Shop top categories that ship internationally
See All Buying Options
Added to

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Paul Messick
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Maximum MIDI : Music Applications in C++

by Paul Messick (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 12 ratings
See all formats and editions
More than a dozen example programs, along with ToolKit's source code, gives programmers everything they need to develop music computer programs using Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI).
Previous slide of product details
  1. ISBN-10
    1884777449
  2. ISBN-13
    978-1884777448
  3. Publisher
    Manning Pubns Co
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1997
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    7.25 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
  7. Print length
    460 pages
  8. See all details
Next slide of product details

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
12 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • Denis L. Baggi
    3.0 out of 5 stars Too bad for the flaws in a great book
    Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2000
    Verified Purchase
    It is too bad that a book so carefully written and well explained as this one is plagued by two major flaws:
    1) the reader/user is forced to use Messick's toolkit. It has to be said that it works: everything in the companion CD runs and compiles, including the example sequencer. But that's not what I, among others, expected: I expected an in-depth treatment of the standard VC/C++ MIDI primitives and functions, out of which to build my own applications. I could show that it's possible to do so, I have started with a few examples. Hence the book is not useful for someone who wants to start from scratch.
    2) The method for the timing is a kludge. I follow Messick's reasoning that multitasking systems like Windows do not garantee precise timing, but not his solution to use 16-bit, Win3.x thunks. That is a non-universal trick - which e.g. won't work for NT. Now I am not familiar enough with the innards of Microsoft systems to suggest an alternative solution, but I am sure there is a better one. After all, there are plenty of other sequencers (Cakewalk?) that work under all of them. In UNIX, you'd write a driver with sections of code that are shielded from any interrupt and run in real time - in addition, 2.9 BSD has the ``rtp'' (real time process) system call that locks a process, and earlier machines allowed direct access to the clock from a C program.
    To conclude, the book is great if one wants to follow what Messick has done - one may suspect he developed that toolkit for some other reason and then decided to make an extra buck by plublishing it - but it's not " the programmer's definitive source of information for developing MIDI-based Windows 95 applications." And that's too bad because, given the scant documentation by Microsoft, there is ample need for such a book.
    12 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • TonyS
    5.0 out of 5 stars Informative, Empowering, Amusing, Just plain good!
    Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2001
    Verified Purchase
    First a note. The main purpose of this book is twofold. It's a good introduction to MIDI and using it in windows 95/98, but it doesn't go into detail of how windows does everything. Rather its a documentation for a library of functions that do all the hard work for you and let you get on with writing good MIDI applications. The source code is provided and the author leaves a VERY generous lisence on the software, allowing you to do nearly anything with it!
    Now a word on the writing. This book is perfect, the author uses subtle humor to keep the reading light, but not so much as to make it pathetic. He keeps the tone of the book informal, more as a friend explaining something than a professor lecturing. Despite being filled with facts and details and source code, the book reads like a novel.
    The chapter that simply describes an overview of the MIDI spec. makes for a great intro to MIDI, even for people who have been using it for years. If you ever plan on learning anything about MIDI and how to write computer programs that use it, buy this book.
    6 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Low level electronics guy
    4.0 out of 5 stars A few notches above
    Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Excellent book. Very thouroughly and well explained.
    From my background, it will take some time and effort to learn all that is offered.
    As nowadays you can't get rid of microprocessors, the principles on this book, are well worth the time spent with it. Even if
    you are not a full time programmer.
    Helpful
     Report
  • L. Armstrong
    3.0 out of 5 stars Not for the novice
    Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2008
    Verified Purchase
    I don't recommend this book for the novice. Like others who have reviewed this book, it seems more of an explanation of how to use Paul's higher level routines than a down to earth book on how to understand or write your own MIDI program.
    But it's still probably the best book of it's kind out there, if you can even find another one. Getting any information out of those who know how to write a MIDI program is like pulling teeth. They either don't have the ability to explain it to anyone else, or they're hording the knowledge to keep down any competition. (kind of like an economist, no one can understand them...remember Economics class?)
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Pianista
    5.0 out of 5 stars USEFULL
    Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Very usefull !
    Helpful
     Report
  • spbm@uk.ibm.com
    5.0 out of 5 stars You use Windows? You want to USE MIDI? You want Maximum MIDI
    Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 1997
    I hate computer books. They are all over two inches thick, and cost their weight in gold, but most of them are only worth their weight in paper.
    However, there is always an exception, and Paul Messick's 'Maximum Midi' is it. It's a GOOD book. You know, like Citizen Kane is a GOOD film.
    I can now write MIDI applications in Windows. I feel like a bit of an expert. My first sequencer already loads, saves, plays and records. I've got time to concentrate on making it highly usable.
    The author assumes that you or I, the reader, is intelligent. There's no assumption that you are a C++ whizz, or an electronics genius; just intelligent, and consequently ideas are explained from first principles by a writer who obviously knows his stuff well enough that he doesn't have to prove it by using long words and big ideas.
    But from first priciples comes lasting knowledge, and by the time the author moves on to explain the less pretty bits of MIDI implementation you realise that you UNDERSTAND everything that's gone before. The learning curve is so smooth, you don't realise you're climbing.
    But you are climbing, and quite rapidly at that. If ,like me, you read the book from cover to cover (some books just make you want to do that, don't they) by half-way through you KNOW what Sysex is, and how it works, and what's good about it, and why you have to be careful with it. You KNOW why Windows 95 makes timing algorithms difficult, and how to get around it. By this stage you also know that on the CD of the book, there is a toolkit.
    The toolkit contains functions that allow you to use MIDI in your programs, without also having to care about 'callbacks', 'thunks' or anything else that gives you a headache. (They are explained lucidly, but kept at a safe distance). Midi Input/Output, synchronisation and reading and writing of standard MIDI files are all introduced, fully explained and, finally, implemented in the toolkit. Although you now feel that could write your sequencer, or patch editor, or desk automator from the bottom up, it's nice to know you don't have to. The toolkit is there, it's tested, it works and it's royalty free. There is no reason not to use it. (It's provided as a pair of DLLs, so you can use it from any language. I'm now calling it from Delphi, and hardly knew what a DLL was before reading this book. A set of C++ classes encapsulate the toolkit's functions into a higher level, and very useful form).
    Don't you just loathe getting to page 800 of 'Mastering your Scroll-Lock key' and realising you learned as much from the introductory chapter as you have from the rest of the book. Well, Mr Messick's book (a mere 1.3 inches thick, if that's important to you!) is full of new knowledge from cover to cover, even the margins are sometimes used for 'by the way...' type information. For once, a publisher has realised that their readers are not fooled by the 'never mind the quality, feel the width' spin.
    Any useful book review has balance, so here it is: 'Silicon Etching for Dummies' and 'Adjusting your Windows Colour scheme in 21 days' are very bad. 'Maximum Midi' is very good. Is that balanced enough for you?
    Paul Spbm Clarke
    10 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Amazon Customer
    3.0 out of 5 stars A good book on Midi fundamentals
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 27, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    A good book on Midi fundamentals, but it is written for Win 95, so the examples are kind of obsolete.
    Report