Musical Instrument Digital Interface

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface; IPA: /ˈmɪdi/) is an industry-standard protocol that enables electronic musical instruments, computers and other equipment to communicate, control and synchronize with each other.MIDI does not transmit an audio signal or media — it simply transmits digital data "event messages" such as the  pitch and intensity of musical notes to play, control signals for parameters such as volume, vibrato and panning, cues and clock signals to set the tempo. As an electronic protocol, it is notable for its success, both in its widespread adoption throughout the industry, and in remaining essentially unchanged in the face of technological developments since its introduction in 1983.
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Noun
1. a standard protocol for communication between electronic musical instruments and computers
(synonym) MIDI
(hypernym) protocol, communications protocol

<music, hardware, protocol, file format> (MIDI /mi'-dee/, /mee'-dee/) A hardware specification and protocol used to communicate note and effect information between synthesisers, computers, music keyboards, controllers, and other electronic music devices. It is basically a high-speed serial connection with separate connections for MIDI in, MIDI out and MIDI through (to allow devices to be chained).
The basic unit of information is a "note on/off" event which includes a note number (pitch) and key velocity (loudness). There are many other message types for events such as pitch bend, patch changes and synthesizer-specific events for loading new patches etc.
There is a file format for expressing MIDI data which is like a dump of data sent over a MIDI port.
The MIME type "audio/midi" isn't actually registered so it should probably be "audio/x-midi".
Filename extension: .mid or .midi
http://www.update.uu.se/~vick/Coordinator.html.
Usenet newsgroups: news:comp.music.midi, news:alt.music.midi.
(1998-06-27)

Musical Instrument Digital Interface