Repeating phrases from MIDI songs

SaMuGeD Earworms

From a song to a repeating phrase
Hear the notes, see the rhythm and try the MIDI in your music app.

What is this, and how can I use it?

How it works

MIDI stores notes, not a recording. These loops are rendered from those notes. Repetition alone does not prove catchiness.

Schism · Tool
Download the notes

A short passage from the source MIDI. Repeated phrases are marked.

Higher notes ↑BassDrums

Press Play to hear the notes repeat.

DatasetTop 50 analyticsCode and methodResearch note PDF

Selected examples This player shows a limited listening demo. Browse the full MIDI phrase dataset ↗. Extra Tool examples are demo supplements.

Waveform of one complete cycle.

Loop details and downloads
WAVFLACLoop MIDIDetector MIDI

Source and loop construction

Render metadata

1865 playable loops · 95,077 dataset phrases · 48 kHz stereo audio

MIDI instrument renders preserve source notes, velocities, tempo and programs. Measured or meter padded cycles may extend beyond the detector excerpt. Repeated rendering carries reverb and note releases across the loop boundary. These are not commercial recordings.

Published recognition and involuntary musical imagery studies support familiar song labels, not these exact fragments. Selections combine documented curation and MIDI recurrence. Search limits and source naming errors affect results. No listener ratings were collected.

Lakh states CC BY 4.0 with incomplete MIDI attribution, PDMX scores state CC BY 4.0 with public domain declarations and MAESTRO performances CC BY NC SA 4.0. No independent clearance of underlying compositions or arrangements is claimed. The code uses MIT. Audio uses FluidSynth with FluidR3 GM. Labelled piano previews change only the instrument timbre. The interface uses Inter under the SIL Open Font License. The Adamas wordmark is by Colorblind. SoundFont license · Interface font license · Wordmark license. Downloaded MIDI and WAV cycles can be imported into a DAW, set the project tempo to the displayed value and repeat the complete cycle.