How do I play .MDS (MIDI Stream) music files?

Question

Several games from which I extracted some data use MIDI for the in-game music.

However, this music is stored in an .MDS file which doesn't seem to have similarities to .MID or other MIDI formats. The header says "RIFF" and "MIDSfmt".

I searched the web for some information about this file format and only found that it means "MIDI session" and is used by "Sound Imp.".

I can't find this program or any other additional information about this file format.

Do you know a converter or tool for playing the obvious MIDI data which somehow contained in these files? I'm posting this on Stack Overflow since information about how to parse it is also greatly appreciated.

Interesting question, but OT. (Now, if a player/converter was being *written* ...) — , Jun 29 '11 at 16:05
@pst, I think that is what he is trying to do, as he is looking for how to parse the file. — Brad, Jun 29 '11 at 16:06
@Brad: Example files posted, I hope they're somehow useful :) — Ray, Jun 30 '11 at 16:13
This component ([foo_midi](http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_midi)) for foobar2000 claims to support proprietary midi format MDS but I couldn't get it to play. — JYelton, Jun 30 '11 at 16:49
You should be able to play these files using win32 API. See this: http://home.roadrunner.com/~jgglatt/tech/stream.htm Also, here is code required to go from MIDI to MDS: http://databank.topip.net/Prg_Tool/Watcom%20C_C++%2011.0/SDK/SAMPLES/DIRECTX/MID2STRM/MID2STRM.C — Brad, Jun 30 '11 at 16:49

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 17 '11 at 16:54

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Download Foobar2000 and get the component that (Foo_Midi) that JYelton suggested,and then use Foobar2000 to convert it,worked perfectly for me.

.MDS midi files are indeed another old and rare file format used for old games.(I've seen it used in some eroge games too strangely enough.)

answered Sep 17 '11 at 16:54

Traze

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Thanks! Didn't know that it was possible to convert the files to GenMIDI by right clicking the title in the list. – Ray Sep 18 '11 at 08:04

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 10 '11 at 21:40

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There is a program called "Finale" that can convert .mds files into .mid files and vice-versa. The downside is that you have to pay for it but it does let you edit the notes inside the files

The link to the site is below:

http://www.finalemusic.com/default.aspx

edited Dec 10 '11 at 21:40

Peter O.

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answered Jul 07 '11 at 11:14

mystery-man

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Do you know where this feature is found in Finale? I installed the 2011 Demo version. – Ray Jul 08 '11 at 15:33

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 20 '11 at 16:43

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Also Winamp can if you change the extension into .rmi

answered Sep 20 '11 at 16:43

gd1

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How do I play .MDS (MIDI Stream) music files?

3 Answers3