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How To Make Music Animation Machine Videos To Upload To YouTube

The title of this page is a little misleading.

For one thing, the way I myself make the videos I post on YouTube (on the smalin channel) involves using software tools that either expensive (Adobe Premiere, Adobe Audition, Matlab, Microsoft Developer Studio, etc.) or that aren't available to the general public (custom software that I wrote), so I'm not going to be telling you how to duplicate my process (and, trust me, nobody in their right mind would want to anyway).

Furthermore, although other people have used the freeware version of my Music Animation Machine software (MAMPlayer) to make videos, I haven't done this myself, so I don't know the actual details of what they do.

That said, here are the steps, as best I understand them:

  • Get a MIDI file (see Where to Get MIDI FIles, below).
  • Generate an MP3 file from the MIDI file (see How to Generate an MP3 File from a MIDI File, below).
  • Download the MAMPlayer software.
  • Launch the MAMPlayer.
  • Open your MIDI file in the MAMPlayer.
  • Choose the display mode (e.g. BALLS).
  • Capture the MAMPlayer graphics (see How to Capture MAMPlayer Graphics, below).
  • Combine the MP3 file and the captured video file (see How to Assemble a Movie, below.
  • Upload the file to YouTube.

    • Where to Get MIDI Files

    If you are a musician and have the right hardware and software, you can made your own MIDI files; otherwise, you'll have to get them from somewhere else, such as:

  • Classical Archives
  • Kunst der Fuge
  • ... or just search the internet

    How to Generate an MP3 File from a MIDI File

    This can be done in, for example, Cubase.

    How to Capture MAMPlayer Graphics

    These programs can be used to capture MAMPlayer graphics:

  • Fraps
  • BB FlashBack
  • CamStudio
  • SnagIt

    How to Assemble a Movie

    There are lots of tools for assembling audio and video files into a movie; the only one I know about at the moment is this:

  • QuickTime Pro (note: the free non-Pro version won't do this)

    Get Help From Others

    On this page there's a list of videos people have made using the MAMPlayer. You might try asking them how they did it (and, if you learn something, drop me a note, and I'll add the how-to idea here).

    Help Others

    If there are parts of this process that you understand better that I do (which would not be surprising, since all I know is what's in the list of steps), or have suggestions for software other than what I've mentioned, please create a web page or a YouTube video with more detail, and I'll included a pointer to it here. Or, if it's something simple that I can add to this page, send me a note
















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