< 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://www.update.uu.se/~vick/Coordinator.html .
Usenet newsgroups: news:comp.music.midi , news:alt.music.midi .
(1998-06-27)