Up until now, I've been using [cyclone/seq], [cyclone/midiformat] and [cyclone/midiparse] to read and write MIDI files. They're simple to use, but don't support as many features as [mrpeach/midifile], it seems to me. However, I'm struggling to understand the documentation in the help file. There are lots of examples of the different messages you can send to [midifile], but it isn't always clear in what order they should be sent (btw, I have that complaint about a lot of help files, not just this one). I think that might be the cause of this problem, but I'm not sure. I'm writing to track 0 (I think), but when I read the file, it seems to play all tracks, regardless of which one I specify. The documentation states that you should specify -1 to play back all tracks. But it seems to be doing that anyway, even though I specified track 1 when reading. I think the problem may be that I'm not sending the messages in the correct order.

I understand that the original developer, Martin Peach, passed away a couple of years ago. Is anyone currently maintaining this external?

test-midi-mrpeach.pd

@dfkettle I would expect read/write to be first as they get the file/set the header for writing (MThd).
Then the track.... as that means moving on within the file to the next header for a read, or writing a Track header for a write (MTrk).
Especially as a read/write is going to flush out and replace the last .mid file loaded.
https://faydoc.tripod.com/formats/mid.htm#AppA
David.
P.S. What does your midifile-help file look like?...... is it this one from 2010?
So for a write the track would go between "1" and "2".
For a read it can probably be called at any time after the file is opened........ but certainly not before..
midifile-help.pd

@dfkettle I would expect read/write to be first as they get the file/set the header for writing (MThd).
Then the track.... as that means moving on within the file to the next header for a read, or writing a Track header for a write (MTrk).

That's the order I tried first, but it didn't seem to work. Anyway, I changed it back again to agree with what you suggest, but it still seems to disregard the track number (it plays the track even though I specified track 0 when writing and track 1 when reading. Here's the latest version:

test-midi-mrpeach.pd

P.S. What does your midifile-help file look like?...... is it this one from 2010?
So for a write the track would go between "1" and "2".

Essentially, although it says "Martin Peach, 2010 - 2018" on mine. However, I'm wondering now how I would create a file with more than one track, if you have to specify the track number between steps "1" and "2". (in other words, before you start recording). Can you change the track number after you've started recording? How could you create two tracks that play at the same time? Maybe that isn't even supported by this library.

EDIT: Does the 'flush' message close the file after writing? I don't see anything in the help file about a 'close' message, so I'm assuming it does.

@dfkettle So you have the Martin Peach 2018 files through Deken.
I had been trying raw mode..... hex messages into [midifile] to set the headers.... but it was unrewarding hard work. Martin had mentioned the meta messages on the list though, and they are in the 2018 help file.
I have played a little with them this afternoon and have not so far been able to ascertain what exactly is required but....... I did get multiple tracks, although they are not named.
Open the .mid file
Then send into [midifile] [meta 0 678( ...... could maybe be [meta 0 0(......??
Then [meta 0 679( ...... again, could be [meta 0 1( ......?
Then [meta 3 woof( .........or whatever name you want but it doesn't seem to give a name.
Then [meta 3 lala( ...... same as above)
Then start recording and send [track 0( and send in some notes.
Then send [track 1( and some notes.

That gave me 2 tracks but a load of "no running status" messages
I haven't tried the other [meta f s( messages yet.

Yes [flush( closes the file after writing and although Martin Peach mentioned on the Pdlist needing to rewind before writing that doesn't seem necessary.
David.

@whale-av said:

@dfkettle So you have the Martin Peach 2018 files through Deken.

Yes, I installed it through Deken. Isn't that the latest version?

Martin had mentioned the meta messages on the list though, and they are in the 2018 help file.

I haven't tried any of the meta messages yet, although I'm going to eventually. I'm just using [track n( messages to set the track no.

I have played a little with them this afternoon and have not so far been able to ascertain what exactly is required but....... I did get multiple tracks, although they are not named.
Open the .mid file
Then send into [midifile] [meta 0 678( ...... could maybe be [meta 0 0(......??
Then [meta 0 679( ...... again, could be [meta 0 1( ......?
Then [meta 3 woof( .........or whatever name you want but it doesn't seem to give a name.
Then [meta 3 lala( ...... same as above)
Then start recording and send [track 0( and send in some notes.
Then send [track 1( and some notes.

That gave me 2 tracks but a load of "no running status" messages
I haven't tried the other [meta f s( messages yet.

I think I asked earlier, but is anyone maintaining his code? Is there a github repository where I can ask questions?

Alternatively, is there any other external that I could use instead of Cyclone or MrPeach to record and save MIDI data? I've reverted to using Cyclone for now, but it seems to me that the last MIDI event sometimes gets dropped in the saved file. There's no "flush" function in [cyclone/seq], afaik. Is it possible that all the data isn't getting written to the file?

@dfkettle You could try chakekatzil@gmail.com although it might be best to make contact through the list....... https://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
David.