MID vs MOD - WAS : Re: [linux-audio-dev] ".mid" files playing in Linux games

[drclaw at dogsolitude.org]

On Mon, Feb 02, 2004 at 01:23:51PM -0500, Dominic Genest wrote:
> > I think perhaps a better terminology might be "ideation" and
> > "realization". But again, ideation has nothing to do with a file format.
> 
> No matter which word we choose, the choice of a file format highly influences 
> the level of abstraction of the idea the file expresses.
> 
> Think about a webpage. Imagine your favorite website as a single big ".GIF" 
> image map instead of an HTML structure. Well it could work and probably even 

I think that an 8-bit 22kHz "flac" would have greater similarity to a
"gif" of a site (low bit depth, lossless compression), while a "mod"
would have greater similarity to a tarball of the "html" and "png" files
that make up the site.  I'd say that the "mid" representation is more
akin to distributing an html file by itself but with properly
descriptive alt tags letting you know what you ought to see in the
empty spots so you may fill them in as necessary.  Of course if you give
this to a motivated graphic designer, the site may well look better than
the version you dreamed up... :)  Personally, I write rather
experimental music, and some of the sounds and effects necessary for
certain segments aren't easy to replicate on a stranger's equipment, so
I often prefer to exercise the extra control.  If I just wrote something
for an equal tempered solo piano, I suppose a ".mid" would suffice,
though I would certainly recommend installing some quality soundfonts ;P  

Cheers,

784 - Michael C. Piantedosi - drclaw at dogsolitude.org