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Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is an industry-standard electronic communications protocol that defines each musical note in an electronic musical instrument such as a synthesizer, precisely and concisely, allowing electronic musical instruments and computers to exchange data, or "talk", with each other. MIDI does not transmit audio - it simply transmits digital information about a music performance.
The MIDI Show Control (MSC) protocol (in the Real Time System Exclusive subset) is an industry standard ratified by the MIDI Manufacturers Association in 1991 which allows all types of media control devices to talk with each other and with computers to perform show control functions in live and canned entertainment applications. Just like musical MIDI (above), MSC does not transmit the actual show media - it simply transmits digital information about a multimedia performance.
Almost all music recordings today utilize MIDI as a key enabling technology for recording music. In addition, MIDI is also used to control hardware including recording devices as well as live performance equipment such as stage lights and effects pedals. Lately, MIDI has exploded onto the scene with its adoption into mobile phones. MIDI is used to play back the ringtones of MIDI capable phones. MIDI is also used to provide game music in some video games.
The MIDI standard was first proposed by Dave Smith in 1981 in a paper to the Audio Engineering Society and the MIDI Specification 1.0 was published in August 1983.
MIDI allows computers, synthesizers, sound cards, samplers and drum machines to control one another, and to exchange system information. Though modern computer sound cards are MIDI-compatible and capable of creating realistic instrument sounds, the fact that sound cards' MIDI synthesizers have historically produced sounds of dubious quality has tarnished the image of a computer as a MIDI instrument. In fact, the MIDI specification itself has nothing to do with the quality of sound produced - this varies depending on the quality of sound card and/or samples used.
MIDI is almost directly responsible for bringing an end to the "wall of synthesizers" phenomenon in 1970s-80s rock music concerts, when keyboard instrument performers were sometimes hidden behind banks of various instruments. Following the advent of MIDI, many synthesizers were released in rack-mount versions, enabling performers to control multiple instruments from a single keyboard. Another important effect of MIDI has been the development of hardware and computer-based sequencers, which can be used to record, edit and play back performances.
Synchronization of MIDI sequences is made possible by the use of MIDI timecode, an implementation of the SMPTE time code standard using MIDI messages, and MIDI timecode has become the standard for digital music synchronization.
A number of music file formats have been based on the MIDI bytestream. These formats are very compact; often a file of only 10 kilobytes can produce a full minute of music.
How MIDI works in a nutshell
How musical MIDI works
When a note is played on a MIDI-aware instrument, it transmits MIDI messages. A typical MIDI message sequence corresponding to a key being struck and released on a keyboard is:
1. the user started playing the middle C note, with the specified velocity (volume)
2. the user changed the force with which he is holding the key down (can be repeated, optional)
3. the user stopped playing the middle C note
Other performance parameters would also be transmitted. For example, if the pitch wheel were being turned, that information would also be transmitted using different MIDI messages. The musical instrument does this completely autonomously requiring only that the musician play a note (or do something else that generates MIDI messages).
All notes that a musical instrument is capable of playing are assigned specific MIDI messages according to what the note and octave are. For example, the Middle C note played on any MIDI compatible musical instrument will always transmit the same MIDI message from its 'MIDI Out' port. Which MIDI message and thus which binary digits will be transmitted upon playing of a certain note are defined in the MIDI specification and this comprises the core of the MIDI standard.
All MIDI compatible instruments follow the MIDI specification and thus transmit identical MIDI messages for identical MIDI events such as the playing of a certain note on the musical instrument. Since they follow a published standard, all MIDI instruments can communicate with and understand each other, as well as with computers which have been programmed to understand MIDI messages using MIDI-aware software. The MIDI interface, converts the current fluctuations transmitted by a MIDI musical instrument, into binary numbers that the receiving musical instrument or computer can process. All MIDI compatible instruments have a built-in MIDI interface. In addition, computer sound cards usually have a built-in MIDI interface - if not, it can be separately purchased as a card and easily installed.
How MIDI Show Control works
When any cue is called by a user (typically a Stage Manager) and/or preprogrammed timeline in a show control software application, the show controller transmits one or more Real Time System Exclusive messages from its 'MIDI Out' port. A typical MSC message sequence is:
1. the user just called a cue
2. the cue is for lighting device 3
3. the cue is number 45.8
4. the cue is in cue list 7
(For more details, please see MIDI Show Control on Wikipedia. The Link is at the end of this article - This section has been shortened.)
MIDI file formats
MIDI messages (along with timing information) can be collected and stored in a computer file system, in what is commonly called a MIDI file, or more formally, a Standard MIDI File (SMF). The SMF specification was developed by, and is maintained by, the MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA). MIDI files are typically created using desktop/laptop computer-based sequencing software (or sometimes a hardware-based MIDI instrument or workstation) that organizes MIDI messages into one or more parallel "tracks" for independent recording and editing. In most but not all sequencers, each track is assigned to a specific MIDI channel and/or a specific General MIDI instrument patch. Although most current MIDI sequencer software uses proprietary "session file" formats rather than SMF, almost all sequencers provide export or "Save As..." support for the SMF format.
An SMF consists of one header chunk and one or more track chunks. There are three SMF formats; the format is encoded in the file header. Format 0 contains a single track and represents a single song performance. Format 1 may contain any number of tracks, enabling preservation of the sequencer track structure, and also represents a single song performance. Format 2 may have any number of tracks, each representing a separate song performance. Format 2 is not commonly supported by sequencers nor commonly found in the wild.
Large collections of SMFs can be found on the web, most commonly with the extension .mid. These files are most frequently authored with the assumption that they will be played on General MIDI players, but not always. Occasional unintended bad-sounding playback is the result.
MIDI-Karaoke (which uses the ".kar" file extension) files are an "unofficial" extension of MIDI files, used to add synchronized lyrics to standard MIDI files. Most SMF players do not display these lyrics, however numerous .kar-specific players are available. These often display the lyrics synchronized with the music in "follow-the-bouncing-ball" fashion, essentially turning any PC into a Karaoke machine.
Note: ".kar" files can often be played by SMF players if the filename extension is changed to ".mid".
The MIDI Manufacturer's Association has now defined a new family of file formats, XMF (eXtensible Music File), some of which package SMF chunks with instrument data in DLS format (Downloadable Sounds, also an MMA specification), to much the same effect as MOD files. The XMF container is a binary format (not XML-based).
RMI File
On Microsoft Windows, the system itself uses RIFF-based MIDI file with .rmi extension.
From Wikipedia - to read more about midi files, go to the wikipedia midi page!
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