Studio Dust Palace uses Midi
files for the jukebox in the Dance Hall and from time to
time in other areas. This page explains a little about Midi
files and provides some tips for setting up your computer to
play them with the Palace. Use these links to jump to a
specific topic:
The word, MIDI, is an acronym
for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It was invented
as a way for electronic keyboards and synthesizers to
comunicate with each other. Midi files are data files of
a specific format that are used to store Midi data. Most
of the Midi files we find use a convention called General
Midi which means that they follow certain standards for
what the various instruments should sound like. For
example, the sound of instrument number 0 should be a
piano and the sound for instrument number 26 should be a
guitar, etc.
Midi files contain musical
instructions such as what notes to play, what sounds to
use to play them, how loud to play them and at what
tempo. This Midi data is not the actual sound data. It is
a computer version of a written musical score. Instead of
musicians playing the score, Midi data is interpreted by
a sound card or software synthesizer to reproduce a
facsimile of the music. The quality of the music depends
on how well the Midi score was created and the
capabilities of the software or sound card synthesizer.
The songs will sound different from computer to
computer.
The music produced from Midi files
on most computers will not sound as if it is played by
real instruments and there are no vocals. However, Midi
files are much smaller than actual sound sample files
(such as WAV and MP3 files) so they are less cumbersome
to download. Studio Dust tries to select Midi files that
make the best use of the medium to provide listening
enjoyment as well as musical fun.
MIDI File Names
Studio Dust uses Midi files
with the standard ".mid" file name extension to allow
Macintosh Client users to play them using the Internet
Config interface and for Palace Viewer users to play them
through their WEB browser. The current version (3.5) of the Windows
Client also works with Midi files named with a ".mid" extension.
Using this standard file name extension means that you can easily
play Midi files outside of the Palace program, as well.
Windows Client MIDI
Recent versions of the
Windows Palace Client is able to play Midi files
without any additional setup - assuming your computer is
equipped with a Midi-capable sound card. Older versions
of the Windows Client may also work.
When you click on a spot that plays
a Midi song, it will start to play if the file for that
song already exists on your computer.
If the file is not on your computer
yet, the Palace will download the file for you. You
should see a message in the Palace log window and on the
status line when file has completed downloading. Be aware
that the song will not play by itself after it downloads.
You will have to request the song to play
again.
Once the song starts playing you
won't be able to play another Midi until it is finished
or you stop it. To stop the song before it finishes enter
the following in the chat box:
/midistop
Unfortunately, older versions of the
Windows Client will not download files with a ".mid" extension.
So, for users who have not yet upgraded to version 3.5 or higher,
we provide the files with a "_mid" extension. Some newer Midi
scripts may only support ".mid" files so we strongly suggest
that you do upgrade to version 3.5 soon.
Macintosh Client MIDI
You need 3 things to hear
Midi files on your Macintosh at Studio Dust:
1) Version 3.0.1 or higher
of the Palace Client
2) A program to play Midi Files
3) The Internet Config program and system
extension
Please visit our Macintosh
Media Help page for
information on Midi players and how to set up the
Internet Config program.
When you select a song that is not
yet on your computer it will begin to play after the file
downloads without having to select the song again. If you
use Quick Time Player, you may see a new player window
open for each Midi song played and you might have to use
its play control to start it. If you use SoundApp, each
Midi song will play in the order they were selected. To
stop a song from playing and skip to the next, bring
SoundApp to the foreground and type a .
(period).
Palace Viewer Client MIDI
The Place Viewer is a Java
Applet that runs in your WEB browser. Currently the
Palace Viewer does not play Midi files by itself.
However, the WEB browser you are using most like can
handle Midi files either using its built-in media player
or through a plug-in or external helper program.
For the Palace Viewer we use a
NETGOTO command with the location of the Midi file on our
server. This will have your WEB browser download and play
the song. You may see the Midi plugin open in a new
browser window the first time you play a song and you
will have to click back into the window that the Palace
Viewer is running in.
Palace Server MIDI Scripting
Below is an example of the
scripts used at Studio Dust to play Midi files. The
example uses the ON SELECT handler. It starts by setting
the name of a song, determines the type of client the
user has. Then it executes the appropriate commands for
the client with the appropriate file name extension added
to the song name.
You are welcome to use this code
and modify it if you wish. You will atleast need to
modifiy the song name and the URL used in the NETGOTO
command for Palace Viewer.
ON SELECT {
"pennylane" song = ; modify for the file you have
; Determine what kind of client
{ ; IPTVERSION > 0, use CLIENTTYPE to determine type
{ "tpv" client =
} {
{ "win" client =
} {
{ "mac" client =
} {
"unknown" client =
} CLIENTTYPE "MACPPC" ==
CLIENTTYPE "MAC68K" == OR IFELSE
} CLIENTTYPE "WINDOWS32" == IFELSE
} CLIENTTYPE "TPV" == IFELSE
} { ; IPTVERSION is 0, use DATETIME to determine Mac or Win
{ "oldwin" client =
} {
"oldmac" client =
} DATETIME 0 >= IFELSE
} IPTVERSION 1 >= IFELSE
{ ; for Macintosh and Windows peoples
song ".mid" & SOUND
} client "mac" ==
client "oldmac" == OR
client "win" == OR IF
{ ; for TPV peoples - modify URL for your file server
"http://www.studiodust.com:9990/studiodust/media/"
song & ".mid" & NETGOTO
} client "tpv" == IF
{ ; for old (pre-3.5) Windows peoples
song "_mid" & SOUND
song "_mid" & MIDIPLAY
} client "oldwin" == IF
}
Note that if you include support for old
Windows client versions, the file must exist in the server's media
directory with two file names; one ending in ".mid" and another
ending in "_mid".
If you are using a Unix server and have
direct access to the system you can create two file names for a
single file using the Unix ln command. First upload the
files named with ".mid" to the media directory. Then for each one
create a link for the names with "_mid". For example:
ln pennylane.mid pennylane_mid
Now the same data may be referenced
using either name. This can save a bit of disk space if
you have many Midi files on your server.
Studio Dust Palace uses Midi
files for the jukebox in the Dance Hall and from time to
time in other areas. This page explains a little about Midi
files and provides some tips for setting up your computer to
play them with the Palace. Use these links to jump to a
specific topic:
What is MIDI?
MIDI File Names
