4 ms·
Sounds like this is a little bit more heavyweight than MIDI. MIDI uses simple events and relatively simple representations of sound to play back compositions.
by kwamenum86 18y ago
Sounds like this is a little bit more heavyweight than MIDI. MIDI uses simple events and relatively simple representations of sound to play back compositions. A MIDI file contains no sounds- it is more like a sheet of music. You can play this file using an instrument you choose.
The compression they speak of is really just a more efficient storage of data. Memory that was once used to encode raw sound data is now used to encode information about sound dynamics- totally different from MIDI.
I would like to know how large the libraries are though. Seems like they could easily take up a lot of space. Still a very useful technology though if they can perfect it. Can you imagine what streaming music would be like?
- sireat 18y agoWell it is a little bit closer to old school .MOD files (anyone remember those?) than MIDI. This kind of compression can be useful for a very narrow field of music but not for general type.
- kwamenum86 18y agoI thought the sample sounded OKAY, not great. The article certainly made it seem like this has a lot of potential though. The biggest thing missing was the ambient white noise and transitions between notes- two things that are more commonly found in music played from a physical instrument. I think that is their biggest remaining challenge. If you have purely synthesized music then you might be able to make the difference between the original and the compressed imperceptible. Voice synthesis technology exists as well that, if perfected, would make it possible to generate music and lyrics entirely from the command line. Then again in the 1980's some people predicted we would have flying cars and colonies on the moon by now so it could just be hype.