xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man4/midi.4 (revision 3b01aba77a7a698587faaae455bbfe740923c1f5)
1.\" $NetBSD: midi.4,v 1.17 2001/01/31 04:32:18 augustss Exp $
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37.Dd August 6, 1998
38.Dt MIDI 4
39.Os
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm midi
42.Nd device-independent MIDI driver layer
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.Cd "midi* at cms?"
45.Cd "midi* at clcs?"
46.Cd "midi* at clct?"
47.Cd "midi* at eap?"
48.Cd "midi* at mpu?"
49.Cd "midi* at opl?"
50.Cd "midi* at pcppi?"
51.Cd "midi* at sb?"
52.Cd "midi* at umidi?"
53.\" .Cd "midi* at wss?"
54.Cd "pseudo-device sequencer"
55.Pp
56.Fd #include <sys/types.h>
57.Fd #include <sys/midiio.h>
58.Sh DESCRIPTION
59The
60.Nm
61driver provides support for various MIDI peripherals.
62It provides a uniform programming interface layer above different
63underlying MIDI hardware drivers.  The MIDI hardware can be of many
64different kinds, e.g., an external synthesizer on a MIDI port (or a serial port),
65the PC speaker, an internal FM synth, or a wavetable synth.
66.Pp
67There are two device file types available for MIDI operation:
68.Pa /dev/rmidiN ,
69and
70.Pa /dev/music .
71The
72.Pa /dev/rmidiN
73devices provides raw access to a MIDI device.  Data written is sent
74to the physical device as fast as possible and is uninterpreted.
75Reading from the device returns data as soon as it becomes available.
76A moderate amount of buffering is available both for reading and writing.
77The raw MIDI devices are mostly useful for non realtime operations, such as
78downloading patches to a device, since it is hard to get the accurate timing
79needed for quality music from a user program.  But the devices can act as
80a simple patchboard for MIDI devices.  For example, a MIDI keyboard could
81be connected to a synthesizer by the command
82.Cd "cat -u /dev/rmidi1 >/dev/rmidi2"
83.Pp
84The
85.Pa /dev/music
86device is a MIDI sequencer device.  Data sent to and from this device
87not only contains the information sent to the MIDI device, but also
88timing information.  The kernel will make sure that data is sent
89to the physical device at the indicated time.  The sequencer device
90uses the
91.Pa /dev/rmidiN
92devices internally and they are unavailable when used by the sequencer.
93.Pp
94The API for the sequencer device is binary compatible with the OSS sequencer
95interface.
96.Sh FILES
97.Bl -tag -width /dev/sequencer -compact
98.It Pa /dev/rmidiN
99.It Pa /dev/music
100.It Pa /dev/sequencer
101.El
102.Sh SEE ALSO
103.Xr audio 4 ,
104.Xr ioctl 2 ,
105.Xr midiplay 1 ,
106.Xr mpu 4 ,
107.Xr opl 4 ,
108.Xr umidi 4 ,
109.Xr ossaudio 3 .
110.br
111For ports using the ISA bus:
112.Xr cms 4 ,
113.Xr pcppi 4 ,
114.Xr sb 4
115.br
116For ports using the PCI bus:
117.Xr clcs 4 ,
118.Xr eap 4
119.Sh HISTORY
120The
121.Nm
122driver first appeared in
123.Nx 1.4 .
124.Sh BUGS
125This man page is very incomplete.
126.Pp
127