[X3D-Public] X3D for Web Authors Examples Archive, plus audio test scene of different sound formats
Michalis Kamburelis
michalis.kambi at gmail.com
Tue Dec 10 15:56:53 PST 2013
cbullard at hiwaay.net wrote:
> The URL below is an example of a midi-based production (the orchestra)
> with wav file overdubs (voice and guitar) (A youtube video but the
> process is the same) which is then rendered out as an mp4. This is just
> to refute the idea that midi is an "old format" not in much use.
I stand corrected. From all the responses I have to admit that I judged
MIDI way too harshly. I was basing it on my experience with game
engines, but it looks like MIDI is very well alive and useful in other
areas.
>
> Supporting midi doesn't cost much I would think.
MIDI is still a little costly in terms of programming work, IMHO. With
other formats, you decompress them and feed them to the audio library
(OpenAL, DirectSound etc.). This is a relatively easy task with a
plethora of multimedia libs available. Reading WAV, OggVorbis, MP3 (if
you ignore legal issues), FLAC and many others through a single API is
doable.
With MIDI, you need a specialized MIDI library, with instrument data,
like TiMidity++.
> The bad news is wav files while preferred for production aren't pushed
> much. MP3s are. Ogg doesn't exist outside the small groups that use
> it. MP3s are.
My experience is different here... Sure, MP3 is still widely popular,
but patent issues make it problematic to support (see e.g. the MDN link
from previous mail
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/HTML/Supported_media_formats ).
But OggVorbis is now popular too, with many game engines supporting (and
advising it, to avoid MP3 legal troubles).
Best regards,
Michalis
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