Customer Reviews

Beyond MIDI: The Handbook of Musical Codes

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The purpose of this book is to provide a general description, with encoded examples, of numerous ways of representing music in the computer. This book is a collection of chapters by different authors each describing a musical code, usually the format of an input or data file for a music program. There is usually not enough information given to make a comprehensive description, but enough information is presented so that the reader has a good idea of what each code is like and can probably implement an interpreter of a reasonable functionality. Readers looking for a description of a particular code would be advised to check first, as there are some notable omissions. This is not an inadequacy on the part of the publishers, as obtaining permission can be difficult. It is also possible that there are important omissions due more to the editors not knowing of the existence of particular codes. A more serious flaw is the fact that the chapters were contributed over a number of years and some of the earlier ones, including contact details, were not updated prior to printing.
The book distinguishes between three types of musical codes, depending on whether its primary function is to play sound, to produce printed notation, or to aid in analysis and research. It also describes some proposed interchange formats. The descriptions are authoritative wherever possible, being obtained from the authors of the programs in question or other experts. There are some annoying 'typos' such as swapped or missing examples and incorrect appendix definitions, but they should be obvious enough not to mislead many readers. The inclusion of English Braille and the proposed New International Standard, although unexpected, is to be commended.
The book concludes with a section entitled "Reflections", which seems to equate "difficult" with "impossible" in an alarming way. Despite the title of the section, I don't think that it is clear enough that the reader has now left the factual world of file formats where "this byte does that" and is entering that of opinion, mostly about interchange possibilities. There are also some guidelines for those who find it necessary to write a new music code.
This book is essential reading for anyone writing their own music program or devising their own "musical code". The book has a website that includes errata, updates and complementary material for different chapters, and a list of links to other sites dealing with musical codes. Since Amazon usually throws out reviews with web addresses in them, suffice it to say that you need to type "CCARH Publications Books" into Google, and the first address you see will show a list of websites for books, and this book should be the first in the short list shown.