THE SIZE OF A MIDIFILE OR STYLE MEANS NOTHING FOR SOUND QUALITY

[♔Chello]

THE SIZE OF A MIDIFILE OR STYLE MEANS NOTHING FOR SOUND QUALITY

Over the years I've had many discussions about whether the size of a midifile (or style) has an impact on its sound quality.
I have always believed that size does NOT matter, but have not been able to prove this.

UNTIL NOW:
I conducted an experiment with Anvil Studio, where I opened a midi file, and checked its size in its original state.
Tested file is a GM format of 101 KB, and has unusually many active tracks - 21.
It has good sound quality, but this cannot be attributed to its size.
To prove this, I started deleting one by one track, to see how this affected the size.


   

   

   

The picture no. 3 clearly shows that the following tracks have little activity; tracks 1, 8, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 21.

If you compare this lack of activity with what picture no 2 shows, a clear correlation emerges:
Lack of activity means small size - when I deleted one by one, these have almost no impact on the size of the file.

Conclusion:
It is not the number of tracks that determines the size, but how active they are.
By studying the active tracks, it is clear that these - and only these - have a great impact on the size of the file.

Finally, I changed all tracks instruments several times, to see if this had any impact.
IT HADN'T - THE SIZE REMAINED UNCHANGED.

What tells us something about the sound quality is the number of split tracks - in this case the drums consist of 7 tracks, all of which are combined into one track in one style.
Then you are left with 6 other of the file's 14 other tracks you can use in a style, as a style can only contain 7 tracks (actually 8, because drums and percussion are merged into one).

Or?
No, not quite that many, because no track that has a melody line (MELODY) can be used in a style - only in Intros & Endings.


SUMMARY CONCLUSION:
Chasing midi or styles with the largest possible size serves no purpose, as this has no impact on its quality - it is the number of split tracks that determines this, and the number of split tracks has little impact on the final size.

The ideal midi file consists of 7-8 tracks, but can advantageously have many more split tracks, which finally aggregate into 7 tracks in the style.