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A Guide To The MIDI Messaging Protocol in Two Pages: by Jeff Russ 2015

1) MIDI messages are 3 bytes - a status byte followed by two data bytes. The status byte identifies the type of message and channel. 2) Common status types include note on/off (80-90), control change (B0-BF), program change (C0-CF), and pitch bend (E0-EF). 3) Data bytes provide parameters like note number, controller number/value, program number, or pitch bend value. Some messages like program change only use one data byte.

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16K views2 pages

A Guide To The MIDI Messaging Protocol in Two Pages: by Jeff Russ 2015

1) MIDI messages are 3 bytes - a status byte followed by two data bytes. The status byte identifies the type of message and channel. 2) Common status types include note on/off (80-90), control change (B0-BF), program change (C0-CF), and pitch bend (E0-EF). 3) Data bytes provide parameters like note number, controller number/value, program number, or pitch bend value. Some messages like program change only use one data byte.

Uploaded by

jpcote
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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A Guide to the MIDI Messaging Protocol in Two Pages

by Jeff Russ 2015

A complete MIDI message

Each midi message is 3 bytes long: 1 status byte followed by 2 data bytes.
The first bit of each byte is used to identify whether it's a status byte or a data byte.
All status bytes begin with 1 and all data byte begin with 0

1??? ???? 0??? ???? 0??? ????

There for in hex the status byte is 80 and up and the data byte is 7F and down

Status's:

For statuses 80 … EF, The second hex digit in the status message is the
channel number. The 16 MIDI channels map out to 0 through F.

example: 80 … 8F are all note off commands for each of the 16 MIDI channels.

The first hex digit specifies what kind of message it it. Statuses beginning with 8 through E
(7 possible values) are channel-specific messages. The first hex is the type of message and
the second hex is the channel. F0 … FF map to various global and sysex messages.

Status 80 … EF

8_ note off
9_ note on
A_ poly aftertouch
B_ control/mode change
C_ program change
D_ channel aftertouch
E_ pitch bend

Status F0 … FF

FO System Exclusive F8 Timing clock


F1 MIDI Time Code Qtr. Fram F9 Undefined (Reserved)
F2 Song Position Pointer FA Start
F3 Song Select (Song #) FB Continue
F4 Undefined (Reserved) FC Stop
F5 Undefined (Reserved) FD Undefined (Reserved)
F6 Tune request FE Active Sensing
F7 end of SysEx (EOX) FF System Reset

Close look at Data Bytes

Since data bytes waste the first bit, making it 0, we have 128 possible values
Which is 7-bit:

00 … 7F which is 0 … 127 in decimal

Close look at status 80 … AF The polyphonic messages

The first 3 types of messages are polyphonic. The second byte (1st data byte) specifies the note.
Since the first bit is wasted, we have 7 bits which gives us 128 values and 128 different notes.

____Status Byte_____|_Data Byte 1__ |_Data Byte 2__


| |
8_ note off | note (0-127) |Velocity (0-127)
9_ note on | note (0-127) |Velocity (0-127)
A_ poly aftertouch | note (0-127) |Pressure (0-127)

Close look at status B0 … BF The control change (CC) messages

____Status Byte_____|_Data Byte 1__ |_Data Byte 2__


| |
B_ CC message | CC# (0-127) | CC Value (0-127)
Most Defined (and therefore most used) Control Changes (CC numbers)
0 Bank Select (MSB) (followed by cc32 & Program Change)
1 Modulation Wheel
4 Foot Pedal (MSB)
6 Data Entry (MSB if you follow cc100=0 & cc101=0 this is pitch bend range
7 Volume (MSB) Note: CC7 and 11 both adjust the volume.
Use cc7 as you would the control on the amplifier -
set it and leave it at the beginning of the MIDI track
10 Pan position(MSB)
11 Expression (MSB) Note: CC7 and 11 both adjust the volume. Use cc11 for volume
changes during the track (crescendo, diminuendo,
32 Bank Select (LSB) (see cc0)
64 Hold Pedal (on/off) Nearly every synth will react to 64 (sustain pedal)
65 Portamento (on/off)
71 Resonance (aka Timbre)
74 Frequency Cutoff (aka Brightness )
91 Reverb Level
93 Chorus Level

It's probably best not to use the group below for assigning controllers.
96 Data Button increment 97 Data Button decrement
98 Non-registered Parameter (LSB) 99 Non-registered Parameter (MSB)
100 Registered Parameter (LSB) 101 Registered Parameter (MSB)

Do not use these no matter what unless you want to invoke these functions
120 All Sound Off 121 All Controllers Off
122 Local Keyboard (on/off) You might actually crash your keyboard.
123 All Notes Off

Close look at status C0 … DF Program Change and Monophonic Aftertouch

None of these messages used the last byte aka the second data byte. Therefore they simply
Identify themselves as a Program Change message (C_) or Aftertouch (D_)
followed by the channel number in placed of _.

____Status Byte_____|_Data Byte 1__ |_Data Byte 2__


| |
C_ Program Change |Program(0-127) | none
D_ Aftertouch |Pressure(0-127)| none

Close look at status E0 … EF Pitch Bend (14-bit ! )

Pitch bend is unusual in that it uses both of the data bytes to get finer resolution. The first bits are
of course still wasted but that leaves us with 14 bits to work which is 16,384 possible
values instead of 128. If a pitch bend wheel were to span two octaves, one up and one down,
we would have 682 possible values per half step which is 7 per each cent. Not bad!

____Status Byte_____|_Data Byte 1__ |_Data Byte 2__


| |
E_ Pitch Bend | LSB (0-127) | MSB (0-127)

Overview of status 80 … EF Channel Data

Here is a full message for the a middle C in channel 1 with a velocity of 60:

90 3C 3C

Here is the note off message for that same note:

80 3C 3C

Note that our velocity is not zero as it typically is for a "note off message."
This is that way for the rarely used feature of MIDI called aftertouch.
This can cause hanging notes on systems that expect a velocity of 00 to
turn off a note. It's advised to always send note off message as 8_ __ 00
unless you are dealing with a target that supports aftertouch.

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