Introduction
Standard MIDI files (SMF) are small files that doesn't contain any sound. Instead they contain commands that instructs a synthesizer when and what to play. MIDI files comes in two main formats known as format 0 and 1. Format 0 contains one track with multiple MIDI channels, format 1 contains several tracks with each track having its own MIDI Channel.

MIDI format conversion
Sometimes you might want to convert from one format to another. As an example many hardware MIDI players only reads format 0 files. You can use Sweet MIDI Converter to convert all your format 1 files into format 0 files in a matter of seconds.

Convert MIDI files into Wave/Aiff or MP3 files
It's also possible to convert a MIDI file into a wave/aiff or mp3 file. Many software that allows this, playback the MIDI file in real-time and then record what is played and save it as an audio file. On the contrary, Sweet MIDI Converter reads the file and converts it into an audio file as fast as your computers is capable. This is made possible by using QuickTime and for mp3 files by using the free Lame MP3 encoder.

How to use Sweet MIDI converter?
1. Add the files you want to convert by clicking on the "Add files" icon on the toolbar
2. Select the output format with the popup menu bottom right.
3. Decide if you want to store the converted files in the same folder as the original - if so, enable the "Save files in source folder" item.
4. If you want to store the converted files in a separate folder, select that folder by clicking the "Browse..." button.
5. Decide if you want to overwrite older files with the same name - if not, disable the "Overwrite existing files" check box.
5. Click the "Save" icon and let the program do it's work

Miscellaneous
By clicking on the column header in the file list you can sort the file according to the their MIDI file format. This way you can easily remove files in unwanted format before conversion.

Additional information
Keep in mind that Aiff/Wave files take up a lot of hard drive space. Each minute of music requires approximately 10 Mb of storage space. 10 minutes = 100 Mb, 20 minutes = 200 Mb, etc.

About MP3 encoding

Many people think that the MP3 standard is free and open but it's not. Fraunhofer Institute has been one of many developers of MPEG audio Layer-3, and the MP3 standard that has been approved, is based on this work. Unfortunately Fraunhofer has protected the MP3 standard with a patent. For software encoders, freely distributed or not, the royalties are about $5 US per encoder.

This means, that if Sweet MIDI Converter should have a built in MP3 encoder with good audio quality, the price would be $5 US higher.

But, there exist free alternatives! The easiest way to make MP3’s with Sweet MIDI Converter is to install an encoder such as the Lame encoder.

Here is a site where you may download the needed encoder www.geocities.com/ragedwolf123/now.htm

Follow the directions in the downloaded file and you will have a high quality MP3 encoder that works with Sweet MIDI Converter.

The Mac version of Sweet MIDI Converter also supports the free Lame framework (both PPC and Intel Mac's):
http://www.ktunes.net/wiki/index.php/Lame

Here is the official Lame MP3 encoder web site: lame.sourceforge.net/

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