Midi Type 1 and Type 0
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Posted by Bill Bittel on May 20, 2001 at 09:03:10:
I am new to Midi. I just bought a Kurzweil Mark 112i (like a Mark 152 but smaller). I can download tons of midi files from the net. I can copy them to a 1.4mb floppy and stick it into the drive on the Kurz. Many of the songs will play right off the disc -Midi type 0 songs. If they are Midi type 1, I get an error message - can't play off disc - try loading into memory. I can do this with small files (under 50k). I can then re-save them back to the floppy, specifying to save as Midi type 0 and all is fine. I can then play them (since they are now Midi type 0)directly from the disc. Larger Midi type 1 files (100K or so)take FOREVER to load in and somewhere in the middle I get an error telling me the Kurz is out of memory. It seems to have 1 Meg of Ram to hold up to 16 midi songs (16 tracks each), Kurz "styles" custom organ drawbar settings and some other misc stuff. I clear ALL that out to make the max RAM available and a 100K Midi type 1 file will still not load - not enough memory. So here are my questions.
1 - What is the difference between Midi type 0 and type 1 files ?
2 - Is there a conversion utility that will convert type 1 to type 0 ?
3 - Why do type 1 files seem to need so much memory in the Kurz ?
4 - Why would anyone use a 1.4mb floppy as a data exchange medium in 2001. The big Roland digital grands use the same format. Why not put in a Compact Flash or PC card slot, or smart media, or a zip drive, or a clik drive, or a CD R/W drive. Then put a nice big (30 gig) Hard drive inside to dump the data too. What could it add to the cost of the system - $200 or so ??
5 - Why would anyone provide 1 meg of Ram in 2001 ? Why not at least 16 meg, or 64 ?
Sorry for long post. All responses appreciated. You can respond here or email me at wbittel@cfl.rr.com
Thanks