AMIDI(1) General Commands Manual AMIDI(1)
NAME
amidi - read from and write to ALSA RawMIDI ports
SYNOPSIS
amidi [-p port] [-s file | -S data] [-r file] [-d] [-t seconds] [-a]
DESCRIPTION
amidi is a command-line utility which allows one to receive and send Sy-
sEx (system exclusive) data from/to external MIDI devices. It can also
send any other MIDI commands.
amidi handles only files containing raw MIDI commands, without timing
information. amidi does not support Standard MIDI (.mid) files, but
aplaymidi(1) and arecordmidi(1) do.
OPTIONS
Use the -h, -V, -l, or -L options to display information; or use at
least one of the -s, -r, -S, or -d options to specify what data to send
or receive.
-h, --help
Help: prints a list of options.
-V, --version
Prints the current version.
-l, --list-devices
Prints a list of all hardware MIDI ports.
-L, --list-rawmidis
Prints all RawMIDI definitions. (used when debugging configura-
tion files)
-p, --port=name
Sets the name of the ALSA RawMIDI port to use. If this is not
specified, amidi uses the default port defined in the configura-
tion file (the default for this is port 0 on card 0, which may
not exist).
-s, --send=filename
Sends the contents of the specified file to the MIDI port. The
file must contain raw MIDI commands (e.g. a .syx file); for Stan-
dard MIDI (.mid) files, use aplaymidi(1).
-r, --receive=filename
Writes data received from the MIDI port into the specified file.
The file will contain raw MIDI commands (such as in a .syx file);
to record a Standard MIDI (.mid) file, use arecordmidi(1).
amidi will filter out any Active Sensing and Clock bytes (FEh,
F8h), unless the -a or -c options have been given.
-S, --send-hex="..."
Sends the bytes specified as hexadecimal numbers to the MIDI
port.
-d, --dump
Prints data received from the MIDI port as hexadecimal bytes.
Active Sensing and Clock bytes (FEh, F8h) will not be shown, un-
less the -a or -c options have been given.
This option is useful for debugging.
-t, --timeout=seconds
Stops receiving data when no data has been received for the spec-
ified amount of time.
If this option has not been given, you must press Ctrl+C (or kill
amidi) to stop receiving data.
-a, --active-sensing
Does not ignore Active Sensing bytes (FEh) when saving or print-
ing received MIDI commands.
-c, --clock
Does not ignore Clock bytes (F8h) when saving or printing re-
ceived MIDI commands.
-i, --sysex-interval=mseconds
Adds a delay in between each SysEx message sent to a device. It
is useful when sending firmware updates via SysEx messages to a
remote device.
EXAMPLES
amidi -p hw:0 -s my_settings.syx
will send the MIDI commands in my_settings.syx to port hw:0.
amidi -p hw:1,0,0 -s firmware.syx -i 100
will send the MIDI commands in firmware.syx to port hw:1,0,0 with
100 milliseconds delay in between each SysEx message.
amidi -S 'F0 43 10 4C 00 00 7E 00 F7'
sends an XG Reset to the default port.
amidi -p hw:1,2 -S F0411042110C000000000074F7 -r dump.syx -t 1
sends a “Parameter Dump Request” to a GS device, saves the re-
ceived parameter data to the file dump.syx, and stops after the
device has finished sending data (when no data has been received
for one second).
amidi -p virtual -d
creates a virtual RawMIDI port and prints all data sent to this
port.
FILES
/usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf default rawmidi definitions
/etc/asound.conf system-wide rawmidi definitions
~/.asoundrc user specific rawmidi definitions
SEE ALSO
aplaymidi(1)
arecordmidi(1)
AUTHOR
Clemens Ladisch <clemens@ladisch.de>
30 Aug 2016 AMIDI(1)
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