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ahlstromcj / seq66

Seq66: Seq24-based live MIDI looper/editor. v. 0.99.14 2024-08-24. NSM support; Linux/Windows/FreeBSD; PDF manual & tutorial with Help access.
https://ahlstromcj.github.io/
GNU Free Documentation License v1.3
155 stars 13 forks source link

Extended MIDI Format / Type? #43

Closed mxmilkiib closed 1 year ago

mxmilkiib commented 3 years ago

There was talk in #lad about the information in "21.2 Proprietary Track Format". Maybe it's better not to call it "Proprietary" but something like "Extended"? Other MIDI players/sequencers could utilise it.

Edit: easy manual link https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ahlstromcj/seq66/master/doc/seq66-user-manual.pdf

ahlstromcj commented 3 years ago

Can you point me to the discussion with a link? Is that about the SeqSpec section?

http://www.shclemen.com/download/The%20Complete%20MIDI1.0%20Detailed%20Spec.pdf

Page 139 of that document discusses "Sequencer-Specific Meta-Event". These are bytes: FF 7F len data, where the first byte of data is the "manufacturer ID". For Seq24/32/64/66, the format is "FF 7F 08 24 24 00 nn dd dd dd dd" where "24" is, I guess the de facto manufacturer's ID, "nn" is one of Seq66's features (e.g. mutegroups), and "dd..." is the data. My understanding is that sequencers are supposed to ignore this item if they don't support it. However, I know from testing the Windows Media Player cannot handle or ignore that.

Anyway, I will either create a dev manual or a new section in the User's Manual that describes each of these "proprietary" items in enough detail to handle or ignore them. Thanks!

ahlstromcj commented 3 years ago

Actually, section 21 of the user's manual already has a section on the MIDI format. I will go through it and clarify it. Thanks!

ahlstromcj commented 3 years ago

"Proprietary" was used internally to name the SeqSpec (sequencer-specific) code in the MIDI file. I've rectified the PDF to avoid using that loaded word.

-------- Milkii Brewster 08:11 Sun 07 Mar --------

There was talk in #lad about the information in "21.2 Proprietary Track Format". Maybe it's better not to call it "Proprietary" but something like "Extended"? Other MIDI players/sequencers could utilise it.

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-- C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas l'Informatique. -- Bosquet [on seeing the IBM 4341]

mxmilkiib commented 3 years ago

Cool cool. I'm wondering also; if type 2 MIDI files are separate patterns playlisted into a song, but the documentation says type 1 with extra bits, though the experience of the app is like the type 2 format description, is it not then type 2 really? Or somewhere between the two?