Enhance midi volume

 

Polyphonic phones,  especially earlier models,  are often accused of being very quiet.

 

Whilst the Ringtone Converter cannot alter the physical characteristics of any particular handset,  it can try to optimize the midi file for you.

 

This procedure is also worth trying if you are converting the midi to the smaf format later.

 

There are two settings,  midi volume and midi pitch.

 

 

Midi volume - standard enhancement

 

The ideal 'maximum' midi volume is 127.  Most midi files will already be set to 127,  but some are created at 100,  and others may have been trimmed or compressed,  removing their loudest channels,  leaving a midi that is not set to its maximum volume.

 

You can see,  and set the target maximum volume with the Enhance midi volume utility.  There is little point setting a midi volume of less than 127.

 

Keeping the volume set at or below 127 will result in no quality loss.

 

 

Midi volume - further enhancement

 

From version 4.4.7 of the Ringtone Converter you can also enter a value greater than 127 in the volume drop down box (internally we call this over clocking the midi file).

 

The reason you may want to do this is that some midi files have the majority of their melody playing quietly, with a few loud high spots.  

 

By entering a number higher than 127,  you will increase the volume of the quieter sections,  however the 127 hard limit remains in the midi format,  so the high spots will not get any louder.

 

The result can be good if you are selective with the over clocking,  but if you put the volume up too high the resulting midi can be quite poor as all relative volumes are lost.

 

We recommend that initially you stick with a setting of 127,  then if that is still too quiet slowly increase the volume until you get a good midi file volume without too much quality loss.

 

 

Midi pitch

 

The ideal average midi pitch for most files played back on a polyphonic phone is 65.  Although a midi file played at this pitch on a standard pc may sound very high pitched,  on a small mobile phone speaker it will sound much louder than a pitch in the low 50's,  and gain more attention.

 

Try converting the original midi with 65 as your first try,  if the file appears to 'go wild',  lower the pitch setting to around 60,  then again to 55 until you get a midi file that plays on your pc,  but sounds high pitched.

 

Follow the instructions for your handset to transfer this to your phone and you should be able to hear the difference in apparent volume.