[comp.sys.amiga] Problems reading midi data

andy@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Andrew M. Milburn) (01/31/88)

Can someone outline the correct way to open and read the serial port
to capture incoming midi data?  I've been hacking at this a while,
but I'm having (very) intermittent problems losing single bytes of data.
This only happens on certain synthesizers (a DX100 and a DX27)
and only in certain phases of the moon.  I'm setting RAD_BOOGIE,
any other tricks?

pmy@boole.acc.virginia.edu (Pete Yadlowsky) (02/02/88)

In article <1599@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>, andy@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Andrew M. Milburn) writes:
> Can someone outline the correct way to open and read the serial port
> to capture incoming midi data?  I've been hacking at this a while,
> but I'm having (very) intermittent problems losing single bytes of data.
> This only happens on certain synthesizers (a DX100 and a DX27)
> and only in certain phases of the moon.  I'm setting RAD_BOOGIE,
> any other tricks?

Unfortunately, even with RAD_BOOGIE, the serial port can lose bytes on
large transfers. Do these data losses occur during normal midi channel
messages (e.g. note_on, note_off), or while passing big chunks of
sysex stuff? I'd be very surprised if the former, not so if the latter.
Maybe you could try breaking up sysex transfers.

Also, there's a PD midi.library available which I find quite nice. It
has greatly simplified a lot of my own midi programming. I've already
discussed (raved about) it on the net. Briefly, it provides the midi
application designer a set of tools that facilitate the contruction
of midi communication networks, based on Exec's list, port and message
schemes. The library automatically handles all midi message merging and
distribution, and all serial port communication/management. Now if
only someone would write a PD midi.device! :-)   Let me know if you'd
like more info.


-- 
Pete Yadlowsky
Academic Computing Center
University of Virginia
e-mail: pmy@vivaldi.acc.virginia.EDU

jca@homxc.UUCP (J.ANTROSIGLIO) (02/03/88)

In article <406@boole.acc.virginia.edu>, pmy@boole.acc.virginia.edu (Pete Yadlowsky) writes:
> In article <1599@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>, andy@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Andrew M. Milburn) writes:
> > Can someone outline the correct way to open and read the serial port
> > to capture incoming midi data?  I've been hacking at this a while,
> > but I'm having (very) intermittent problems losing single bytes of data.
> > This only happens on certain synthesizers (a DX100 and a DX27)
> > and only in certain phases of the moon.  I'm setting RAD_BOOGIE,
> > any other tricks?
> 
	Some stuff deleted.

> 
> Also, there's a PD midi.library available which I find quite nice. It
> has greatly simplified a lot of my own midi programming. I've already
> discussed (raved about) it on the net. Briefly, it provides the midi
> application designer a set of tools that facilitate the contruction
> of midi communication networks, based on Exec's list, port and message
> schemes. The library automatically handles all midi message merging and
> distribution, and all serial port communication/management. Now if
> only someone would write a PD midi.device! :-)   Let me know if you'd
> like more info.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Pete Yadlowsky
> Academic Computing Center
> University of Virginia
> e-mail: pmy@vivaldi.acc.virginia.EDU


How would one go about obtaining a copy of this PD midi.library?  Is it
available on one of the Fish Disk?



-- 


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	John C. Antrosiglio
	Room 3G-321

	AT&T Bell Laboratories
	Crawford Corner Road
	Holmdel, New Jersey 07733

	(201)949-2374		 ihnp4!{homxc|hotlf|hotld}!jca

pmy@boole.acc.virginia.edu (Pete Yadlowsky) (02/05/88)

In article <1191@homxc.UUCP>, jca@homxc.UUCP (J.ANTROSIGLIO) writes:
I wrote:
> > Also, there's a PD midi.library available which I find quite nice. It
> > has greatly simplified a lot of my own midi programming.

             etc.

> How would one go about obtaining a copy of this PD midi.library?  Is it
> available on one of the Fish Disk?

Yes, it is on a FishDisk, though I forget which one. Fred? The author
is one Bill Barton. The library is also available on PeopleLink, and
probably BIX as well. Bill's id on both of these boards is 'peabody'.
The whole package includes the shared library (midi.library, binary
only), a set of Manx bindings (midi.lib) (BTW, I've hacked together
Lattice and JForth bindings), documentation, #include files and a few
example programs. I'd like to post all this to the net. How is this
done? Some in .binaries, some in .sources?

-- 
Pete Yadlowsky
Academic Computing Center
University of Virginia
e-mail: pmy@vivaldi.acc.virginia.EDU

fredc@petsd.UUCP (Fred Cassirer) (02/09/88)

In article <1599@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> andy@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Andrew M. Milburn) writes:
>References:
>
>Can someone outline the correct way to open and read the serial port
>to capture incoming midi data?  I've been hacking at this a while,
>but I'm having (very) intermittent problems losing single bytes of data.
>This only happens on certain synthesizers (a DX100 and a DX27)
>and only in certain phases of the moon.  I'm setting RAD_BOOGIE,
>any other tricks?


A while back I wrote some programs to play with midi using a DX27.  They
are on one of the fish disks (not sure which one), its called MIDITOOLS.
It allows you to play/record midi events to/from disk and it adds a
time stamp so it plays back almost correctly.  I had a lot of problems
doing bulk voice dumps on the DX27, seems to be some firmware problems 
that cause the DX to lock up.  I know there has got to be a way but
so far I haven't found it.  As for the standard midi stuff the program
seems to work for that ok.  Make sure you set your serial port to 
31250 baud.  If you want I can email you the source.

					Fred Cassirer