Black MIDI

Black MIDI is a music genre consisting of compositions that uses MIDI files to create a song remix containing a large number of notes, typically in the thousands or millions. People who make black MIDIs are known as blackers. Originating in Japan in 2009, Black MIDI spread to North America and Europe around 2011. The style was well-received by journalists and musicians, who praised the visuals used to represent black MIDI pieces, as well as the new, abstract sounds made by combining piano notes together.

The first of these tracks to reach the million-note mark was that of “Necrofantasia” from Kumikyoku Nico Nico Douga by TheTrustedComputer. The end of the title of many Black MIDI videos displays how many notes are in the piece. The amount of notes and file sizes that could be played back have grown with the rising amount of processing and 64-bit programs computers are able to handle, and while Black MIDIs of Japanese video game music and anime are still common, the genre has also begun spilling into modern-day pop songs, such as "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus. Despite this increased computer storage, there are still Black MIDI files that could cause an operating system to slow down. The two largest black MIDIs are "Armageddon v3" and "TheTrueEnd," both of which contain the maximum number of notes allowed in the MIDI standard (about 93 trillion). Due to the nature of their creation and their sheer size, they are unable to be played back and recorded.

English-language blackers have formed collaboration groups, such as the Black MIDI Team, where they make MIDI files and visuals together so they can be uploaded online sooner. Blackers around the world have used software such as Synthesia, FL Studio, SynthFont, Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard, Piano From Above, MIDITrail, vanBasco Karaoke Player, MIDIPlayer (Java program), MAMPlayer, Music Studio Producer, Singer Song Writer, Tom's MIDI Player, TMIDI, and Timidity++ to create Black MIDIs. Some of them, like Jason, record the MIDI files at a slow tempo and then speed the footage in video-editing to avoid RAM and processing issues.

The term "black MIDI" is derived from how there are so many notes that these types of compositions look nearly black on traditional sheet music. According to California-based blacker TheTrustedComputer, black MIDI was intended as more of a remix style than an actual genre, and derived from the idea of "bullet hell" shoot 'em up games, which involve "so many bullets at a time your eyes can't keep up." Black MIDI has also been considered the digital equivalent, as well as a response, to composer Conlon Nancarrow's use of the player piano which also involved experimenting with several thick notes to compose intricate pieces without hands. The Guide to Black MIDI, however, denies this influence: “We believe that references to Conlon Nancarrow and piano rolls are too deep and Black MIDI origins must be found in digital MIDI music world [sic]."

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