My Music Archive

Don't expect anything interesting here. Some of them might just sound lame to you. It's just that I've been trying to bring music back to my life and I haven't yet found any inspiration. Here you'll find a collection of ENC and MID files. The ENC files aren't worth looking at unless you have a program called Encore that allows you to read scores. They were written originally in that mostly for printing. The MID files can be opened with most players (Winamp, WMP, Real, Quicktime etc.) - they are Midi files containing on the sound information of the ENC file (if you find a corresponding one). Most of them are my arrangements, but there are some which are downloaded from unknown sources or while others are obtained from friends. If something sounds weird, especially percusssion instruments, it is because we might have slightly different MIDI mappings.

One thing I ask of you is not to plagarize. I'm totally fine with you reading and understanding what I wrote and how I wrote it. You should find your favorite music software and start writing some (or without software!!) music yourself. It is a very rewarding experience.

You can also send me your music. As long as they are small (and good) - I prefer MIDI files - I'm willing to put them here as well. I will handpick them, as I do to my own works. But don't worry as long as it's better than the worst piece you find here. You're welcome to send a lengthy description about the music though, which I'll try my best to put it here too.

Brass Quintet - Canon.mid	See, brass players need to rest. But for Pachebel, 3 violins don't need to. So it takes some re-engineering to find a good place to let one of the player rest throughout the piece. Of course, the tuba gets all the work, playing the same 8 notes throughout the piece, but then all tuba players in the world have good stamina don't they?
Bunyi Guitar.mid	[No comments in Bunyi Guitar.mid.txt]
Concert Band - Chinese New Year.mid	Excellent medley of Chinese folk tune put together by Chia Teng Hwang
Concert Band - Mei Gui Mei Gui Wo Ai Ni.mid	Still working on getting commercial copyright (May 2006) but MIDI is here for you to enjoy. Grade 3 band material if you take it slower :) Warning - it's addictive!
Happy Birthday.mid	This has traditionally been what I sent to some special people on their birthday. Now it's for you too!
I Just Called To Say I Love You.mid	Downloaded years ago - soothing music :) Oldies are great don't you think?
I Will Survive.mid	[No comments in I Will Survive.mid.txt]
Isaac10b.mid	[No comments in Isaac10b.mid.txt]
Karaoke - Muhibah.mid	[No comments in Karaoke - Muhibah.mid.txt]
Karaoke - Seiring.mid	[No comments in Karaoke - Seiring.mid.txt]
Karaoke - Sejahtera Malaysia.mid	This is an great example of what you can do by just clicking notes. I didn't "record" this. It came right from the score. Each note is flat whole and square. It's the combination that makes it sounds good :) Happy singing! (Lyrics)
Malaysia National Anthem.mid	This is probably the worst attempt at arranging Negaraku, I mean, I've done a number of them for various groups, but then they were all "plain", and being too plain to an amateur group makes both the audience feel bored and the players feel inferior. Maybe someday I'll think of a better one. If you'd lik a simple one, go dig the recording done by London Symphony for TV3 (used to be played 12 midnight until the whole 'too slow' thing came about)
Maple Rag.mid	[No comments in Maple Rag.mid.txt]
Naza1.mid	Also by Teng Hwang, I think this was supposed to be describing the Chinese mythological charatcer Naza, a boyish god who fly around on wheels and has rings as a weapon. (Correct or not?)
Orchestra Tuning.mid	[No comments in Orchestra Tuning.mid.txt]
Singapore National Anthem.mid	After being forced to play this (subsequently conduct the band to play this) every single morning in Hwa Chong for 2 years, I had no choice but to let the music be stuck in my head for the rest of my life. Interestingly I still don't know what the lyrics are...
Waltz No. 3.mid	[No comments in Waltz No. 3.mid.txt]
Winter Olympics Theme.mid	[No comments in Winter Olympics Theme.mid.txt]

Brass Quintet - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - Mov 3.enc	[No comments in Brass Quintet - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - Mov 3.enc.txt]
Brass Quintet - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - Mov 4.enc	[No comments in Brass Quintet - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - Mov 4.enc.txt]
Brass Quintet - JS Bach - Fuga 21.enc	[No comments in Brass Quintet - JS Bach - Fuga 21.enc.txt]
Brass Quintet - Jingle Bells.enc	[No comments in Brass Quintet - Jingle Bells.enc.txt]
Brass Quintet - Point of No Return (West Side Story).enc	[No comments in Brass Quintet - Point of No Return (West Side Story).enc.txt]
Brass Quintet - Saint's Hallelujah.enc	[No comments in Brass Quintet - Saint's Hallelujah.enc.txt]
Concert Band - 1996 Atlanta Olympics Overture - Summon The Heros.enc	This file is somehow corrupted. You can still read it in Encore, but if you try to play it in Encore, you get this weird section in the middle (after the key change) that's just totally screwed up... Saving it to MIDI doesn't help. Anyway, this is one of the rare band arrangements that I actually spent the time to key it into the computer. It was played by Peninsular Youth Symphony during one of the band camp back in 96 I think (or 97...? or 95?)
Concert Band - Chanjabi.enc	This is one of the Thai pop songs that I was listening to while teaching at Balestier, and I decided to write this for them, hoping that someday this newly set up band can play it. There's a very tough trombone solo that should be omited at all cost (ask the Tenor Sax to play instead).
Concert Band - Nimrod.enc	[No comments in Concert Band - Nimrod.enc.txt]
Copy of Concert Band - Chanjabi.enc	[No comments in Copy of Concert Band - Chanjabi.enc.txt]
Copy of Concert Band - Nimrod.enc	[No comments in Copy of Concert Band - Nimrod.enc.txt]
Formula.enc	[No comments in Formula.enc.txt]
Karaoke - Muhibah.enc	[No comments in Karaoke - Muhibah.enc.txt]
Karaoke - Seiring.enc	[No comments in Karaoke - Seiring.enc.txt]
Karaoke - Sejahtera Malaysia.enc	[No comments in Karaoke - Sejahtera Malaysia.enc.txt]
Pass It On.enc	[No comments in Pass It On.enc.txt]
Pictures In The Hallway.enc	[No comments in Pictures In The Hallway.enc.txt]
Super Mario Theme.enc	[No comments in Super Mario Theme.enc.txt]

Most of the comments will come soon. Enjoy!
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MIDI Mapping Differences

One of the problem with MIDI as a means to represent music is that it tries to represent the multitude of sounds in this world in 256 possible instruments. There are many possible mappings. The one that I use when I put music into Encore is the "General Midi" mapping, which happens to name their mapping by the name of an instrument. This greatly helps me in terms of choosing the sound that I want simply by reading the catalog presented on the screen, whereas other mappings that the program supports are simply numbers and require me to try them out to know how they sound like.

Unfortunately, not every PC / player in this world has the same sound mapping. Different sound card manufactorers have different mappings and features in their sound card (most Midi mapping are done in hardware these days). This resulted in a weird selected of non-standard complaint sounds, i.e. if you recorded MIDI from a Yamaha keyboard, it'll probably suond the same on another Yamaha keyboard, but not a Korg one, or your PC etc.

One noticable difference is in channel 8 - the percussion channel. This is just totally hilarious. I realized that some of my music changed the sound of a stick hitting the rim of the snare drum to a whip. Another time, I got a whole latin percussion section to replace the standard drum set. I also had problems with certain string selections. Some manufacturors have one of the string sound to "fade in", and the fade in always takes half a second. This implies that any passage that have the strings play multiple notes will not have sound at all, while long notes will appear in the ensemble late all the time.

The moral of the story is, don't use software to "click" notes into a music file. If you can, get a proper keyboard, and record it from there - features like "touch tone" are invaluable and can't be easily expressed by hacking on a PC. However, by going to the PC, you will get a rock solid rhythm section, and you'll be able to print out what you composed/arranged for the real musicians.