mmidi - MidasPlus delegate for sending MIDI commands

NAME

MIDAS COMMAND SYNTAX

Command: delegate start midi mmidi [ -n name ]

DESCRIPTION

Mmidi is a MidasPlus delegate that outputs MIDI commands on SGI computers. To use a MIDI interface other than the default, give a MIDI interface name. The list of acceptable MIDI interface names is generated by the startmidi(1) UNIX command. A software MIDI sound synthesizer server, midisynth(1), comes with IRIX, but the packages, dmedia_eoe.sw.synth and dmedia_eoe.data.synth, are not installed by default. You can also use an external MIDI sound synthesizer by configuring a serial port for MIDI output. The standard way that mmidi is invoked is for the user to start a MIDAS session, and issue the MIDAS command

delegate start midi mmidi

which runs mmidi and tells MIDAS to pass commands beginning with midi through to mmidi for further processing. The complete set of commands that mmidi can handle are described in the COMMANDS section of this manual page.

EXAMPLE

A few typical uses of mmidi are demonstrated in this section.

Setting up

The first thing is to start the mmidi delegate with the command:

delegate start midi mmidi

You should receive a reply indicating the delegate started normally. After issuing the above command, all commands prefaced with midi will be handled by the mmidi delegate, while other commands will be processed by MIDAS.

Sending a minor chord

midi instrument 0 ReedOrgan
midi noteon 0 c4 127 0 e4@ 127 0 g4 127 0 c5 127

COMMANDS

When mmidi is acting as a delegate for MIDAS (as shown in the DESCRIPTION section), the user can give it commands by typing

midi mmidi_command

in the MIDAS command window. The list of commands is given below in alphabetical order. The arguments to any command may be repeated for multiple effects. There are 16 MIDI channels, 0 - 15. Several commands take a velocity argument; A approximate correspondence between velocity and volume is: 0 for off, 1 for ppp, 20 for pp, 40 for p, 60 for mp, 70 for mf, 90 for f, 110 for ff, and 127 for fff.

allnotesoff channel: Silence instrument on given MIDI channel.
channelpressure channel velocity: Set the ``aftertouch'' for all notes on a MIDI channel.
instrument channel instrument: Set the MIDI instrument for the given MIDI channel. instrument can be either a number, 0 - 127, or a General MIDI name. General MIDI names are: AcousticGrandPiano, BrightAcousticPiano, ElectricGrandPiano, Honky-tonkPiano, ElectricPiano1, ElectricPiano2, Harpsichord, Clavi, Celesta, Glockenspiel, MusicBox, Vibraphone, Marimba, Xylophone, TubularBells, Dulcimer, DrawbarOrgan, PercussiveOrgan, RockOrgan, ChurchOrgan, ReedOrgan, Accordion, Harmonica, TangoAccordion, AcousticGuitarNylon, AcousticGuitarSteel, ElectricGuitarJazz, ElectricGuitarClean, ElectricGuitarMuted, OverdrivenGuitar, DistortionGuitar, GuitarHarmonics, AcousticBass, ElectricBassFinger, ElectricBassPick, FretlessBass, SlapBass1, SlapBass2, SynthBass1, SynthBass2, Violin, Viola, Cello, Contrabass, TremoloStrings, PizzicatoStrings, OrchestralHarp, Timpani, StringEnsemble1, StringEnsemble2, SynthStrings1, SynthStrings2, ChoirAhhs, VoiceOohs, SynthVoice, OrchestraHit, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, MutedTrumpet, FrenchHorn, BrassSection, SynthBrass1, SynthBrass2, SopranoSax, AltoSax, TenorSax, BaritoneSax, Oboe, EnglishHorn, Bassoon, Clarinet, Piccolo, Flute, Recorder, PanFlute, BlownBottle, Shakuhachi, Whistle, Ocarina, Lead1Square, Lead2SawTooth, Lead3Calliope, Lead4Chiff, Lead5Charang, Lead6Voice, Lead7Fifths, Lead8Bass+Lead, Pad1NewAge, Pad2Warm, Pad3PolySynth, Pad4Choir, Pad5Bowed, Pad6Metallic, Pad7Halo, Pad8Sweep, FX1Rain, FX2Soundtrack, FX3Crystal, FX4Atmosphere, FX5Brightness, FX6Goblins, FX7Echoes, FX8Sci-Fi, Sitar, Banjo, Shamisen, Koto, Kalimba, Bagpipe, Fiddle, Shanai, TinkleBell, Agogo, SteelDrums, Woodblock, TaikoDrum, MelodicTom, SynthDrum, ReverseCymbal, GuitarFretNoise, BreathNoise, Seashore, BirdTweet, TelephoneRing, Helicopter, Applause, and Gunshot.
noteoff channel note velocity: See noteon below.
noteon channel note velocity: Send a start (stop) note command to the MIDI channel. The note can be either a number, 0 - 127, or a name: note names are a lowercase letter, a - g, followed by an octave number, 0 - 8, optionally followed by a # for sharp or an @ for flat (middle C is either 60 or c4). The velocity is an instrument-specific modifier: it usually modifies the attack volume/rate (decay volume/rate).
Note: some instruments do not respond to noteoff commands, you need to set a noteon command with a velocity of 0.
pan channel pan: Set the default stereo audio location for a given MIDI channel. pan ranges from 0 to 127: 0 means left stereo audio only, 127 means right stereo audio only.
pitchbend channel bend: Tweek the pitch of a given MIDI channel. The bend ranges from -8192 to 8191.
polyphonicpressure channel note velocity: Set the ``aftertouch'' for one note on a MIDI channel.
reset channel: Reset MIDI controller for given MIDI channel.
volume channel volume: Set the default volume, 0 - 127, for the given MIDI channel.

BUGS

Doesn't provide access to all of MIDI. In particular, no timing is supported.

AUTHOR

Gregory S. Couch
UCSF Computer Graphics Laboratory