Talk:MIDI

Early PC games

זור987 wants to include CD-ROM as a motivator for using MIDI for game music. I think this is unnecessary and we should stay focused on the earliest motivators. Sure there are CD-ROM games with MIDI music. There are also CD-ROM games with PCM music. AFAIK, there were not floppy games with PCM music. ~Kvng (talk) 18:16, 10 August 2022 (UTC)

It seems counterintuitive to call CD-ROMs a motivator for MIDI. I'd have to see a reliable source on that. My limited knowledge on the subject would suggest CD-ROMs were a motivator AWAY from MIDI due to having over 500x more data space, plus the potential for music tracks in hybrid CD-ROMs. Jtrevor99 (talk) 03:18, 11 August 2022 (UTC)

Most video games that used MIDI that I know of existance, has been distributed on CD-ROM, like Doom, Quake, Sonic & Knuckles collection, etc... זור987 (talk) 05:51, 11 August 2022 (UTC)

None of this matters if no one can produce a reliable source for the claim. Popcornfud (talk) 09:09, 11 August 2022 (UTC)

Yes, but that is because most of those games originally were distributed on floppy disk, and when redistributed on CD-ROM later, were not converted to a different format. Jtrevor99 (talk) 13:49, 11 August 2022 (UTC)

For instance, the popular Leisure Suit Larry games used MIDI for game music, the third installment (1989) of the series contained a larger repertoire of MIDI music, the 2nd installment contained MIDI music here and there. The first four installments were floppy games. The PC versions (floppy games) used MIDI music for the game's music. The Amiga version of Leisure Suit Larry 5 (4th installment, 1991) offered an ingame option to link MIDI instruments (professional or semi-professional internal expansion/sound cards available for the bigger Amiga models like the A2000, or to connect external modules or instruments by using an external MIDI-interface on the A500). I think it's safe to say that 99% of the game music tracks in AMIGA and ATARI floppy games used PCM samples to create the game music.

Even though the first 8-Bit sample trackers became really popular on the AMIGA 500/1000 (due to its versatile audio chip), and even though the ATARI ST's built-in MIDI interface enabled amateurs, semi-professional and professional producers to run affordable MIDI-sequencer setups or MIDI trackers on computers mainly designed for entertainment/gaming, MIDI game music only took off on IBM-compatible PCs, as PC soundcards with MIDI wavetables became halfway affordable/the industry standard. The first Star-Wars game to be released as CD-ROM-only game for PC was "Star Wars: Rebel Assault". While the game was rather a playable movie (rail shooter) that was packed with rendered cut scenes and full-motion video, it also pushed sales of CD-ROM drives for PCs (1993). DSP processors in consoles like the 3DO, SNES, CD-i, CD-32 and others processed 8- or 16-Bit (PCM) samples, which made the use of MIDI wavetables/music obsolete, as sample-based arrangements allowed for way more creativity/more varied arrangements. On the IBM-PC, the MIDI game music era started to fade with the appearance of decent/affordable 16-Bit soundcards and with games making use of larger audio samples or scores stored on CD-ROMs, MIDI game music then became a rarely used alternative music option for PCs with older soundcards. The extensive use of large audio-CD tracks in the Star Wars game allowed the developer to include entire orchestral music audio tracks as game music, which sometimes even changed according to the player's progress in the game (a prime example of early adaptive game music). So, there were PC floppy (and CD-ROM) games with MIDI music, but the vast majority of floppy games on non-IBM-PC gaming computers and cartridge games on consoles used integrated tracker engines using (mostly) 8-bit samples (or even 16-Bit samples later on) in the pre-CD-ROM era, the introduction of CD-ROM drives (PCs and consoles) then even offered space for high-quality instrument/music PCM samples or entire audio scores, where then either an integrated tracker (a programmable sample player, the precursor of modern sequencers) or a regular audio player would play the game music. GeeGee (talk) 20:41, 22 January 2023 (UTC)

Musical Instruments-Only Digital Interface still in the version 2?

Does the recent MIDI 2.0 standard have the capability to include and control not just digital musical instruments but also digitally generated singing (e.g. Vocaloid, Cevio)? Considering the large role of japanese electronic industry in MIDI standardization it would make sense, since the formant synthesis based digital singing is mainly a japanese (especially Yamaha) phenomenon. The article says nothing about it, so maybe it could be clarified. 158.88.16.2 (talk) 15:39, 15 September 2022 (UTC)

Changes to MIDI

I decided to rearrange the wording in the MIDI definition section. The wording was way too technical that most likely people who are new to understanding or are currently learning about it would not understand. I tried my best to keep all the citations necessary in that section and I also decided to add a new section. Recording before MIDI for some odd reason. Other than that the entire article should be changed to where people who are looking at this would understand. At the moment there are a select group of people who would understand it. It doesn't have to be too technical but just technical enough for people to understand what this is and be able to apply it. Eshaywood1 (talk) 22:45, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

Adding information into MIDI 2.0

I decided to add in two subheadings or just headings under MIDI. I added in the Universal Packet because it is important to know how many bits are being used and interchanged throughout making the music. I also added in more information on the Property exchange. Property exchange is what allows the information to do what it needs to do. I allows the technology to read through other technology so that its is easier to communicate with one another. The sources used come from the association themselves so that should be a viable source since it is coming from them. I added the same cite where I put information and I also did my best to give a example. Eshaywood1 (talk) 21:54, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

Idea of MIDI

In every interview made to David Smith he says the idea was floating around in the industry at the time and even in one he tells he spearheaded the MIDI concept. This article seems to suggest it was Kakehashi who originated the idea so I wonder what's the truth. Gonna search for patents and in google scholar for similar concepts to see how innovative the idea really was. Mirad1000 (talk) 13:10, 17 January 2023 (UTC)

Synth_rack_@_Choking_Sun_Studio.jpg

Why are you using that horribly blurred image (Synth_rack_@_Choking_Sun_Studio.jpg)? It's completely unacceptable. Use *anything* else than that (as long as it's in focus, and is something to do with MIDI). 2601:600:8500:6A40:55CD:E3E9:F648:C8DF (talk) 07:53, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

There is a focus issue but not noticeable until you expand the image. I think "horribly blurred" is an exaggeration. But, if anyone has a specific replacement suggestion, go ahead and post it here. ~Kvng (talk) 17:10, 10 February 2023 (UTC)

Agreed - it's not blurry at all until expanded. Rather than expect others to change something you don't like, it is far more constructive to change it yourself. Jtrevor99 (talk) 18:07, 10 February 2023 (UTC)

I made a few changes to /* Technical specifications */ & simplified images

I was bothered by the original schematic. So I did some thought and tweaking and made a much more simplified one, that doesn't bother with particularities of the connector (cause really now can use either DIN or TRS and only 3 pins are important, which I'm calling "Hot" (H), "Cold" (C), and "Shield" (S) for ease of abbreviating), doesn't bother with diode or opto-isolator part numbers, and doesn't bother with particular voltage values (e.g. can use 3.3 V instead of 5 V) or resistor values (which will depend on voltages), and moved technical specific details into footnotes.

Similarly I changed the GM Drum Map to be much more space efficient. And I made a few other simplifications. For instance, TRS has been part of the standard for five years (added in 2018 and now it is end of 2023), so I incorporated that a little better. I will avoid doing edits for the next week or so to let this page settle if others want to tweak/review. Em3rgent0rdr (talk) 19:57, 14 December 2023 (UTC)