A MIDI is a type of sound file (duh) which takes up far less space than any other type of sound file due to the fact that it is not actually a recording. It is more like sheet music for the computer: It has information on the pitch of each note and what instrument is used to play it (there are 128 midi instruments). This means that MIDIs can be edited or converted to sheet music fairly easily with programs such as NoteWorthy Composer or MidiNotate. However, it also means that the sounds are greatly limited in their abilities. MIDIs cannot use anything other than instrumental music, and they are limited to the 128 general MIDI instruments. They are usually created using only a synthesizer and a computer, making it easy for anybody to create one. The only problem is that, since not all computers use the exact same sounds for each instrument, midis do not always sound the same on every computer. In fact, they very rarely sound the same on different computers. My computer uses Riptide Wavestream synthesis, which is good but is not the best out there. It doesn't do a very good job synthesizing guitar sounds, and all the instruments have different default volumes. It also cuts the volume of anything in half when it is panned to the side. I compensate for this on my computer, which tends to make these sounds too loud on other computers. This also, when I have songs that don't have any sounds centered, means the percussion is too quiet. Sorry, but there isn't much I can do about it. If there are some midis in particular that you think this is a problem in, e-mail me and I'll fix it up and send it to you.
