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--------------------------------------------------------- Over the last few years the Standard MIDI File format has undergone several revisions and, not surprisingly, this has led to some confusion amongst both programmers and MIDI File users. In this first part of a two-part article Paul Overaa examines the current standard in detail ! --------------------------------------------------------- Standard MIDI Files (often called SMF files) are used primarily to transfer time-stamped MIDI data between different software packages. These files have been around for quite a time and those of you who are established 'MIDI- ites' will no doubt remember the many early MIDI programs (such as Opcode's Sequencer 2.5, Intelligent Music's Jam Factory and Steinburg's Pro 24) which were quick to lend their support to the idea of such a common, portable, file format. Today a great many software packages provide some level of MIDI file support. Unfortunately things have gone less than smoothly on the MIDI file development front. To start with the file format initially proposed was limited to just a single stream of MIDI data. This was felt by many to be too restrictive but nowadays, the MIDI File standard, under the control of the International MIDI Association, has grown to allow track information, multiple streams, sequencer specific messages, and a host of other new event types. The penalty we've had to pay for these new benefits is that the standard has changed significantly from that which was originally proposed. It is obvious from the questions we get asked about MIDI files that most MIDI users and ST programmers are not aware of exactly how the MIDI File specification has changed. In this two-part mini-series we'll attempt to put this right... firstly by looking at the MIDI File standard itself, and secondly by looking at some of the programming tricks needed to interpret the contents of such files. At the highest level MIDI Files consist of identifiable blocks of data called 'chunks'. Each chunk consists of a 4 character identifier followed by a 32 bit number which specifies the byte-length of the data held in the chunk, ie all chunks adopt this type of arrangement... Chunk <chunk-identifier> <chunk-size> <actual chunk data> 4 Bytes 4 Bytes chunk-size bytes At the moment only two types of chunks are defined: Header chunks which have a 'MThd' identifier, and track chunks which have a 'MTrk' identifier. It is however highly likely that new chunk types will come into existence in years to come... so any programs which read SMF files have to assume that they WILL, one day, come across chunks which they cannot interpret. The idea then, if you are writing your own software, is to write programs which look at the chunk identifiers and skip over any chunks that cannot be recognised. It's easy to do and we'll look at some typical chunk reading code next month ! The idea of files consisting of identifiable chunks which may be used or skipped over is similar to that used by Electronic Art's IFF format. There are however a couple of important differences: Firstly, the SMF arrangement does NOT support the idea of nested chunks - so the SMF read/write routines are much simpler than the equivalent IFF routines. Secondly, SMF chunks are not padded to an even number of bytes like IFF files. To be honest it would have been better for 68000 programmers if they were because if the first chunk in memory started word-aligned then all subsequent chunks would then also be word-aligned. Why would that help ? It's because it leads to tidier code based on the adoption of structure based chunk access to all SMF chunks. As it is you can use some structure based code, but you do have to be careful to avoid inadvertently causing 68000 addressing errors. Overall Chunk Arrangements -------------------------- At the moment the two chunk types (Header and Track chunks) can be arranged in three ways, and this leads to three types of MIDI files: Format 0 type files contain a header chunk followed by a single track chunk - It's the simplest and most portable of all the MIDI file arrangements and is used for storing a sequence as a single stream of MIDI file events. Format 1 type files allow multiple simultaneous track sequences to be handled. Such files will contain a header chunk followed by any number of separate track chunks. Format 2 files allow sets of independent sequences to be stored. A sequencer might save the individual sequences (intro, verse, chorus etc.) which make up a complete song as a single format 2 type MIDI file. Figure 1 shows the differences between these files types graphically. ++++++++ header chunk ******** track chunk +++++++++++++ +++++++++++++ *** Trk 1 *** *** Trk 1 *** *** Trk 2 *** *** Trk 3 *** Type 0 files hold Type 1 files hold chunks of a single track parallel track information. of sequence data. +++++++++++... *** Seq 1***... *** Seq 2 ***... *** Seq 3 *** etc. Type 2 files can handle sets of independent sequences by treating each track chunk as a separate sequence. Figure 1: Three types of MIDI files are currently supported. The standard guarantees that all SMF files will start with a header chunk, and that even if this header chunk is extended existing fields will not be re-arranged. Programs can therefore assume that even though they may find header chunks larger than they anticipated the fields defined to-date will remain in the same relative positions. Header Chunks ------------- As we've said, the 'MThd' header chunk is always the first chunk in a MIDI file. Like all chunks these start with the identifier followed by four bytes which specify the chunk's size. Current header chunks have six bytes of data... the first word gives the file format (0,1, or 2), the second word tells you how many track chunks are present in the file, and the last word contains timing division information. The contents therefore take this form... 4 Bytes 'MThd' identifier 4 Bytes Byte size of following data (currently 6) 2 Bytes MIDI file type (0, 1 or 2) 2 Bytes Number of Tracks (always 1 for file type 0) 2 Bytes Division information Interpretation-wise the only tricky item is the 'division' field because it's contents and format may vary. If bit 15, ie the most significant bit, is zero then bits 14-0 give a 15 bit number which specifies how many delta-time ticks make up a crotchet... bit 15 bit 14 -------------------- bit 0 0 Ticks per crotchet If bit 15 is set to 1 it indicates that a time-code based time is being specified. In this case bits 14-8 give a negative number (two's complement) representing one of the four SMPTE or MIDI Timecode formats... -24,-25, -29 (used for 30 drop frame) or -30. The second byte gives the resolution within the frame with typical values being 4, 8, 10, 80 or 100... bit 15 bit 14 -- bit 8 bit 7 -- bit 0 1 Negative of the Resolution SMPTE format Track Chunks ------------ These consist of a 4 byte Track chunk identifier 'MTrk', a 32 bit length field which tells you how much data the chunk contains, and one or more Mtrk 'events'. The events themselves take a standardised form which starts with a time field that specifies the amount of time which should pass before the specified event occurs. These time fields, which are an integral part of the syntax of a MIDI file event are called 'delta times'. Like several MIDI file items these values are stored in a variable length format containing 7 real bits per byte. The most significant bit (bit 7) is used to indicate either the continuation, or the end, of the number... 1st Byte 2nd Byte.... n'th Byte 1xxx xxxx 1xxx xxxx... 0xxx xxxx ^ ^ ^ | | | | | indicates the last byte of the number indicates that more bytes are to follow Using this arrangement, inter-event times which are less than 128 (usually the majority of delta-times) can be stored in a single byte. The number 127 for example can be stored simply as binary 0111 1111. Once we get above 127 we need more bytes to store the number. The variable length format can, if you're not used to it, seem awkward to decode so here is an example using the number 128 decimal to show how it's done... Basically we take the binary form of the number, peel off bits seven at a time, and then push each group of seven bits into an eight bit (ie 1 byte) arrangement. Once a suitable number of bytes have been formed (and the MIDI spec now specifies that a maximum of 4 bytes only may be used to represent delta-times) we set the high bits in every byte except the last one... Decimal number 128 Hex form 80 Binary representation 1 000 0000 7 bits per byte form 0000 0001 0000 0000 indicator bits ^ ^ | | set this keep this bit high bit clear Final binary form 1000 0001 0000 0000 Hex equivalent 81 hex 00 The number 128 decimal is therefore stored (most significant byte first) as two bytes... 81 hex followed by 00 hex. MIDI File events themselves can be one of three types: 1: MIDI Events -------------- Nowadays these are defined as being any MIDI channel message. By definition this means that MIDI files can only contain channel voice or channel mode MIDI messages. In this respect the standard has changed because the early (pre IMA) MIDI file standard used to allow storage of both channel messages and system common messages. 2: SYSEX Events --------------- Normal SYSEX messages use a modified form which includes an additional length, ie byte-count, field (stored as a variable length number)... SYSEX Event1 <F0 hex> <length> <data bytes> If the SYSEX message is sent as a single packet then the last data byte should be the EOX (F7 hex) SYSEX terminator. This may appear to be unnecessary since a SYSEX message length field is also included. In the original MIDI File standard it was indeed unnecessary and the terminal F7 byte was not required. The reason that the F7 terminator has been re-introduced is that a new MIDI file SYSEX message has been devised which allows large SYSEX messages to be broken up into time-stamped packets. The new message actually starts with the F7 hex terminator and takes this general form... SYSEX Event2 <F7> <length> <data bytes> If you want to split a SYSEX message up into time-stamped packets you can do it by using the F0 form for the first data packet, and F7 forms for any subsequent packets. The last data byte of the last packet of information containing a 'real' terminal F7 hex data byte. There is no requirement within the current MIDI File Standard for this second message type to include an initial F0 hex SYSEX status byte. This means that it is permissible for non-legal MIDI file MIDI Messages, such as Song Select, Song Position Pointer, real-time or MTC messages, to be embedded within this latter form of SYSEX message. To be honest this is an area of the standard that could lead to a number of compatibility problems. 3: Meta Events -------------- The current MIDI File standard supports a number of 'non-MIDI' events known as Meta events. All start with an FF hex as the primary meta-event identifier and this is followed by a meta event 'type' field, a byte count, and finally the data itself... Meta Event <FF hex> <meta-event type> <length> <data bytes> The meta-event type field is a 1 byte value between 0 and 127 and the length field is stored in the same variable length format as is used for delta-time values. The following table gives a brief summary of the meta events currently defined, their formats and their contents. Amongst the following meta events types are some variations of the basic Text event which are used to identify particular types of ASCII text messages. Meta event type identifiers 02 hex - 0F hex have been reserved for such messages although not all have been defined at the current time... Description Type (Hex) Length Details ----------- --------- ------ ------- Sequence No. 00 2 16 bit number representing a sequence number. Must occur at the beginning of the track, ie before any non zero delta-times. Text Event 01 variable Text describing anything at all. Copyright Notice 02 variable Should be the first event in the first track. Sequence or 03 variable Another ASCII text event Track Name Instrument Name 04 variable An indication of the instrumentaton to be used for a track. It can be used in conjunction with a Prefix event to specify which MIDI channel the description applies to, or the channel number can be specified within the text itself. Lyric 05 variable A lyric to be sung. The idea here is that each syllable will be a separate lyric event which is to begin at the events starting time. Marker 06 variable Used to mark a specific point in a sequence. Cue Point 07 variable A marker event used for video/film cue point marking. 08 - 0F Reserved, but currently undefined Channel Prefix 20 1 This event contains a single data byte which associates subsequent events with a particular MIDI channel. This state is effective until the next normal MIDI event, or the next Channel Prefix event. End Of Track 2F 0 This event MUST be used so that an exact ending point can be specified for a track. It's use is non-optional ! Set Tempo 51 3 A 24 bit number which represents microseconds per quarter note. These events should really only occur at positions where real MIDI clocks would be located. SMPTE Offset 54 5 The five bytes of this message indicate hours, minutes, seconds frame and frame fraction (in 1/100th's of a frame). Time Signature 58 4 The time signature is expressed as four numbers NN DD CC and BB. NN is the time signature numerator, DD is the denominator expressed as a power of 2, CC is the number of MIDI clocks in a metronome click, and BB represents the number of 32nd notes in a MIDI quarter note. Sequencer Specific 7F variable This event allows sequencers to include their own sequencer specific info. Manufacturers who use such events are SUPPOSED to publish the formats so that others can interpret them. Last words ---------- So, that then is the basis of the current MIDI file standard as adopted by the International MIDI Association. It's worth mentioning that running status (ie the use of implied status bytes) is allowed within a stream of MIDI events but this must not be carried across non-channel events. If a stream of running status MIDI messages are interrupted by one or more Meta or SYSEX events then a new status byte must be present in the first of any MIDI messages which follow. To those of us who were involved with early MIDI files it is evident that several changes have occured which may make MIDI files written with early programs incompatible with sequencers designed to read the current standard. If nothing else this might be a useful warning for many people who seem to believe that early MIDI files are equivalent to the new type 0 MIDI files. Agreed they are similar... but they are clearly NOT identical... The End of track events, which used to be optional, must now always be present. Set Tempo and Time Signature meta-events have changed size, SYSEX messages have been re-defined, and a variety of new meta-events have been proposed. There are now explicitly defined header and track chunks and of course system common messages are no longer allowed. The standard was officially published in July 1988, so if you've got software packages which support MIDI files, but were released before this time it is quite likely that they are not implementing the full IMA adopted standard. If you have had problems with MIDI files you should do two things: Firstly write to your software supplier and ask whether the software you purchased conforms to the July 88 Standard MIDI File (1.0) document - and if not press for details about the differences. Secondly, write to Atari ST User... a lot of people seem to be having problems with MIDI files and, with so many ST based musicians out there, we're getting rather interested in finding out just what sort of difficulties you've been experiencing ! Coming Soon ----------- Next month we're going to delve into some of the problems associated with writing your own MIDI File programs. It's not exactly beginners stuff... but it's not impossibly hard either. If you want to know how to isolate chunks, read variable length fields, identify events and interpret them etc., then we'll show you how it's done !