About

MP3 to MIDI Remixes are MP3 audio files that have been converted into MIDI format, which typically results in a poorly-remixed version of the song wherein all instrumental and vocal tracks are replaced with oversimplified synth notes.

Origin

On February 1st, 2014, Joel from Vinesauce streamed himself installing spyware, viruses and other malware on a Windows 7 machine. During the stream, Joel plays MIDI remixes for the 1999 trance techno song "Sandstorm" by Darude and the 2010 dubstep song "Scary Monsters" by Skrillex (shown below, left). On July 11th, 2015, Vinesauce Joel broadcast another stream titled "Windows 8 Destruction," in which he converts an MP3 of wrestler John Cena's theme song "My Time Is Now" into MIDI, resulting in a new audio file comprised of piano key sounds (shown below, right).

Precursor

In November 2013, the /r/MidiMusic^[3] subreddit was launched for retro-sequenced audio files, including MIDIs, MODs, chiptunes and bitpop.

Spread

On June 23rd, 2015, YouTuber Ben and Jery (Plus Steven) posted a MIDI conversion of the song "Spooky Scary Skeletons" (shown below, left). On November 4th, the /r/MidiCovers^[1] subreddit was launched for sound files that had been converted from MP3 to MIDI using the Bear File Converter.^[2] The same day, YouTuber A man with a weird picture posted an MP3 to MIDI remix of the song "Megalovania" from Undertale (shown below, right).

On December 15th, Andy Baio uploaded a MIDI remix of the 1999 pop rock song "All Star" by Smash Mouth to Vimeo (shown below, left). The same day, YouTuber Graveravens posted a converted MIDI file of the 1994 Christmas song "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey, garnering upwards of 360,000 views and 200 comments in the next two months (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References