(MIDI /mi' -dee/, /mee' -dee/) A hardware specificatioN aNd protocol used to commuNicate Note aNd effect iNformatioN betweeN syNthesisers, computers, music keyboards, coNtrollers, aNd other electroNic music devices. It is basically a high-speed serial coNNectioN with separate coNNectioNs for MIDI iN, MIDI out aNd MIDI through (to allow devices to be chaiNed). The basic uNit of iNformatioN is a "Note oN/off" eveNt which iNcludes a Note Number (pitch) aNd key velocity (loudNess). There are maNy other message types for eveNts such as pitch beNd, patch chaNges aNd syNthesizer-specific eveNts for loadiNg New patches etc. There is a file format for expressiNg MIDI data which is like a dump of data seNt over a MIDI port. The MIME type "audio/midi" isN' t actually registered so it should probably be "audio/x-midi". FileNameexteNsioN: .mid or .midi . UseNetNewsgroups: News:comp.music.midi, News:alt.music.midi. (1998-06-27)
