MIDI Documentation

• USENET MIDI Primer (28K, 1989)

  This gets into the more technical workings of MIDI, including electrical specifications data message structure.

• Tutorial on MIDI and Music Synthesis (108K)

  This tutorial covers the basics of MIDI systems and MIDI messages, but it also gets into synthesizer technology and terminology, focusing on wavetable and sample based synths (accompanied by pictures and diagrams). There is also some discussion of using PCs with MIDI and windows configuration.

• A Beginner's Guide to MIDI
• MIDI Technical Fanatic's Brainwashing Center

  Tutorials covering a variety of topics.

The MIDI Specification

The MIDI specification is published and maintained by the MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA). The MMA was formed in 1984 as a "trust" to keep and enhance the MIDI specification so that no one company would have control. Comprised of over one hundred hardware and software companies from both the computer and music industries, the MMA provides commercial members with a forum for discussion and ratification of proposals aimed at improving and standardizing the capabilities and marketability of MIDI-based products.

While the use of MIDI and implementation of the specification(s) is available to anyone without restriction, the official document which describes the complete MIDI specification is a copyrighted work of the MMA and not available on any BBS or WWW site. The MMA Complete MIDI Detailed Specification details all of the approved MIDI messages and recommended practices including: General MIDI, Standard MIDI files, MIDI Show Control, MIDI Machine Control, and MIDI Time Code.

The complete document is available in the US through the MMA. Instructions for ordering the Complete MIDI Detailed Specification, and for joining the MMA (membership is only open to commercial ventures) can be found on the MMA WWW site at http://www.midi.org/. The Interactive Audio Special Interest Group (IASIG), a group supervised by the MMA, is open to anyone who produces music or sound tracks, and can be found at http://www.iasig.org/.

Here are some of the charts from the specification. If your browser doesn't support tables, you should view the plain text versions of these files.

• Table 1: Summary of MIDI Status & Data Bytes - Plain Text
• Table 2: Summary of MIDI Note Numbers for Different Octaves - Plain Text
• Table 3: Status Bytes 176-191; Control and Mode Changes - Plain Text
• Table 4: MIDI 1.0 Specification Message Summary - Plain Text

Other Files

• Hinton Instruments

  Has prepared some pages covering the MIDI spec and various messages used.

• BNF for MIDI 4K
• MIDI Wind Controllers FAQ (83K)

  Explains what wind controllers are, what kinds are available, and using them with synths.