Here are some MIDI files. I've chosen these particular files because they are good demonstrations of particular arranging techniques (especially in getting lifelike, "human" music out of MIDI gear), and/or provide useful raw material (such as drum beats) for creating your own MIDI arrangements. There are also files which contain useful system exclusive dumps (such as a file that loads a Roland D-70 with a General MIDI Patch Set and Drum Kit).

I separated the various MIDI files by musical style (ie, Pop Rock, Jazz, Orchestral, etc), or type where appropiate (ie, Drum Beats, SysEx Data files), to minimize searching for what you want.

Pop Rock
Popular (ie, melodic) modern ballads or uptempo rock music.

Heavy Metal
Heavy metal (uptempo, guitar-emphasized, usually with distortion) rock music.

Orchestral
Orchestral arrangements (classical, or otherwise).

Progressive Rock
Musically sophisticated rock music, often influenced by western classical or influences not often found in bland, popular music. My favorite. Anyone got any "Henry Cow" MIDI files?

Classical Small Ensemble
Western classical music for solo instruments or small ensembles (ie, chamber music).

Jazz
More sophisticated than rock, but generally more freeform (ie, improvised) and ultimately less complex compositionally than Progressive Rock.

1950's Rock and Roll
Rock and Roll music from the 1950's. Usually simplistic, three chord crap. I'm glad that I wasn't a teenager then.

Standards
Popular music circa 1930-1950, including Big Band arrangements.

Miscellaneous
Bluegrass, ethnic (ie, latin, polka), waltzes, marches, sound effects, etc.

Drum Beats
Drum beat (patterns) without any other instrumentation.

Data
System Exclusive dumps or files that setup equipment using MIDI controllers.

Additional Notes

Below each song title is a short description, as well as remarks about what I consider to be notable about the MIDI arrangement. I like to know something about a MIDI file other than just its name.

These MIDI files have been zipped (ie, compressed) in order to reduce storage space. After downloading, you must extract the MIDI file with an "unzip" utility.

I've personally edited each MIDI file to ensure that it is fully General MIDI compliant and has all of the MIDI controller messages needed to setup a GM module to play the file properly.

This Web Site is limited by size, so I don't intend to put lots of MIDI files here. There are other sites with many more files. What I'm aiming for is a collection of well-arranged MIDI files that show a variety of musical styles, so that a musician can get an idea of how to make his own arrangements sound good on a MIDI module.