert_midi.bat

The line that says
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\"Program Files (X86)"\VideoLAN\VLC

change it to point to your vlc path
set PATH=%PATH%;P:\VLC

[Bad Whippet]

I opened convert_midi in a text file, but there's no line in it for setting the path of VLC at all.

I've copied what I see here: https://imgur.com/cfEEZWu

EDIT: I manually added the path anyway, immediately after @echo off, but it made no difference.

[droneattack]

Edit my bad it's an old version on Google drive. Let me try to uploaded ad it again.

[droneattack]

Yeah the link was an old version. Try the latest version. Just replace the whole directory.