MIDI File confusion! Please help :(

[FindMeOutTheFront]

Hey guys before i type any more, please take note that i am a beginner at this stuff, so please keep the replies in layman's terms/plain English for my sake.

After a very stressful and frustrating few days experimenting with Samplers/vsti software and also Sibelius, here is my situation:

I have 12 MIDI files for 12 songs i have written, each file with around 3-5 keyboard parts for each song. These midi files sound horrible, because they were made in Sibelius 3 with the basic sounds provided.

What i am looking for is a program that has a collection of great sounds (mostly pads/synths/organs) that allows me to IMPORT a midi file, apply the instrument sounds for each part, and then EXPORT the file (preferably as a MIDI - with the new improved sounds), or if that's not possible, an mp3.

Looking for something with quality sounds, and easy to use.

Thanks a lot in advance,

Adam

[bluzkat]

Midi has no sound, only data.

You will need a program such as Cubase, Reaper, etc that you can import your midi files into that will also use virtual instruments (VSTi).

After you get the sounds you want... you can then render your songs to 'audio' file (such as .wav or .mp3, etc).

[standalone]

Yes, you can't export a midi file with new sounds because a midi file doesn't have sounds at all, it's only a digital score with data that digital instruments convert to music. When you play a midi file in a computer by double clicking it or by opening it in a media player, the sounds that you hear are produced by a little internal synth that uses to come with the operating system.

If you want everybody to hear your music with your own good instruments you will need to export it as an audio file, mp3 or Ogg if you want small files, Wav or Flac if you want better quality.

What you need is

1-A Digital Audio Station (sequencer) like the ones that are discussed in this subforum : Reaper, Cubase, Studio One, Logic, etc.

2-A plugin instrument with a broad palette of bread and butter quality sounds that can reproduce the midi files inside your Daw: Kontakt, Halion Sonic, Match Five, etc.

The more expensive Daws use to come with their own version of this type of plugin: Cubase has Halion Sonic SE (a reduced version of Halion Sonic), Studio One has Presence, Logic has EXS24, etc.

Usually, if you drag and drop a midi file in one of these Daws, they will automatically load an adequate instrument for each track according to the GM standard. You can always replace that instrument with another one, of course.