MIDI Playing On A Palm
MIDI Playing On A Palm
MIDI is a special music file format. Contrary to WAV or MP3 files, it doesn’t contain audio data but just notes with information on how long to play which instruments and so on.Did you guys see the new item they have: a brand new color Palm with expandable memory for $149. It includes a pretty good sized memory card, too.
I already got mine a week ago, so too late for an upgrade, though I do wish I had a color Palm now that I’m really getting into the PDA functions and games, etc.
The sounds of the instruments are saved in the synthesizer, sound card (hardware synthesizer), or an app like Timidity (software synthesizer). The synthesizer receives the music data and generates sound. Nowadays, MIDI files are used very much on mobile phones (polyphone ringing tones) because of their low size.
ittyMIDI Player converts a Palm Powered handheld into a full-featured MIDI player, capable of controlling any MIDI-enabled musical instrument. Connecting via the communications port, ittyMIDI Player combines the portability and reliability of a hardware MIDI player with the flexibility and ease of use of a software player. It has been designed to function as either a practice tool or an accompaniment tool, suitable for both professional and amateur musicians.
ittyMIDI Player provides complete control of MIDI files and instruments, including on-the-fly, non-destructive editing of volume, mute, tempo and pitch. Tempo can be altered from -99% to +127% of the original, and the pitch can be transposed +/- 24 semitones on any channel. The volume on each channel can be independently controlled or muted with a simple on-screen mixer. ittyMIDI Player’s Non-GM Mapping, Channel Mapping and Suppress GM Enable features support playing GM files on non-GM synths. Instrument mapping can also be done on a per song basis. All changes are stored in playlists, making multiple variations of the same song possible.
I wonder if the Itty MIDI software will translate up to a newer model Palm if I get one. Their MIDI player certainly performs as advertised. I’ve run some pretty complex MIDI files through it as a test, and as
long as you don’t tap anything, it doesn’t miss a beat.
Palms usually don’t have a hardware synthesizer, so the better-known media players for Palm OS don’t support MIDI files. But there are some apps which enable your Palm to play MIDI files.