===================== Extending the Library ===================== The choice of MIDI event types included in the library is somewhat idiosyncratic; I included the events I needed for another software project I was wrote. You may find that you need additional events in your work. For this reason I am including some instructions on extending the library. The process isn't too hard (provided you have a working knowledge of Python and the MIDI standard), so the task shouldn't present a competent coder too much difficulty. Alternately (if, for example, you *don't* have a working knowledge of MIDI and don't desire to gain it), you can submit new feature requests to me, and I will include them into the development branch of the code, subject to the constraints of time. To illustrate the process I show below how the MIDI tempo event is incorporated into the code. This is a relatively simple event, so while it may not illustrate some of the subtleties of MIDI programing, it provides a good, illustrative case. ----------------------- Create a New Event Type ----------------------- The first order of business is to create a new subclass of the GnericEvent object of the MIDIFile module. This subclass initializes any specific instance data that is needed for the MIDI event to be written. In the case of the tempo event, it is the actual tempo (which is defined in the MIDI standard to be 60000000 divided by the tempo in beats per minute). This class should also call the superclass' initializer with the event time and set the event type (a unique string used internally by the software) in the __init__() function. In the case of the tempo event: class tempo(GenericEvent): def __init__(self,time,tempo): GenericEvent.__init__(self,time) self.type = 'tempo' self.tempo = int(60000000 / tempo) Next (and this is an embarrassing break of OO programming) the __eq__() function of the GenericEvent class should be modified so that equality of these types of events can be calculated. In calculating equivalence time is always checked, so two tempo events are considered the same if the have the same tempo value. Thus the following snippet of code from GenericEvent's _eq__() function accomplishes this goal: if self.type == 'tempo': if self.tempo != other.tempo: return False If events are equivalent, the code should return False. If they are not equivalent no return should be called. --------------------------- Create an Accessor Function --------------------------- Next, an accessor function should be added to MIDITrack to create an event of this type. Continuing the example of the tempo event: def addTempo(self,time,tempo): self.eventList.append(MIDITrack.tempo(time,tempo)) The public accessor function is via the MIDIFile object, and must include the track number to which the event is written: def addTempo(self,track,time,tempo): self.tracks[track].addTempo(time,tempo) This is the function you will use in your code to create an event of the desired type. ----------------------- Modify processEventList ----------------------- Next, the logic pertaining to the new event type should be added to processEventList function of the MIDITrack class. In general this code will create a MIDIEvent object and set its type, time, ordinality, and any specific information that is needed for the event type. This object is then added to the MIDIEventList. The ordinality (self.ord) is a number that tells the software how to sequence MIDI events that occur at the same time. The higher the number, the later in the sequence the event will be written in comparison to other, simultaneous events. The relevant section for the tempo event is: elif thing.type == 'tempo': event = MIDIEvent() event.type = "Tempo" event.time = thing.time * TICKSPERBEAT event.tempo = thing.tempo event.ord = 3 self.MIDIEventList.append(event) Thus if other events occur at the same time, type which have an ordinality of 1 or 2 will be written to the stream first. Time needs to be converted from beats (which the accessor function uses) and MIDI time by multiplying by the constant TICKSPERBEAT. The value of thing.type is the unique string you defined above, and event.type is another unique things (they can--and probably should--be the same, although the coding here is a little sloppy and changes case of the string). ---------------------------------------- Write the Event Data to the MIDI Stream ---------------------------------------- The last step is to modify the MIDIFile writeEventsToStream function; here is where some understanding of the MIDI standard is necessary. The following code shows the creation of a MIDI tempo event: elif event.type == "Tempo": code = 0xFF subcode = 0x51 fourbite = struct.pack('>L', event.tempo) threebite = fourbite[1:4] # Just discard the MSB varTime = writeVarLength(event.time) for timeByte in varTime: self.MIDIdata = self.MIDIdata + struct.pack('>B',timeByte) self.MIDIdata = self.MIDIdata + struct.pack('>B',code) self.MIDIdata = self.MIDIdata + struct.pack('>B',subcode) self.MIDIdata = self.MIDIdata + struct.pack('>B', 0x03) self.MIDIdata = self.MIDIdata + threebite The event.type string ("Tempo") was the one chosen in the processEventList logic. The code and subcode are binary values that come from the MIDI specification. Next the data is packed into a three byte structure (or a four byte structure, discarding the most significant byte). Again, the MIDI specification determines the number of bytes used in the data payload. The event time should be converted to MIDI variable-length data with the writeVarLength() function before writing to the stream (as shown above). The MIDI standard utilizes a slightly bizarre variable length data record. In it, only seven bits of a word are used to store data; the eighth bit signifies if more bytes encoding the value follow. The total length may be 1 to 3 bytes, depending upon the size of the value encoded. The writeVarLength() function takes care of this conversion for you. Now the data is written to the binary object self.MIDIdata, which is the actual MIDI-encoded data stream. As per the MIDI standard, first we write our variable-length time value. Next we add the event type code and subcode. Then we write the length of the data payload, which in the case of the tempo event is three bytes. Lastly, we write the actual payload, which has been packed into the variable threebite. Clear as mud!