QuickTime MIDI Plugin is a plugin for Netscape Navigator 2.0 or greater which lets you play MIDI files off the Internet right in the Netscape window! Just click on the link to the MIDI file and the plugin will load and begin playing the file! (Note: You will require QuickTime 2.0 or greater and to get different instruments you will also need to have the QuickTime Musical Instruments extension installed!)
When a file is playing, a list of instruments will appear below the plugin. Clicking on one of the instruments will bring up a dialog box that lets you change it. Track 10 in MIDI files are reserved for Drum instruments, so you won't be able to change it to anything other than drums.
The playback controls work just like the controls on your CD player. When a MIDI file is playing, the "Play" button will actually turn into a "Pause" button. You can tell which it is by looking at the icon. The "Stop" button always stays the same.
QuickTime MIDI Plugin also allows you to save a copy of the current MIDI file on your hard drive. It will use the name that it decodes from the URL of the file. The reason for this feature (as you will soon see) is that Netscape downloads the file onto your hard drive as a cache file. (It will be called something like "cache132452.mid") If you click on the "Save a copy" button it will save a copy of the MIDI file in the Netscape Cache ─ using the name of the file in the URL. (Which is usually more informative than the name Netscape gives it!)
If you have more than one window open in Netscape at a time, each one can be loaded with a seperate MIDI file. The plugin which is playing will have a status, as displayed in the plugin's window, of "Playing." All other MIDI files in other windows which have not yet played will have a status of "Cued to Play." When the file which is currently playing finishes, its status will become "Inactive" and one of the files which is cued to play will begin. (It's hard to predict which one will start next. It depends on when Netscape calls each seperate plugin in each window.) Finally, if a file is "Cued to Play," clicking on it's Stop button will make it "Inactive." If a file is "Inactive," clicking on it's Play button will make it play (if no other MIDI files are playing), or will cue it to play when its turn comes up.
QuickTime MIDI Plugin is shareware and as such it will only play the first 2 minutes of a MIDI file until you register it. Registration is $10. After registration it will play any length of MIDI file. (Note that registration is free for any registered user of QuickTime MIDI Player, my interface to the QuickTime Musical Instruments extension for any MIDI Manger/OMS compatible application.)
Please send your registration to me at:
Terry Greeniaus
89 Lancaster Cres.
St. Alberta, Alberta, Canada
T8N 2N9
Also, please include your e-mail address or other means of contact so that I can send you a registration code for QuickTime MIDI Plugin. To register your copy of QuickTime MIDI Plugin, click on the QuickTime icon in the top left corner of the plugin window. It will bring up a registration dialog with my address and options to register.
I cannot be held responsible for anything which happens due to the use of QuickTime MIDI Plugin on your or anyone else's computer.
