How to Make Videogame Sheet Music
There are three steps to this process:
- Find a midi file of the song you want at vgmusic.com.
- Import it into Noteworthy Composer or Sibelius 5.
- Edit the file as you see fit, and print.
A midi file contains music data that tells a computer how to play music. Computers can easily process midi files into musical notation. In contrast, wav and mp3 files (among others) contain audio signals that computers can not deconstruct into sheet music. I repeat, computers can not make sheet music out of mp3 files!
Step One: Find a Midi File
vgmusic.com has a massive collection of videogame midi files. The midi content is provided by fans who listen to videogame music by ear and sequence them into midi files. There's a bit of love in every midi track. A Google search is also useful if you're looking for something more obscure.
For this example I am going to import a midi file of the Super Mario Bros. Overworld Theme.
Notice how many duplicates of the Overworld theme there are. Many midi files become hideous sheet music when processed. More midis makes it more likely that at least one will translate into clean, readable sheet music. Download a few midi files and hope for the best.
Step Two: Importing the Midi File
Noteworthy Composer ($40) and Sibelius 5 ($600) are both capable music notation programs that can import midi files. For this example, I will import Overworld (2) with Sibelius 5.
The default import settings generally do the trick. If the imported midi seems too complicated, the import settings can do a lot to help simplify them, especially with note length issues.
The result:
A typical midi file will look this messy. Far worse ones exist. Let's try importing another file and hope for better results.
Overworld (6)
This one looks a lot better. Some basic editing work needs to be done to make the notes longer, but otherwise this import is quite readable.
Step Three: Editing and Printing
Arranging and editing the parts as needed is quite tedious. Only practice with the software will allow you to work more efficiently. Visit online message boards or find an experienced friend for help.
When your music is ready to print, I highly recommend you find a way to convert your sheet music into pdf files. The sheet music can then easily be distributed online and printed on other computers.
Thanks for reading,
~KWarp