Sample packs with MIDI: what the extra money actually buys

Two packs, the same number of files, the same genre. One is audio only. The other adds MIDI and presets and costs half as much again. The price gap is real and consistent across shops. The question is what you get for it.

What audio alone gives you

A finished decision. Someone chose the notes, the sound, the processing and the mix, and printed all of it into one file. You can chop it, pitch it, filter it and layer it, but you cannot undo any of those choices.

That is exactly what you want when a sound is already right. It is frustrating when it is nearly right.

What the MIDI file adds

The notes, separated from the sound. With the MIDI you can:

• keep the groove and change the chord;
• keep the melody and play it on your own instrument;
• move it into your key instead of pitching audio until it wobbles;
• see how the part was built, which is worth something on its own.

MIDI on its own barely sells. On Splice it is around half a percent of downloads. As part of a pack, it changes what the pack is: a reference you can take apart rather than a file you can only place.

What the preset adds

The sound, separated from the notes. Same idea, other direction. With the preset you keep the character and play whatever you want through it.

Together, MIDI and preset give you the thing the audio file cannot: the same sound at a different note, and the same note with a different sound.

When it is not worth paying for

Three honest cases.

• You do not have the synth. A Serum 2 preset is dead weight without Serum 2. Check before you buy, not after.
• You want texture, not parts. Field recordings, noise, room tone, foley: there is no MIDI to give and none to want.
• You work fast and finish fast. If you place a loop and move on, the extra files are folders you will never open.

How to tell whether a pack really has it

"MIDI included" on a page can mean two very different things.

One MIDI file per musical idea is the real version: every loop has its notes next to it, named the same way, so the pair is obvious.

A folder of loose MIDI that does not match the audio is padding. It bumps the file count and helps nobody.

Look at the counted contents. If a pack lists 40 loops and 40 MIDI files, they are paired. If it lists 40 loops and 12 MIDI files, ask which twelve.

The short version

You are paying for the ability to change your mind later. If you never change your mind, buy the audio. If you do, the same money spent on audio alone buys you a smaller set of finished decisions.

Our packs put the audio, the MIDI and the Serum 2 presets in one download, paired file by file, because that is how we use them ourselves.