Getting Started - Peabody Computer Music

Using MIDIUsing the MIDI Setup WindowThe Max application specifies multiple MIDI ports by letter (a-z), or by using MIDI channelnumbers above 16. This requires a certain amount of translation between Core MIDI devicenames and the Max lettering scheme. You can use the MIDI Setup window to perform thistranslation. To see the MIDI Setup window, choose MIDI Setup... from the File menu.The MIDI Setup window lists the MIDI device names and lets you associate letterabbreviations and ranges of MIDI channels with them.The default MIDI output device under Max is the internal synthesizer supported by youroperating system. On the Macintosh, this is an AudioUnit DLS synthesizer that supportsboth its own set of internal sounds (as a General MIDI bank), as well as Level 2 SoundFontfiles.On Windows, this is the Microsoft DirectMusic DLS synthesizer. Note that theMicrosoft DLS synthesizer does not support SoundFont files. For more information aboutworking with DLS synths, see the section Using the DLS Synthesizer later in this chapter.To assign an abbreviation and MIDI channel range to a device, select the desired values fromthe pop-up menus. The abbreviation allows you to type the letter instead of the device nameas an argument to MIDI objects such as notein or noteout. The channel offset is added to theMIDI channel of the incoming data to distinguish its device for MIDI objects set to receivefrom multiple devices or sent to multiple devices. For example, if a device is given a channeloffset of 32, a note-on message sent to Max will be output on channel 33 of a notein object.Similarly, if you send 33 to the MIDI channel inlet of a noteout object, a subsequent int sent tothe left inlet will produce a note message on MIDI channel 1 for the device whose channeloffset is 32.31