Free MIDI files are one of the best ways to learn Music production and arrangement. Whether you want to dissect some hip hop loops, or learn how to arrange different styles of music, Free MIDI files can be an awesome tool.
We’ll be looking at a list of our 25 favourite MIDI files, as well as the websites where you can download free midi files and midi packs. So sit back, relax and let’s jump into our favourite free MIDI files on the internet!
Contents
Electronica
- Mr Carmack – At Night
- 53 Thieves – What You Do To Me
- Sam Gellaitry – Ever After
- Redd Velvet Hyperpop Sample Pack
- Disclosure – You&Me (Flume Remix)
- Mura Masa – Suicide Blades
- ODESZA – Sun Models
Hip-Hop/Lo-Fi
- Purple Slush Zero – Royalty Free Lo-Fi Pack, MIDI & Serum Presets
- Sam Gellaitry – Sprinkles
- Dr Dre – Still Dre
- 2 Pac – California Love
- Eminem – Lose Yourself
EDM
- Deadmau5 – Deus Ex Machina
- Deadmau5 – Strobe
- Porter Robinson – Sad Machine
- Alan Walker – Alone
- Daft Punk – Around The World
Pop
- Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
- George Ezra – Budapest
- Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know
- Lily Allen – Funk you
- Pharell Williams – Happy
Trap
- Kaytranada – You
- Mr.Carmack – Pay For What
- Sam Gellaitry – Dreamscapes
- What So Not – Divide and Conquer
- RUFUS – Innerbloom (What So Not Remix)
Where Can I Get Free MIDI Files?
Getting Free MIDI Files is not hard at all, all you need are the right websites to look for them.
Our favorite websites on the internet to get professional MIDI files are BitMIDI, FreeMIDI, Carlo’s MIDI and Midis Free. Let’s look into these websites in a little more depth, starting off with…
BitMidi
Probably the most well known Free MIDI files website, BitMidi has loads of songs and files from a wide spectrum of genres and styles. Any genre, from electronic music, EDM, pop, rock, classical and jazz can be found on BitMidi and downloaded for free!
With a colossal library of over 100k free MIDI files made by the community, BitMidi offers easily one of the most versatile selections of free MIDI Files, anywhere.
On BitMidi you can find any genres you might want, whether that’s electronic music, rock, world music, or any other songs and genres.
In addition to this, you can also play the free MIDI file on the website, before downloading.
You don’t to register, or jump through any other hoops. And, lastly, there’s no limit on your downloads, so you can go wild and download as much as you want.
Check out BitMidi.com here.
FreeMidi
Offering a solid collection of 25,000 free MIDI files, FreeMidi isn’t as expansive as BitMidi, but it’s certainly got a lot to offer.
Since most professional MIDI files on FreeMidi were created for commercial projects, video game music, commercials etc. A lot of the files and genres on FreeMidi are ones you won’t find anywhere else.
In addition to this, a lot of electronic music, game music, dance, classical etc, can all be found on FreeMidi.
You can download any file as both an MP3 and a MIDI file. The MP3’s are directly converted from the MIDI source, and can also be played directly from the website, to see how it sounds before you download.
They also have a Request MIDI file section, in which you can request any free MIDI file that isn’t already on the website.
Check out FreeMidi.org here.
Carlo’s MIDI
Carlos MIDI is a free MIDI website run by one person: Carlos. And, he’s assembled a surprisingly huge number of files on his website.
From Artists like Daft Punk to Alan Walker, Carlos has created a large, high quality library of pop, dance and electronic hits, you can download right now
All of the downloads are completely free and don’t require an account or a purchase.
The “most downloaded” section is also a great way to find some fun new songs to get, and to see what the best MIDI files are before trawling through loads.
The MIDI files can also be played straight from the website, just like FreeMidi and BitMidi.
You can also subscribe to Carlos by paying a monthly fee, in order to get early access to any new MIDI files, as well as access to his discord and more.
Check out Carlo’s Midi Website here.
Midis Free
And last but not least, Midis Free is another huge collection of over 100,000 free MIDI files.
Midisfree.com exists as a one-stop-shop to all your MIDI needs, housing all of the available free MIDIS on the internet.
While there is an awesome selection of midi files on offer, it can sometimes be a bit difficult to find what you want.
Midis Free doesn’t have an option to browse MIDI files by genre. Instead opting for an alphabetical search, rather than names.
You can find anything from classical music, to dance hits and classic rock and roll song arrangements, but finding these can be a bit of a faff.
Although it’s a large curated list, you won’t be able to just click a button and see all the house MIDi files, or find any style of music you want. It’s an expansive list, but a little hard to browse.
Once you get used to this drawback, or you just know exactly what you’re looking for, Midis Free is an awesome source for both commercial and royalty free MIDI files.
Lastly, it needs to be mentioned that, while you don’t need an account to download any files on Midis Free, there is a 15 second wait time before your download starts.
Check out MIDIs Free here.
MIDI Files (Best Quality, But Costs)
Although not entirely free, you can request a free pack from MIDI Files. These are among some of the highest quality MIDI files that you will find online, which is why most of the content is paid.
Additionally, on MIDI Files, you’ll find MIDI of some of the most unique songs that you most likely won’t be able to find anywhere else.
On top of all this, they offer a service where you can ask them to convert your favorite song into separate MIDI files by request. This is incredibly useful for music producers trying to figure out the composition of their favorite songs, but who don’t have the full knowledge yet.
These MIDI files can then be studied to learn and understand how songs are put together.
We’ve personally spent hours dissecting tracks and creating the MIDI for them, so we know how hard it is to do. For a small price of 59.99 – 79.99 euros, this is an incredible deal to make use of.
Is MIDI Copyright Free?
To put it simply, if you change the original, into something completely different, and distinctly yours, you should be fine for copyright. If you copy melodies, bass lines, chord loops from these however, you might get some unwanted e-mails.
The actual law, behind MIDI copyright is a bit gray and undefined. In fact, any issues connected with copyright, are all based on what you do with the file. With most MIDI files being made by third-parties and without the consent of the artist, you can download free midi, but not release it.
Before diving deeper however, we need to lay down the two types of MIDI files.
Firstly, the MIDI files which are just chord progressions, drums, melodies etc, made to be sampled, and usually compiled in midi packs.
What you do with these is all up to you, since midi and sample packs are royalty free (If you paid for them).
The most popular types of MIDI files however, are recreations of popular songs.
This is where things can start to get dicey. Let’s say for example, you download a midi file of an old rock and roll song. If you exported that MIDI file, and just published it on Spotify, this would constitute a copyright violation.
While it doesn’t breach any mechanical copyrights, which pertain to the actual recording and master of the original, you would be violating their intellectual property copyright, which means, the arrangement, melodies and main core of the track.
With MIDI files that are made to recreate a popular song, your best bet is to learn and adapt, taking small bits and pieces from the file, to incorporate in your own music.
In fact, this is our favourite way of using MIDI files, as a way to sample an instrument or chord, from a song we like, to incorporate in our own music.
That being said, we are not legal consultants, and have no legal expertise when it comes to copyright issues.
While we can make suggestions, we cannot advise you on any obligations to copyright owners.
How Do I Play A MIDI File?
Here’s how you play a MIDI file:
Open your DAW with MIDI support, then open a new digital instrument or synthesizer. Next, drag and drop the MIDI on that channel. Finally, press play, and your MIDI will now play the instrument you have selected.
Most digital audio workstation’s come with instruments already pre-loaded, but there are always free VST synths and instruments you can get online.
Once you have a MIDI track open in your DAW, with an instrument loaded on it, it should be as simple as dragging and dropping the MIDI file onto your instrument channel.
MIDI files for popular songs will usually include more than one MIDI file, which would be labelled as “bass”, “chords”, “lead” etc.
To get the full arrangement working, you’ll need to assign instruments to each file.
If this is a bit much for you, and you’d rather just open a finished project, we have a great list on the best free Ableton Project Files.
How Do You Make MIDI Tracks?
To create a MIDI track:
Open your DAW, create a new MIDI channel, and then a new MIDI clip. Double click the MIDI clip and start drawing notes in. Once you’re done, you can right click the MIDI clip and export it as a MIDI file for later use.
If you’re struggling trying to work out how to re-create MIDI files of popular songs, there’s a great technique we use to dissect our favourite tracks.
We’ve used this technique to work out the chords & melody to:
Get your desired track, load it up in your DAW, and slow it down as far as you can go. This will allow you to hear the details of the track.
You then want to hum the melody and find the note you’re humming either on a piano or in your MIDI roll. This should be the top note of the chord.
All other notes for the chord will be below the top note, so now you’ll need to find a chord that has your found note, as it’s final note.
You can do this by humming the notes that aren’t there until it sounds right, or you can reference with something like our Piano Chord Poster, to find potential chord candidates.
Once you’ve found the first note’s chord, move onto the next and keep going until you’ve figured it out. This will take time, but it will be worth it, and you’ll learn a ridiculous amount doing so.
Finishing Up
Whether you’re looking to sample from your favourite track, or learn what Chords an artist used, MIDI tracks can be an extremely useful tool for both production and learning.
While you can download free midi, for nearly any popular song imaginable, whether it’s hip-hop, pop or dusbtep, you have to be wary of copyright, if you’ll be releasing music using these files.
Primarily however, MIDI files are one of the best ways to learn music production and arrangement. Whether you’re looking to create full songs, or aide your own music production, get some professional midi files today.
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Toms is a music producer & DJ, born and raised in Post Soviet Latvia. Currently based in Brighton, Toms has had over 6 years of experience with all things production and in that time, he’s done a tonne of cool stuff! He’s played multiple festivals, had experience in the field with mixing & mastering and even become a freelance journalist in the music industry.
Toms currently creates music under the alias Sovereign. Producing music that’s intimate and subtle, while full of edge and energy, the young producer combines the artistic sounds of Trip Hop artists like Massive Attack, with the energy and youthfulness of producers like Flume, Jamie XX and Yaeji. You can check his stuff on Soundcloud.
