What is MIDI? MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is a protocol that enables computers, synthesizers and electronic musical instruments to create and playback music. Unlike other methods of recording audio, MIDI does not capture, store or transmit actual sounds. Instead, MIDI uses computer code to describe the specific steps that a digital playback device must take to generate a specified sound via electronic synthesis. MIDI files are significantly smaller than other digital audio files (.wav,.au, aiff, etc.), which make them ideally suited for delivery on the web. In the Infinity project, we will be playing MIDI files on digital instruments that will run on the Infinity Technology Kit. How do I install MIDI tools? MIDI-OX and the MIDI Yoke driver are the tools that need to be installed on your PCs before running any of the MIDI VABs. These can be downloaded for free from www.midiox.com. The latest version of MIDI-OX available on the MIDI-OX website is MIDI-OX 7.0. This version of MIDI-OX is designed to work with Windows 95 or later. MIDI-OX is a multi-purpose tool. It can do a lot of operations on MIDI data streams, such as filtering and conversion. You will be using MIDI-OX mainly as a connection between a MIDI file and VAB. 1. MIDI-OX Installation: Download the MIDI-OX setup/installation file (MIDIOXSE.EXE) from the MIDI-OX website. Once this has been done you can proceed with the installation by running MIDIOXSE.EXE. It is a self-extracting archive that launches a normal Windows installation. Extensive help for the application is available in the MIDIOX.HLP file installed with and accessed from MIDI-OX. Note: The MIDI-OX installation program makes use of the latest version of the Windows Installer, which is not present on all Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, and 2000 machines. If your machine does not have the necessary version of the installer, a dialog box will interrupt the installation and inform you of this fact. To obtain the newest version of the installer, please visit the following websites: Windows 95, 98, ME: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?releaseid=32831 Windows NT, 2000: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?releaseid=32832 2. MIDI YOKE Driver Installation: As mentioned before, the MIDI Yoke driver is also one of the tools required for running the MIDI VAB s. It can be downloaded from the MIDI-OX website in a self-extracting executable file (no special software needed just run the file in question). IMPORTANT NOTE: There are two different versions of the MIDI Yoke driver, depending on which operating systems you re using. Attempting to use the wrong driver
may prevent MIDI Yoke from operating properly (if at all). The file names are as follows: Windows 95, 98 ME: midiyoke.exe Windows NT, 2000, XP: midiyokent.exe After downloading the appropriate file for your operating system, run the self-extracting executable. The program will then ask you to choose a folder in which to place the driver files. Accepting the default folder will cause the program to place the files in a newlycreated folder called myinst on the hard drive (typically C:), which is fine for most users. Once the driver files have been saved, you re ready to manually install the MIDI Yoke driver. To do so, follow the instructions below for your specific operating system (taken directly from the MIDI-OX website). Windows 95, Windows 98 Under Windows 95, install the MIDI Yoke Junction via the Control Panel 'Add New Hardware' applet. Answer 'No' to searching for hardware. Choose Sound, video and game controllers. Choose 'Have Disk'. Browse to the directory containing the installation files (MIDIYOKE.DRV and OEMSETUP.INF). Press OK. During installation a configuration dialog is presented. The dialog allows you to specify the number of MIDI Yoke ports that should be enabled, and the Feedback detection desired. You can also change the controller number used to detect feedback. You can access this dialog later on too, once the driver is installed, and the machine restarted. To do so, open the Control Panel Multimedia applet, choose the Advanced tab, expand 'MIDI devices and Instruments', double-click on any of the MIDI Yoke port connections, and press Settings. You can also remove the driver using this applet if need be. WARNING: There is a bug in Windows 95 that limits the total number of MIDI Ports to roughly 11. This total includes each MIDI Yoke port plus any other ports presented by other drivers, so set the number of MIDI Yoke ports such that the total number of MIDI ports is less than 11. If you exceed this amount it may prevent the driver from loading at bootup time. This has been fixed in Windows 98. Windows ME Under Windows ME, install the MIDI Yoke Junction via the Control Panel 'Add New Hardware' applet. After Windows forces an initial search, answer 'No, the device isn't in the list' and press [Next]. On the next screen, press 'No, I want to select the hardware from a list'. Press [Next]. Choose Sound, video and game controllers. Press [Next]. On the next screen press [Have Disk...]. Browse to the directory containing the installation files (MIDIYOKE.DRV and OEMSETUP.INF). Press OK.
During installation a configuration dialog is presented. The dialog allows you to specify the number of MIDI Yoke ports that should be enabled, and the Feedback detection desired. You can also change the controller number used to detect feedback. You can access this dialog later on too, once the driver is installed, and the machine restarted. To do so, open the Control Panel Sounds and Multimedia applet, choose the Advanced tab, expand 'MIDI devices and Instruments', double-click on any of the MIDI Yoke port connections, and press Settings... You can also remove the driver using this applet if need be. Windows NT Under Windows NT, use the Control Panel Multimedia Applet to install MIDI Yoke NT. Select the Advanced tab, highlight the MIDI Devices and Instruments section, and press Add. Choose Unlisted or Updated driver, and browse to the directory containing the drivers (myokent.dll and oemsetup.inf). Select the MIDI Yoke NT driver from the list. Make sure you don't leave an expanded MYOKENT.DLL in your MIDI-OX directory: If Windows NT finds this file it attempts to load it instead of the system one, and anomalies result. It's perfectly okay to leave the compressed version in your MIDI-OX directory (MYOKENT.DL_) There is a bug under Windows NT 4.0 installer that can sometimes steal the MIDI driver numbers from an already installed driver. If this happens to you, re-install the other driver and then try using the auto-installer for Windows NT 4.0: MYNTAuto.exe (Editor s note: this file is available from the MIDI-OX website.) Windows 2000 Under Windows 2000, use the Control Panel Add/Remove Hardware to install MIDI Yoke NT. Click Next... Choose (*) Add/Troubleshoot. Click Next... Choose Add a new Device. Click Next... Choose (*) No, I want to select the Hardware from a list. Choose Sound, Video and Game Controllers. Click Next... Press [Have Disk]. Browse to the directory containing the drivers (myokent.dll and oemsetup.inf). Select the MIDI Yoke NT driver from the list. Make sure you don't leave an expanded MYOKENT.DLL in your MIDI-OX directory: If Windows NT finds this file it attempts to load it instead of the system one, and anomalies result. It's perfectly okay to leave the compressed version in your MIDI-OX directory (MYOKENT.DL_). Windows XP The good news is that MIDI Yoke NT driver will work in Windows XP (Professional and Home Edition). The installation is similar to Windows 2000. How do I download MIDI files from the Internet? There are numerous websites, such as www.mididb.com, offering free MIDI files for download. A quick Google search on MIDI yields literally millions of sites, so there are many possible sources for these files. As with any type of website, these sites may vary in quality and selection, so you re encouraged to look around and choose your personal favorite.
What do I need to do to run the MIDI VABs? 1. Open the MIDIBar program (click on Start Programs MIDI-OX MIDI BAR ). 2. Now click the second button from the left on the MIDI BAR. This lets you select the MCI port that you would want to use for the MIDI file. Port selection button Select any one of the listed MIDI ports. (Note: depending on your operating system, you may have a different number of ports than what is shown in the above diagram. This is just fine, since we usually only deal with one MIDI file at a time.) 3. Now click on the Open File button (third from the left on the MIDIBar). This lets you select the MIDI file you want to play. You and your students can download MIDI files from the Internet by following the instructions above. Select the required file and PLAY it by clicking on the PLAY button.
Open File button 4. Now open any of the VAB designs that play MIDI files. For example, let s try the MIDI Player in Chapter 2 (L02-05-02 Building the Sinusoidal MIDI Player Test.Lst). Find and open this file in VAB.
5. Once the MIDI Player worksheet is open, double-click on the Midi In block and select the port. This port should be the same as the MCI port you selected on the MIDIBar. After choosing the correct port, click OK to close the dialog box. MIDI In block 6. Click the Play button on the MIDIBar (fourth button from the left). Play button 7. Click the Run button in VAB. You should hear the music from the selected MIDI file.