My collection of tools for MIDI processing focusing on classic m68k Amiga machine running AmigaOS 3.x with the CAMD MIDI library. Enriched by some host tools running on Python >3.6.
udp- A network MIDI driver with custom protocolecho- A simple (test) driver that echoes all MIDI data
midi-info- Show CAMD drivers and moremidi-send- Send MIDI data via command linemidi-recv- Receive MIDI data on command linemidi-echo- Echo incoming MIDI trafficmidi-perf- MIDI performance measurement
- BarsnPipes Tools - BarsnPipes Tools to access the new CAMD MIDI drivers
midi-udp-bridge- Endpoint forudpMIDI drivermidi-udp-echo- Test endpoint forudpMIDI drivermidi-perf- MIDI performance measurement
You need a recent version of the CAMD libraries installed on your Amiga system in order to use the drivers or tools on this page.
I'd suggest to use CAMD.library 40.4 or 40.5 available on
aminet. Just copy the camd.library
to your LIBS: directory.
Midi drivers for CAMD are found in the devs:midi directory. Just create
the folder manually if its missing.
To use a MIDI interface attached to the serial port of your Amiga you have
to install the mmp driver.
Just copy the driver file mmp found in the archive to your devs:midi
directory and you are done!
The CAMD drivers shipped with the tools follow the naming scheme midi-drv-*.
In order to install them on your Amiga system you have to strip the
midi-drv- prefix and copy the files to the devs:midi directory.
Example:
copy midi-drv-udp devs:midi/udp
A restart of the Amiga is required to activate the new drivers.
Use the midi-info tool to check its availability.
All the tools here running on your Mac or PC are written in Python 3
(Python >=3.6 required).
For MIDI handling they use the
python-rtmidi
package. Simply install it with:
pip3 install python-rtmidi
Then you can run the host tool scripts directly in place of the release directory.
However, also a .whl Python install archive is shipped. You can install
it with:
pip3 install amiditools-*.whl
The echo driver is a very simple driver without any options. It offers 8 input and output endpoints named:
- Inputs
echo.in.0...echo.in.7 - Output
echo.out.0...echo.out.7
All MIDI data sent to an output is echoed to the corresponding input.
midi-send --> echo.out.0 --> echo.in.0 --> midi-recv
-
Open an Amiga shell and launch
midi-recv:midi-recv dev echo.in.0 -
Now open another shell and send some MIDI messages with
midi-send:midi-send dev echo.out.0 on c2 127 midi-send dev echo.out.0 off c2 0 -
You see that the MIDI messages are forwarded from output 0 to input 0
This driver allows to send MIDI data across an network link provided by an Amiga network stack (like AmiTCP or Roadshow). It uses simple UDP packets to transfer MIDI messages (including SysEx) and offers up to 8 individual in and out ports:
- Inputs
udp.in.0...udp.in.7 - Output
udp.out.0...udp.out.7
A client application called midi-udp-bridge on your PC
or Mac will receive the MIDI message and forward them to a local MIDI port
there.
All MIDI data sent to the output udp.out.x will be sent to the bridge
host output port and the input udp.in.x will receive all data sent to
the input port of the host bridge (option -p IN:OUT):
midi-send --> udp.out.x --> network --> midi-udp-bridge --> OUT midi port
midi-recv <-- udp.in.x <-- network <-- midi-udp-bridge <-- IN midi port
Note: Do not confuse this protocol with the well known RTP MIDI or also called Apple MIDI. Our protocol is a lot simpler but needs a special host program to send/receive data to/from this driver.
Note2: This protocol currently does no error correction. I.e. if your network is crowded or lots of MIDI traffic is transferred then some MIDI messages might get lost. You have been warned :)
First of all make sure that your Amiga network stack is already setup and all network devices are configured correctly.
Use a tool like midi-info to load the CAMD library and
therefore activate the UDP driver.
When the driver is loaded on first launch of the camd.library then it
opens a UDP server socket and waits for an incoming client.
The client is created then on the host Mac or PC side with the
midi-udp-bridge tool.
By default the driver is configured to work with settings that match most typical use cases, including emulator and real Amiga setups.
However, sometimes adjustments are needed. You write a config file with the
required parameters. The driver looks for the configuration file in
ENV:midi/udp.config.
Create this file and write all configuration options (that are ReadArgs()-
like) into the first line of the file!
The following options are supported:
-
HOST_NAME <hostname|ipaddr>Set the host name or IPv4 address that will be used to open the UDP server socket.
By default its
0.0.0.0and binds to all network interfaces. -
PORT <number>Change the port number the UDP server will use on the Amiga.
By default its
6820. -
SYSEX_SIZE <bytes>Currently the
udpdriver can only send SysEx messages with up to 2048 Bytes (2 KiB). If you need to transfer larger SysEx messages then increase this byte value.Please note that currently all SysEx messages have to fit into a single UDP packet. So the limit lies around 64 KiB per single message.
An Example config might look like:
HOST_NAME my_amiga PORT 1234 SYSEX_SIZE 32768
Copy the config file to ENVARC:midi/udp.config to persist it for later use.
-
Make sure the
udpdriver is running and callmidi-info -
Now on your Mac/PC call
midi-udp-bridgeand assign a distinct MIDI in and out port (I use virtual ports on Mac here):midi-udp-bridge -p "Amiga In:Amiga Out" -v -
If all worked out well then the connection is established and reported back by the bridge
-
On your Mac/PC run
receivemidito see the incoming traffic on port "Amiga Out"receivemidi dev "Amiga Out" -
Now send some MIDI messages from your Amiga shell:
midi-send dev udp.out.0 on c2 127 midi-send dev udp.out.0 off c2 0 -
You should see the messages on your Mac/PC on port "Amiga Out".
-
One direction already works! Now test the other one:
-
On your Amiga shell run:
midi-recv dev udp.in.0 -
On your Mac/PC send MIDI data with
sendmidi:sendmidi dev "Amiga In" on c2 127 sendmidi dev "Amiga In" off c2 0 -
You should see the messages on your Amiga shell
-
Both directions work! Job done :)
All tools are command line tools and need to be executed in a shell/CLI.
This tool simply shows all available drivers with their registered clusters (aka ports).
Use the tool to quickly verify that new drivers are installed correctly.
A nice side effect of this tool is: When launched as the first command after
a reboot it initializes the camd.library and activates all drivers.
E.g. the udp driver starts listening for a UDP client.
Note: As long as the library is not expunged, it will not reload the driver list. Therefore you might need an Amiga reset to activate new drivers.
This tool is an almost 100% clone of the famous SendMIDI
tool by Geert Bevin.
You can send all kinds of MIDI message on the command line.
See the SendMIDI README for
a detailed description of the options.
Example: Send a NoteOn/NoteOff for C-2 with velocity 127
midi-send dev echo.in.0 on c-2 127
midi-send dev echo.in.0 off c-2 0
dev- uses CAMD cluster names, e.g.echo.in.0- no
virt- no virtual device on Amiga - no
list- usemidi-infoinstead - no
mpe*- not implemented yet - no long names of commands
- added
SMS=SYSEXMAXSIZEto select maximum size of SysEx messages in bytes (default: 2048) - added
V=VERBOSEto show more output
This tool is an almost 100% clone of the famous ReceiveMIDI
tool by Geert Bevin.
It will show all incoming MIDI messages in your shell.
Until you leave the tool by pressing CTRL+C.
See the ReceiveMIDI README
for a detailed description of the options.
Example: show incoming traffic on echo.out.0
midi-recv dev echo.out.0
dev- uses CAMD cluster names, e.g.echo.in.0- no
virt- no virtual device on Amiga - no
pass- no implemented yet - no
list- usemidi-infoinstead - no
js*- no javascript support - added
SMS=SYSEXMAXSIZEto select maximum size of SysEx messages in bytes (default: 2048) - added
V=VERBOSEto show more output
A tool that echoes all MIDI data received on one port and writes it to another one.
Stop the tool by pressing CTRL+C.
Usage:
midi-echo IN/A input OUT/A output
SMS/SYSEXMAXSIZE/K/N sysex_max_size
V/VERBOSE/S
Options:
SMS=SYSEXMAXSIZEsets the maximum size of SysEx messages in bytes. Default value is 2048 bytes.V=VERBOSEbe more verbose when running the tool
Example:
midi-echo IN udp.in.0 OUT udp.out.1
A tool to measure the performance of a MIDI driver.
It sends out bursts of MIDI data to the given ouput device port and tries to receives the same messages on the given input devices. The latency is calculated and missing messages are detected.
You have to create a loop back setup to make this tool work. You can either
use the echo driver directly (as it loops directly) or use
the udp driver in combination with a
`midi-udp-echo host client to loop back MIDI messages over
UDP.
The tool continously sends out a given number of samples in a loop and waits for the incoming echoed samples.
Currently, each sample pair is a NoteOn and NoteOff event with increasing note value.
Usage:
midi-perf OUTDEV/A output INDEV/A input
SMS/SYSEXMAXSIZE/K/N sysex_max_size
V/VERBOSE/S
LP=LOOPDELAY/K/N loop_delay
SD=SAMPLEDELAY/K/N sample_delay
NUM/K/N number_of_samples
Options:
SMS=SYSEXMAXSIZEsets the maximum size of SysEx messages in bytes. Default value is 2048 bytes.V=VERBOSEbe more verbose when running the toolLP=LOOPDELAYhow many seconds to wait before another sample loop is sent. Default is 1 second.SD=SAMPLEDELAYhow many microseconds to wait between each test sample. Default is 1000 microseconds.NUMnumber of sample MIDI messages sent in a loop. Default is 256.
Example:
midi-perf udp.out.0 udp.in.0
midi-perf echo.out.0 echo.in.0
To access the new CAMD drivers presented here with the [BarsnPipes Sequencer] (http://bnp.hansfaust.de) on the Amiga a "ptool" plugin is available for each of the drivers and input/output clusters/ports combinations.
Just add the ptools to your BarnsPipes installation and activate them. See the BnP manual for details.
The tools are named camd_<driver>_in|out_<port>.ptool.
This tool is the endpoint of the udp MIDI driver. Launch it
on your Mac/PC. It will bridge the incoming MIDI traffic to existing (or
virtual) MIDI ports on your system.
Currently, a single client is supported that maps all the input/output
ports of the udp driver to local MIDI ports.
usage: midi-udp-bridge [-h] [-p PORTS [PORTS ...]] [-l] [-v] [-d] [-s SERVER] [-c CLIENT]
transfer Midi data between Midi UDP and a local Midi port
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-p PORTS [PORTS ...], --ports PORTS [PORTS ...]
Define midi port pair: midi_in:midi_out[+] Repeat for multiple ports.
-l, --list-ports List all input and output ports
-v, --verbose verbose output
-d, --debug enabled debug output
-s SERVER, --server SERVER
host addr of UDP server. default=localhost:6820
-c CLIENT, --client CLIENT
host addr of UDP client. default=localhost:6821
Use -s and -c switches to configure the hostname of the server (Amiga) and
the client (your Mac/PC) respectively. The syntax for both is hostname:port.
Examples for address specification:
192.168.2.1:6820my_amiga:1234
Use -l to show a list of existing MIDI in and out ports on your system.
Use -v or even -d to increase the verbosity when running the tool.
The only required option is -p for the ports definition. Here you assign a
MIDI in and out port pair of your system to the ports of the Amiga UDP driver
separated by a colon (:).
The first port definition pair is assigned to udp port 0, the next one to port 1 and so on. Up to 8 ports can be defined this way.
You can either state the name of the interface (see -l command for a list)
or its enumerated number.
If you do not need a in and out port you can simply omit one direction. If only an output port is given then do not forget the leading colon!
If you want to create a new virtual MIDI port (only supported on Linux
or macos) then append a plus + sign to your definition. Both the in and
out port are then virtual ports.
Examples for port specification:
-p "Amiga In:Amiga Out"- define udp port 0 and connect to the existing in port calledAmiga Inand out portAmiga Out. Use shell quoting to protect the spaces in the interface names.-p 0:0 1:1- define udp port 0 and 1 by referencing the interfaces by number. Use first in and out interface for port 0 and second pair for port 1.-p :0- only define the udp output port and omit the input port.-p MyIn:MyOut+- the trailing plus creates new virtual interfaces in your system with the given names (if your system supports this).
So a minimal example to run the tool is:
python3 midi-udp-bridge -p 0:0 -d
Use the debug output -d to see the inner working of the bridge.
This is a diagnosis tool: it simply returns all incoming MIDI messages back
to port 0 (udp.in.0).
Launch it with:
python3 midi-udp-echo
It will wait for incoming MIDI messages and return them.
A MIDI performance measurment tool running on your host.
A MIDI port pair is required that performs loop back of all messages.
usage: midi-perf [-h] [-p PORT] [-l] [-v] [-d]
benchmark Midi performance by sending/receiving a set of messages.
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-p PORT, --port PORT Define midi port pair: midi_in:midi_out[+] Make sure out echoes in data!
-l, --list-ports List all input and output ports
-v, --verbose verbose output
-d, --debug enabled debug output