You are here: irt.org | FOLDOC | Musical Instrument Digital Interface
<music, hardware, protocol, file format> (MIDI /mi'-dee/, /mee'-dee/) A hardware specification and protocol used to communicate note and effect information between synthesisers, computers, music keyboards, controllers, and other electronic music devices. It is basically a high-speed serial connection with separate connections for MIDI in, MIDI out and MIDI through (to allow devices to be chained).
The basic unit of information is a "note on/off" event which includes a note number (pitch) and key velocity (loudness). There are many other message types for events such as pitch bend, patch changes and synthesizer-specific events for loading new patches etc.
There is a file format for expressing MIDI data which is like a dump of data sent over a MIDI port.
The MIME type "audio/midi" isn't actually registered so it should probably be "audio/x-midi".
Filename extension: .mid or .midi
(http://update.uu.se/~vick/Coordinator.html).
Usenet newsgroups: news:comp.music.midi, news:alt.music.midi.
(1998-06-27)
Nearby terms: museum « MUSH « Music « Musical Instrument Digital Interface » Musicam » MuSimp » MUSL
FOLDOC, Topics, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, ?, ALL