An agreed standard for communication between electronic musical equipment such as synthesisers, samplers and other devices such as computers. The core function of the standard is to allow information describing musical peformance (which notes were played, how loud they should be, plus articulations such as "bending" of notes or vibrato etc.) to be capable of transmission from one machine to another. The recording of such information for later replay is called sequencing. The standard also includes many functions which are ancillary to this core activity, for example the standardisation of files for sequences (Standard Midi File) and digital audio recordings (Sample Dump Standard) and methods of exchanging information that is unique to individual devices (System Exclusive). |