Hi Josh,

You are right the core MIDI 1.0 spec is not up in the site yet.

We wanted to get the site up before NAMM , but we knew it wasn't 100% complete. We will be working on re-doing the spec area and making all the MIDI documents available for download at no charge to members as both individual files and as Zip files with multiple files bound together.

You are a registered member as only members can post on the forum. We'd ask your patience for a bit as we recover from NAMM and start work on improving the spec section. We know that in a few weeks, we will be able to provide much better access to the specs than was previously available, but to get it right will take a bit of time.

There are a lot documents and we want to make sure they are organized correctly and easy to search and download.

Just wanted to say thanks a thousands for making the MIDI specifications available to the general public. Progressing away from purchased books and towards digital documents freely available to signed up members is a HUGE STEP FORWARD for the global MIDI community. Thanks a lot for that!

The MIDI Association wrote:

You are right the core MIDI 1.0 spec is not up in the site yet.
...
We wanted to get the site up before NAMM...

That's completely understandable. I'm glad to know that the specs will eventually be downloadable from the site.

I had been planning to order the specs sometime this year (assuming I'd be purchasing the printed copy from the old site like you mentioned), and it's good to know I'll be able to save sixty bucks and not have to sacrifice my limited shelf space for a printed spec, when I'd prefer an electronic version anyway.

Thanks!

I'm looking forward to the download. I've never understood why it has always been so difficult to get a copy of the spec.

After some web pages, in the past, it use to be as low as $2 in the late 80's, so I believe the $60 was more likely for funding the MIDI association than manual processing and snail‑mail (personally, not free as in beer is not an issue to me, but $60 was too high).

[Ed: The MIDI Specification is not a single document, but dozens of different documents, some that modify earlier documents, some that add to them. Many of the documents were published before the internet even existed, so were only ever available in print. All of the printed documents were compiled into one document in 1996 which was over 300 pages, and sold for $60. -MMA]

Here's a scan PDF of it. You can't search because it's just images of the pages, but it's still useful.

[Ed: This URL has been removed because the MIDI Spec is a copyrighted document and the poster does not have permission of the copyright owner to provide the document.- MMA]

[…]
[Ed: The MIDI Specification is not a single document, but dozens of different documents, some that modify earlier documents, some that add to them. Many of the documents were published before the internet even existed, so were only ever available in print. All of the printed documents were compiled into one document in 1996 which was over 300 pages, and sold for $60. -MMA]

Oh, thanks, I was not suspecting this was a so big document (I planned to order it as a used-book on an on‑line store, but never did so far). So what's on the web since years, must be overly simplified (while seemingly enough to parse and interpret typical MIDI files).

@Bob Lee: what have you tried to do … silly of you 😮 🙂 .

Yannick,

The documents you can find on the web are generally 20 or more years old. Since then we have added many new messages and defined many "recommended practices" (ways to use the MIDI messages in products so that they work well together) which we described on our previous website, and will eventually describe here as well. Since we have tried very hard not to change any definitions once they have been published, the information on the web about MIDI is generally accurate, but it is not always complete. Newer documents (supplements) describe additional ways to do things in MIDI that have been standardized, and also may correct some explanations that were not always clear, so the later MMA documents are very useful for improving product compatibility.

Forum Admin
MMA

I'm writing code for a 1988 synth, so the "best practices" from the 1995 version of the spec work well for me.

Is there any update on the progress of making the specs available?

Is there any update on the progress of making the specs available?

No, there won't be anything new to say until the specs are available... we're still working on it.

Forum Admin
MMA

So, best wishes (I don't know how English people would say, we would say « bon courage », in French).

At the bottom of this page: The Complete MIDI 1.0 Detailed Specification, I noticed there is now a link to "Download the Complete MIDI 1.0 Detailed Specification Document (1996)", but the link gets "404 Page not found".

@MMA, I'm confused, has the specification been made available? I don't remember that download link being there earlier in the year.

(Actually, it looks like every document link on the site gets "404 Page not found". Something seems wrong.)

Correct, I'm finding that too.

They were there a short while back, but now I'm getting the same error 404 when trying to download either the main spec. or any of the RP's and CA's.
Fortunately I managed to download most of what I needed when they were on line.

Can we report a broken link?