MidiStation

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface and is a digital communication protocol. After the creation in August 1983 of MIDI 1.0 Specification every device that has MIDI capabilities must work with any other instrument that uses the same specification using the same data structures and formats.

This protocol is a language which allows connecting different instruments from different manufacturers and providing a link that is capable of transmitting and receiving digital data which encode different commands to which the other instrument must comply.

These commands are based on the MIDI specification and include a common language that provides information about events, such as note-on, note-off, velocity, timing information, System Exclusive (SysEx) and patch change.

MIDI information is transmitted through a MIDI cable that has DIN-type male plug connectors with five pins. Two of the pins are used to transfer digital binary information (MIDI Code). One of the pins issues a steady stream of five volts, while the other pin alternates between 5 volts and 0 volts to represent binary information (on and off). The third pin is a ground and the remaining two pins are currently not in use.

This serial interface was chosen by MIDI manufacturers because it is less expensive than a parallel interface and has longer range. The speed of a MIDI serial interface is 31,250 bits per second. 10 bits are needed for every MIDI digital word, therefore allowing the transmission of 3125 messages per second.

The demo application MidiStation was developed to be an easy-to-use program that shows all the features of the DirectMIDI wrapper class. You can change parameters like the MIDI port for output, select any GM instrument, change octaves, record your compositions and preview all notes and messages from an external keyboard or even play with the built-in MIDI keyboard.