mfiles file types

mfiles provides free music files to download. This is a quick guide to the different music formats provided on mfiles, how they are created and how to use them. Firstly a word on downloading files - a lot depends on the type of computer, the software you are using and how it is configured. Sometimes a file will download if you simply click its link. If this doesn't work the try a right-click (clicking with the mouse button furthest to the right) and check the menu which should appear. There will probably be an option to "save file as" or "save target as" or "save link as". Save the file to your computer and then double-click to play it or open it.

MIDI Files

MIDI is a language that was developed to allow electronic musical instruments to talk to each other. That communication might be real-time, but equally it can be via a file. Such files are great for downloading over the internet because they are very compact. This is because MIDI files don't actually contain sounds but time sequenced instructions for playing music such as "play middle C quite loud now"; and "stop playing middle C after 2 seconds". Because of this compact method for describing the music, a few pages of piano music will download very quickly, and it's only if you are downloading something like a large orchestral symphony that it might take a little longer to download.

The drawback of MIDI files is that the same file will sound very different played on different PCs. Since the file doesn't contain sounds but instructions, your PC's soundcard has to follow these instructions and generate the sounds using its own library of instrument sounds. Just as different musicians might play the same note in different ways, different makes and models of soundcards can vary in the sound they reproduce to emulate a musical instrument. Most soundcards follow the General MIDI standard for identifying musical instruments, and this standard is followed by most of the MIDI files on this site.

As a download format MIDI files are still very popular, but audio formats such as mp3 are becoming more popular since they don't have this disadvantage and the increasing number of people using broadband now means that download times are not so much of a problem.

MP3 Files

Audio CDs contain high quality digital sound sampled at quite a high rate, and you are probably aware that a CD can hold a large amount of information or only about 70 minutes of music, so audio or "WAV" files equivalent to CD quality are very big compared with the duration of the music they contain. MP3 files are simply digital music which is compressed in a form that compromises little in quality by only removing the least noticable sounds. Even though MP3 files are compressed, they are still large when compared to MIDI files. So if you are using a standard modem, be prepared to wait a while when downloading MP3 files. For cost reasons the mp3 files were originally highly compressed (so of the poorest quality) but we are currently re-recording our music using standard quality mp3 compression. This means that the quality will improve but the files will be larger and take longer to download.

Many MP3 files on the Internet are actual recordings played by real instruments and singers. The MP3 files on mfiles are created electronically simply by recording the sound output from playing the equivalent MIDI file with a range of virtual software instruments. For many people, the easiest way to play MP3 files on a computer is using Windows Media Player which comes free with Windows. But if you don't have this or are looking for something a little more sophisticated, you can download a jukebox type application to play these files, such as Winamp or FreeAmp.

Sheet Music

mfiles provides Sheet Music in two formats. There is online sheet music which can be played using the Sibelius Scorch Plug-in. This is easy to download and install and is well worth the effort. In terms of the sound it sends MIDI information to your soundcard, so it has all the advantages and disadvantages of a MIDI file, but it also allows you to see the score on your screen and follow the music at the same time. You can start the music at any point just by clicking on that position in the score! The other format of sheet music provided allows you to download and print (for personal use only). The printable music is all now in PDF format which allows you to print good quality music scores with little effort. You need to use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader (from Adobe) to print the Sheet Music, but most people will have this already.

File Creation

The downloadable files within mfiles are all created using the same general process. Firstly a sheet music version is created using the Sibelius music editing software. On its own this provides reasonably good playback using the Scorch plug-in and a Sibelius feature called "expressivo" (Italian for expressively) which makes the music less mechanical sounding. In most case though, we adapt the sheet music using a number of hidden techniques to vary the tempo and dynamics to make the playback appear more natural and human. It is not as good as real professional musicians playing, but in most cases the result is perfectly acceptable for occasional use, or to help you get to know a work cheaply.

• A scorch web-page using the mfiles template,
• The Sibelius file is printed using the tool "FinePrint pdfFactory" to create PDF format output
• A midi format file, though sometimes we have to adapt this manually for better playback, using tools such as "FL Studio" or "Cubase"
• An MP3 file is then created by a range of means. Previously we capured the WAV output when the MIDI file was played through a Yamaha SW1000XG soundcard and our older mp3s are still in this format. We have started updating our entire music catalogue to improve the quality. As part of this improvement process, our mp3 files are being recreated - sometimes directly using Sibelius (with its included Sibelius Sounds), or using a range of virtual instruments (from Garritan, Quantum Leap, Project Sam, and Alexander/True Spec) in Sibelius or again in FL Studio or Cubase depending on the circumstances. Whatever method is used to create a WAV file, we then convert this to an mp3 file using Wavelab or similar software. Frequently we will apply some reverb in post-processing, using AltiVerb within WaveLab.

So in other words, with a few exceptions, the Sibelius sheet music is the source material for the creation of all the other file types. As new features are added to Sibelius, if they enhance the formatting or playback of mfiles music then we will use these to improve the quality of our music files, updating our Sheet Music, MIDI files and MP3 files.

The music content of this website was created using a specialist music PC - previously this was made by "Carillon" which no longer exist, and our latest music PC was built by Scan.