ABSTRACT
The Musical Instrument Digital Interface is a digital communications protocol. Founded in 1983 by a small group from various manufacturers, the MIDI 1.0 protocol has been instrumental in making it possible for all almost all electronic instruments to seamlessly communicate over a connected network. MIDI 1.0 is a specified data format (and a complete sub-set protocol within MIDI 2.0) that must be strictly adhered to by those who design and manufacture MIDI-equipped instruments and devices. MIDI digitally communicates musical performance data between devices as a string of MIDI messages. These messages are traditionally transmitted through a standard MIDI line in a serial fashion at a speed of 31,250 bits/sec. MIDI messages are made up of groups of 8-bit words (known as bytes), which are transmitted in a serial fashion to convey a series of instructions to one or all MIDI devices within a system.
