MIDI to TEXT - TEXT to MIDI

	MIDI to TEXT	TEXT to MIDI

Overview

MidiToText decompiles MIDI files into an editable ASCII text format. TextToMidi recompiles the text files back into MIDI files. The syntax follows the standard set by DOS utilities MF2T and T2MF.

Applications

Decompiling MIDI files to inspect their contents.
Editing embedded text.
Crafting a MIDI file to an exact requirement.

Download

Current version 1.05, 22 August 2010. MidiToText.zip

Operation

Drop the MIDI file into the MidiToText window to produce a text file of the same name (apart from the .txt extension). Alternatively, use the Modify filename option to create a text file of the form * (M2T).txt, to ensure that the recompiled MIDI file does not overwrite the original. To recompile, drop the MIDI Text file into the TextToMidi window.

MIDI Text Format

For more information on the MIDI (SMF) file format see http://www.somascape.org/midi/tech/mfile.html

File Structure	MIDI Text	MIDI Coding
File header	MFile format ntrks division (or ...) MFile format ntrks -timecode resolution	"MThd" 00 00 00 06 xxxx xxxx xxxx
Start of track	MTrk	"MTrk" nn nn nn nn xx ...
End of track	TrkEnd
MIDI Events	MIDI Text	MIDI Coding
Note Off	clock Off ch=chan n=note v=vel	xx ... 8x xx xx
Note On	clock On ch=chan n=note v=vel	xx ... 9x xx xx
Polyphonic Pressure	clock PoPr ch=chan n=note v=val	xx ... Ax xx xx
Controller	clock Par ch=chan c=con v=val	xx ... Bx xx xx
Program Change	clock PrCh ch=chan p=prog	xx ... Cx xx
Channel Pressure	clock ChPr ch=chan v=val	xx ... Dx xx
Pitch Bend	clock Pb ch=chan v=pitch	xx ... Ex xx xx
SysEx message	clock SysEx¹ F0 hex	xx ... F0 nn xx ...
SysEx continuation	clock SysEx¹ hex	xx ... F7 nn xx ...
Escape sequence	clock Arb² hex	xx ... F7 nn xx ...
Sequence Number	clock SeqNr num	xx ... FF 00 02 xx xx
Text	clock Meta³ Text string	xx ... FF 01 nn "abcd..."
Copyright	clock Meta³ Copyright string	xx ... FF 02 nn "abcd..."
Sequence Name	clock Meta³ SeqName⁴ string	xx ... FF 03 nn "abcd..."
Track Name	clock Meta³ TrkName⁴ string	xx ... FF 03 nn "abcd..."
Instrument Name	clock Meta³ InstrName string	xx ... FF 04 nn "abcd..."
Lyric	clock Meta³ Lyric string	xx ... FF 05 nn "abcd..."
Marker	clock Meta³ Marker string	xx ... FF 06 nn "abcd..."
Cue Point	clock Meta³ Cue string	xx ... FF 07 nn "abcd..."
Other text events	clock Meta type string	xx ... FF xx nn "abcd..."
End of track	clock Meta³ TrkEnd	xx ... FF 2F 00
Tempo	clock Tempo tempo	xx ... FF 51 03 xx xx xx
SMPTE Offset	clock SMPTE num num num num num	xx ... FF 54 05 xx xx xx xx xx
Time Signature	clock TimeSig num/num num num	xx ... FF 58 04 xx xx xx xx
Key Signature	clock KeySig keysig manor	xx ... FF 59 02 xx xx
Sequencer Specific	clock SeqSpec hex	xx ... FF 7F nn xx ...
Other Meta events	clock Meta type hex	xx ... FF xx nn xx ...

Parameters

format	MIDI File Type: 0=single track; 1=multiple composite tracks; 2=multiple independent tracks (rarely found).
ntrks	Number of tracks (MTrk/TrkEnd pairs) in the file
division	MIDI division; MIDI clock ticks per quarter note
timecode	SMPTE timecode, frames per second (expressed as a negative number)
resolution	SMPTE timecode, sub-frame resolution
clock	Accumulated MIDI clock ticks from the start of the track (MIDI encodes the incremental value). Optionally, the clock may be displayed in Bar:Beat:Tick format.
chan	Channel (1-16)
note	Note Value (0-127). Alternatively Scientific pitch notation (for example C#4 or Db4) may be used
vel	Note Velocity (0-127)
val	Value (0-127)
num	Number (miscellaneous)
con	Controller (0-127)
prog	Instrument (0-127)
keysig	Number between -7 and +7, representing the number of flats (-ve) or sharps (+ve) in the key signature
manor	minor or major
pitch	Pitch bend. A 14-bit integer centred about its midpoint, 8192 (2000 hex)
tempo	Tempo. A 24-bit integer indicating the number of microseconds per quarter note. Handling the tempo in its native form ensures that it may be recompiled with no loss of precision. The conventional Quarter Notes Per Minute value (equivalent to Beats Per Minute with x/4 time signatures) is obtained by dividing 60,000,000 by the tempo. TextToMidi also accepts conventional Quarter Notes Per Minute values (any integer less than 900).
type	A hex number of the form 0xab
hex	A sequence of 2-digit hex numbers (without 0x) separated by spaces
string	A string between double quotes (like "text"). Quotes within the text are escaped as \"; the \ itself is escaped as \\, CR as \r, LF as \l, TAB as \t, null as \0. Other non-printable characters are represented as \xXX, where XX is two hex digits.

Footnotes

¹	SysEx	System Exclusive messages start with an F0 and terminate with an F7 data byte. They are stored as F0 events with the status byte also representing the first data byte. SysEx messages may occasionally be spread across multiple events. The initial SysEx (F0) message is then left unterminated and the remainder of the message is sent as a series of SysEx Continuation (F7) events with the last one terminated with an F7 data byte. In this case the F7 status byte does not form part of the message, whereas the terminating F7 data byte does.
²	Arb	An F7 event can also be used in an entirely different context for sending Arbitrary escape sequences. To distinguish between the two cases: if a previous SysEx event remains unterminated, the F7 status indicates a continuation of it, otherwise it indicates an escape sequence.
³	Meta	Midi2Text follows the standard set by MF2T, although its use of the "Meta" prefix with some Meta events and not others is inconsistent. Text2Midi makes the "Meta" prefix optional wherever the meaning remains clear without it.
⁴	SeqNam TrkNam	The Sequence Name (Song Title) and Track Name are both Meta Text type 3 events with the context determining its meaning. In the first track, a Meta Text type 3 event is interpreted as being the Sequence Name while in any subsequent tracks it becomes the Track Name.