NiCMidi 1.1.0
A MIDI library derived from J.D.Koftinoff jdksmidi
Numbering conventions

In the MIDI standard, channels are numbered from 1 to 16, while in messages they are represented by 4-bit numbers (therefore from 0 to 15).

This can be confusing, so the user needs to understand the various numbering conventions used in NicMidi.

  • MIDI channels: all library functions accept as parameters and return numbers in the range 0 ... 15. You must take this into account in many methods of the MIDIMessage class, in which you get or set the message channel number. There are few exceptions in methods which print a readable form of the messages content: the method MIDIMessage::MsgToText(bool chan_from_1 = false) has a default parameter which determines if the messages channel number is printed in the range 0 ... 15 or 1 ... 16. In the file dump_tracks.h is defined a global method SetChanFrom(unsigned char c) which determines the behaviour of the helper functions contained there. The MIDIProcessorPrinter class has a similar method for setting the numbering of MIDI channels (from 0 or from 1).
  • Sequencer tracks: they are numbered from 0. Since usually in a MIDI song the first track is the conductor track and the others are channel tracks we will have channel 1 (actually 0) on track 1, channel 2 (1) on track 2 and so on.
  • Measures and beats: these are also numbered from 0, while in musical notation they usually start from 1. So in a 4/4 song the measures and beats will be numbered 0:0, 0:1, 0:2, 0:3, 1:0, 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 etc. The user must adapt these to the usual notation. You must take this into account in many methods of the MIDISequencer class, such as MIDISequencer::GoToMeasure() or MIDISequencer::GetCurrentMeasure(). The MIDISequencerGUINotifierText has a method for setting the measure and beat numbering when it outputs the description of an event.
  • MIDI ports: are numbered from 0. This is the id number assigned them by the OS and therefore should not be a problem.
  • Other MIDI parameters: are numbered as in MIDI standard, in the range 0 ... 127 (0x00 ... 0x7f) if 7-bit unsigned (as note number, program number, controller amount, ecc.). Pitch wheel amount is a 14-bit signed number (from -8192 to 8191).

The example files show how to adapt the input and output of the library functions to the usual conventions.