Free MIDI
Royalty-free MIDI extracted from real, cleared recordings — a played performance you can edit, with a certificate per file.
95,288 cleared MIDI files on Selekt — and growing. The set on each page downloads free, no account.
Not just royalty-free — a step better. “Royalty-free” usually still means a license to read: paid-once access, no-resale clauses, or attribution in the fine print. Every file here is public domain or CC0 — royalty-free and free of every other term: no fees, no credit, nothing to clear. See the difference →
Hear what “MIDI from real audio” means
A is a cleared drum recording; B is the MIDI we extracted from it, played on a generic kit. The MIDI carries the groove — you bring the sounds.
Why does B sound plainer?
MIDI isn’t audio — it’s just the notes: which note, when, and how hard. Your browser plays them on a generic drum kit. Drop the same MIDI into your DAW with your own drum kit sound and it becomes whatever you want. A is the reference performance; B is the editable clay.
Open this sample →Browse free MIDI by instrument
Cleared MIDI vs. the alternatives
| Selekt free MIDI | Synthetic MIDI packs | Famous-song MIDI rips | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it comes from | Real cleared CC0 / public-domain recordings | Programmed on a grid | Traced off copyrighted records |
| Cleared to release | ✅ Certificate per file | ⚠️ Varies, often unclear | ❌ Infringes the composition |
| How it feels | Played — real velocity & timing | Often quantized and stiff | Played, but not yours to use |
| Editable in your DAW | ✅ Full MIDI | ✅ Full MIDI | ✅ — but legally radioactive |
Skip the converter
You could run an mp3 through an audio-to-MIDI converter and spend twenty minutes cleaning up ghost notes and octave errors. Or you could start from MIDI that's already extracted, already cleaned, and already cleared — pulled from isolated stems (which convert far better than a full mix) and checked against a copyright database. That's the whole point of this library: the work's done.
Free MIDI, answered
- Is this MIDI really free?
- The curated set on each instrument page downloads with no account and no catch — free to use in commercial releases, with nothing owed. They are a hand-pickable slice of a much larger cleared catalog; create a free account and start a free trial (credits included, no card) to download the rest.
- What makes Selekt MIDI different from a MIDI pack?
- Most MIDI packs are either programmed on a grid (stiff, quantized) or traced off copyrighted songs (a composition you can't legally release). Selekt's MIDI is transcribed from real, cleared CC0 and public-domain recordings — so it carries an actual played performance AND comes with a provenance certificate naming the source.
- Do I need to credit anyone?
- No. The source recordings are CC0 or public domain, so no attribution is required for the MIDI you download. The certificate names the source for your own records, not as an obligation.
- Can I edit, transpose, and re-voice these?
- That is the whole point of MIDI. It carries the notes, not the sound — drop a file into your DAW, transpose it, change the tempo with no quality loss, and play it through any instrument or drum kit you own. The audio is the reference take; the MIDI is the editable clay.
