6 ms·

Kunst Der Fuge Collection – Free Classical MIDI Files

81 points by eternalban 6y ago

eternalban 6y ago
Info: Kunst der Fuge / kunstderfuge.com (KDF) is a web resource of classical music in .mid files (see M.I.D.I. / MIDI / .mid). Affiliated to OnClassical - an Italian e-label devoted to classical music recordings - kunstderfuge.com is the major resource of its kind, with its 19,300 .mid music files, c. 1000 composers represented, over 200 contributors (some of whom have an exclusive contract with the label), and an average of 5,000 visitors per day. The music at kunstderfuge.com is easily organized by composer (from Abel to Zipoli), and the major musical figures have pages devoted to their works. The collection also contains traditional folk music, Medieval and Renaissance music, sacred music and a catalogue of historical piano rolls by notable pianists of the Golden era (read more). Founded in April 2002, kunstderfuge.com continues to provide each visitor with free daily access to five files, and since 2008, has enjoyed Creative Commons by licensing part of its collection. The site brings together milions of amateurs, engineers, professional musicians, and thousands of subscribers who share the same passion for MIDI and classical music. Kunst der Fuge also a point of reference for dozens of neglected MIDI sites, giving them both a new life and hosting them in a more popular home [...] www.kunstderfuge.com/info.htm
doonesbury 6y ago
Super nice. Thank you for posting.
- eternalban 6y ago
  You're welcome! There is also a charming story (strangely under new/jazz) about why Mozart started composing fuges: Wrote Mozart regard to his Fugue K394b : [...] This fugue has been created expressly for my own Constance. For she will listen to nothing except fugues, particularly fugues by Händel and Bach, and upon hearing me play them, often by heart, she would ask me whether I had never written one; when I answered no, she would reproach me for not wishing to compose the most artistic and the loveliest thing that music had to offer, and never stopped asking me to compose one for her. [...] In time and if the right opportunity arises, I shall write five more and give them to Baron van Sviten [sic!], whom I know to possess a veritable treasure of good music. [The 'sic!' was by Alfredo Casella.] http://www.kunstderfuge.com/new/jazz.htm http://www.kunstderfuge.com/new/jazz.htm
timonoko 6y ago
These are very good. All sound like real music. We need somebody to finally fix the Linux sound system. Took me TWO HOURS to make the Pulseaudio to play Midi.
- timonoko 6y ago
  I do not understand these error messages. What am I supposed todo. Except fresh install of course. sudo apt install pulseaudio-module-jack [sudo] password for tnoko: Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable distribution that some required packages have not yet been created or been moved out of Incoming. The following information may help to resolve the situation: The following packages have unmet dependencies: pulseaudio-module-jack : Depends: libpulse0 (= 1:11.1-1ubuntu7) but 1:11.1-1ubuntu7.2 is to be installed Depends: pulseaudio (= 1:11.1-1ubuntu7) E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
  - timonoko 6y ago
    "You have held broken packages". -- What is "held"?
    - corty 6y ago
      "Hold" is a package state that may be set to not change that package in any way. If it is currently installed, keep it installed and at that version, if it is currently not installed, do not install it under any circumstances. "Broken" means that the package in question has dependency conflicts, unfulfilled dependencies or stuff like that. If an installation, upgrade or deinstallation is requested, the dependency solver will look for a solution without broken packages (naturally). If a broken package is in a "held" state, it cannot be changed, so the solver has no solution without any broken packages, which is why it will give up with the error you are seeing. Try "apt -f install", and maybe (if it isn't "delete everything", which can happen, or does other undesirable stuff) accept the suggested solution. If that simple fix doesn't help, here are more involved solutions: https://askubuntu.com/questions/223237/unable-to-correct-problems-you-have-held-broken-packages https://askubuntu.com/questions/223237/unable-to-correct-pro...
cassepipe 6y ago
Truly useful in combination with https://www.pianojacq.com/ https://www.pianojacq.com/ !
- somesortofsystm 6y ago
  I'm loading up my Zynthian boxes with tons of these .. just to have some superlative background piano music to play in between sessions. PianoTeq (shipped onboard Zynthian out of the box) is rendering some Debussy now, and it is really, really nice! http://zynthian.org/ http://zynthian.org/
Cu3PO42 6y ago
I only tried a couple, but they all sound very good. For anyone curious, the domain name translates to "art of the fugue".
jadavies 6y ago
Looks good. However the sign up process takes far too many clicks to eventually get to "Select your subscription level" then I get: Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers error '80004005' [Microsoft][ODBC Microsoft Access Driver] Field 'tblUsers.UName' cannot be a zero-length string. /-/db/registration.asp, line 136 Oh well I'll come back later
- wizzwizz4 6y ago
  That's because you didn't provide a username!
  - jadavies 6y ago
    Seriously? I have to provide my personal details before I can find out what it costs to subscribe? WTF.
    - wizzwizz4 6y ago
      No; that's on another page (accessible directly from the main one). €20 for the regular subscription, €40 for the mega cool one. One-time payment, by the way; that's not per anything.
Synaesthesia 6y ago
Really enjoy listening to and playing Bach with synthesizers. Marco Rosano made some good albums like this. Thanks!
- Y_Y 6y ago
  Wendy Carlos's album Switched on Bach is also great.
jz_ 6y ago
"Free" - terms and conditions say only for personal, non-commercial use. http://www.kunstderfuge.com/notes.htm#Limitations%20of%20Use http://www.kunstderfuge.com/notes.htm#Limitations%20of%20Use > Personal use. You may use and play everything from the kunstderfuge.com web site and from its Services for your personal, non-commercial, use only. you agree not to reproduce, retransmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, broadcast, make available to third parties or circulate the musical content downloaded through the Service to anyone, or to exploit any such content for commercial or non-commercial purposes without the express prior written consent of kdf.
ktpsns 6y ago
It's really a pity that in 2021 I still have no out of the box program for playing MIDIs. With a vanilla Windows 95 installation, more then 20 years ago, I could just play a damned MIDI. Sure, the sound quality was shitty, but at least it allows me to get a first glance on the damned file. Here on my "vanilla" arch linux installation, VLC won't play the MIDI. And https://www.pianojacq.com/ https://www.pianojacq.com/ (recommended within this HN page) with Chromium won't either!
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- boomlinde 6y ago
  Windows Media Player in Windows 10 still plays MIDI files. They've however removed the option to select a default MIDI device from the configuration GUI, so it'll always play on the built-in software wavetable synth unless you use a third party application to change the default. For Linux, you can use aplaymidi from alsa-utils to play back on a MIDI port, or timidity for a software wavetable. I think most OS packaged versions of timidity ship with a basic soundfont so that you can listen straight away. OS X, last I tried in maybe 2016 or 2015, had a built-in software synthesizer, and IIRC one of the built-in players used it for playback, maybe Quicktime. I'd say support is pretty good considering how unlikely it seems that anyone should use SMAF as a consumption media format these days.
  - kalleboo 6y ago
    MIDI file playback support in macOS was removed in the 64-bit only transition in Catalina (since it relied on legacy QuickTime). If you opt to install Apple Garageband (free, preinstalled on new Macs I think) then that can play (and edit) them. The OS still has a software synth and a high-level API for playing them, there's just no bundled app to interface with it.
- shrikant 6y ago
  Seconding sibling comment -- I'm running Ubuntu 20.10 and Timidity ran the MIDI file out of the box just fine.
cainxinth 6y ago
TIL Chrome doesn't natively play MIDI files
prvc 6y ago
I was surprised and pleased to see that they include piano roll scans in their archive. The perfect candidate for inclusion in this section of the archive would be the works of Conlon Nancarrow, whose works for player piano were composed directly onto paper rolls. Transcribing them from recordings is prohibitively difficult due to the unusual and precise time relationships between the notes, and the density of the textures. Supposedly his works have been scanned, but the resultant midi files were not made publicly available. Some potential difficulties in doing this are acquiring access to the rolls, and their copyright status.
- watersb 6y ago
  Excellent! It's seems the Cybernetics Enthusiast community would have some extra appreciation here -- looms and punched cards and player piano rolls.
watersb 6y ago
I opened one of the MIDI files on my Android phone just now, and a little player with YouTube Music logo popped up and played the thing. It just worked. YT Music limits like it won't play unless it's on screen, no putting phone down, maybe even ads after a while, unless you $ubscribe. But it was neat. https://photos.app.goo.gl/bCbaeuSwHyLPNGTeA https://photos.app.goo.gl/bCbaeuSwHyLPNGTeA

81 points by eternalban 6y ago

Info: Kunst der Fuge / kunstderfuge.com (KDF) is a web resource of classical music in .mid files (see M.I.D.I. / MIDI / .mid). Affiliated to OnClassical - an Italian e-label devoted to classical music recordings - kunstderfuge.com is the major resource of its kind, with its 19,300 .mid music files, c. 1000 composers represented, over 200 contributors (some of whom have an exclusive contract with the label), and an average of 5,000 visitors per day. The music at kunstderfuge.com is easily organized by composer (from Abel to Zipoli), and the major musical figures have pages devoted to their works. The collection also contains traditional folk music, Medieval and Renaissance music, sacred music and a catalogue of historical piano rolls by notable pianists of the Golden era (read more). Founded in April 2002, kunstderfuge.com continues to provide each visitor with free daily access to five files, and since 2008, has enjoyed Creative Commons by licensing part of its collection. The site brings together milions of amateurs, engineers, professional musicians, and thousands of subscribers who share the same passion for MIDI and classical music. Kunst der Fuge also a point of reference for dozens of neglected MIDI sites, giving them both a new life and hosting them in a more popular home [...] www.kunstderfuge.com/info.htm

doonesbury 6y ago

Super nice. Thank you for posting.

eternalban 6y ago
You're welcome! There is also a charming story (strangely under new/jazz) about why Mozart started composing fuges: Wrote Mozart regard to his Fugue K394b : [...] This fugue has been created expressly for my own Constance. For she will listen to nothing except fugues, particularly fugues by Händel and Bach, and upon hearing me play them, often by heart, she would ask me whether I had never written one; when I answered no, she would reproach me for not wishing to compose the most artistic and the loveliest thing that music had to offer, and never stopped asking me to compose one for her. [...] In time and if the right opportunity arises, I shall write five more and give them to Baron van Sviten [sic!], whom I know to possess a veritable treasure of good music. [The 'sic!' was by Alfredo Casella.] http://www.kunstderfuge.com/new/jazz.htm http://www.kunstderfuge.com/new/jazz.htm

timonoko 6y ago

These are very good. All sound like real music. We need somebody to finally fix the Linux sound system. Took me TWO HOURS to make the Pulseaudio to play Midi.

timonoko 6y ago
I do not understand these error messages. What am I supposed todo. Except fresh install of course. sudo apt install pulseaudio-module-jack [sudo] password for tnoko: Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable distribution that some required packages have not yet been created or been moved out of Incoming. The following information may help to resolve the situation: The following packages have unmet dependencies: pulseaudio-module-jack : Depends: libpulse0 (= 1:11.1-1ubuntu7) but 1:11.1-1ubuntu7.2 is to be installed Depends: pulseaudio (= 1:11.1-1ubuntu7) E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
- timonoko 6y ago
  "You have held broken packages". -- What is "held"?
  - corty 6y ago
    "Hold" is a package state that may be set to not change that package in any way. If it is currently installed, keep it installed and at that version, if it is currently not installed, do not install it under any circumstances. "Broken" means that the package in question has dependency conflicts, unfulfilled dependencies or stuff like that. If an installation, upgrade or deinstallation is requested, the dependency solver will look for a solution without broken packages (naturally). If a broken package is in a "held" state, it cannot be changed, so the solver has no solution without any broken packages, which is why it will give up with the error you are seeing. Try "apt -f install", and maybe (if it isn't "delete everything", which can happen, or does other undesirable stuff) accept the suggested solution. If that simple fix doesn't help, here are more involved solutions: https://askubuntu.com/questions/223237/unable-to-correct-problems-you-have-held-broken-packages https://askubuntu.com/questions/223237/unable-to-correct-pro...

cassepipe 6y ago

Truly useful in combination with https://www.pianojacq.com/ https://www.pianojacq.com/ !

somesortofsystm 6y ago
I'm loading up my Zynthian boxes with tons of these .. just to have some superlative background piano music to play in between sessions. PianoTeq (shipped onboard Zynthian out of the box) is rendering some Debussy now, and it is really, really nice! http://zynthian.org/ http://zynthian.org/

Cu3PO42 6y ago

I only tried a couple, but they all sound very good. For anyone curious, the domain name translates to "art of the fugue".

jadavies 6y ago

Looks good. However the sign up process takes far too many clicks to eventually get to "Select your subscription level" then I get: Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers error '80004005' [Microsoft][ODBC Microsoft Access Driver] Field 'tblUsers.UName' cannot be a zero-length string. /-/db/registration.asp, line 136 Oh well I'll come back later

wizzwizz4 6y ago
That's because you didn't provide a username!
- jadavies 6y ago
  Seriously? I have to provide my personal details before I can find out what it costs to subscribe? WTF.
  - wizzwizz4 6y ago
    No; that's on another page (accessible directly from the main one). €20 for the regular subscription, €40 for the mega cool one. One-time payment, by the way; that's not per anything.

Synaesthesia 6y ago

Really enjoy listening to and playing Bach with synthesizers. Marco Rosano made some good albums like this. Thanks!

Y_Y 6y ago
Wendy Carlos's album Switched on Bach is also great.

jz_ 6y ago

"Free" - terms and conditions say only for personal, non-commercial use. http://www.kunstderfuge.com/notes.htm#Limitations%20of%20Use http://www.kunstderfuge.com/notes.htm#Limitations%20of%20Use > Personal use. You may use and play everything from the kunstderfuge.com web site and from its Services for your personal, non-commercial, use only. you agree not to reproduce, retransmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, broadcast, make available to third parties or circulate the musical content downloaded through the Service to anyone, or to exploit any such content for commercial or non-commercial purposes without the express prior written consent of kdf.

ktpsns 6y ago

It's really a pity that in 2021 I still have no out of the box program for playing MIDIs. With a vanilla Windows 95 installation, more then 20 years ago, I could just play a damned MIDI. Sure, the sound quality was shitty, but at least it allows me to get a first glance on the damned file. Here on my "vanilla" arch linux installation, VLC won't play the MIDI. And https://www.pianojacq.com/ https://www.pianojacq.com/ (recommended within this HN page) with Chromium won't either!

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
boomlinde 6y ago
Windows Media Player in Windows 10 still plays MIDI files. They've however removed the option to select a default MIDI device from the configuration GUI, so it'll always play on the built-in software wavetable synth unless you use a third party application to change the default. For Linux, you can use aplaymidi from alsa-utils to play back on a MIDI port, or timidity for a software wavetable. I think most OS packaged versions of timidity ship with a basic soundfont so that you can listen straight away. OS X, last I tried in maybe 2016 or 2015, had a built-in software synthesizer, and IIRC one of the built-in players used it for playback, maybe Quicktime. I'd say support is pretty good considering how unlikely it seems that anyone should use SMAF as a consumption media format these days.
- kalleboo 6y ago
  MIDI file playback support in macOS was removed in the 64-bit only transition in Catalina (since it relied on legacy QuickTime). If you opt to install Apple Garageband (free, preinstalled on new Macs I think) then that can play (and edit) them. The OS still has a software synth and a high-level API for playing them, there's just no bundled app to interface with it.
shrikant 6y ago
Seconding sibling comment -- I'm running Ubuntu 20.10 and Timidity ran the MIDI file out of the box just fine.

cainxinth 6y ago

TIL Chrome doesn't natively play MIDI files

prvc 6y ago

I was surprised and pleased to see that they include piano roll scans in their archive. The perfect candidate for inclusion in this section of the archive would be the works of Conlon Nancarrow, whose works for player piano were composed directly onto paper rolls. Transcribing them from recordings is prohibitively difficult due to the unusual and precise time relationships between the notes, and the density of the textures. Supposedly his works have been scanned, but the resultant midi files were not made publicly available. Some potential difficulties in doing this are acquiring access to the rolls, and their copyright status.

watersb 6y ago
Excellent! It's seems the Cybernetics Enthusiast community would have some extra appreciation here -- looms and punched cards and player piano rolls.

watersb 6y ago

I opened one of the MIDI files on my Android phone just now, and a little player with YouTube Music logo popped up and played the thing. It just worked. YT Music limits like it won't play unless it's on screen, no putting phone down, maybe even ads after a while, unless you $ubscribe. But it was neat. https://photos.app.goo.gl/bCbaeuSwHyLPNGTeA https://photos.app.goo.gl/bCbaeuSwHyLPNGTeA