MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)

Rather than recording sounds, MIDI instruments/software record finger action - what note is being played, when, and for how long. To playback MIDI files, you need a sound card that can interpret the MIDI note data, either by creating the tones themselves (FM-synthesis ) or playing back sounds that are stored internally (waveform ). "General MIDI" is an emerging standard for MIDI playback. Alphabetical listing of MIDI works by classical composers .