Xpmidi+

An improved version of xpmidi, a tkinter frontend for pmidi or aplaymidi.

Functions

Original xpmidi's functions

• MIDI playback via aplaymidi or pmidi
• Playlists / Favorite directories function
• PDF display
  • Xpmidi can display music score without any operations (You must prepare the .pdf file of the score)

Xpmidi+'s additional functions / features

• Send System Exclusive message before each playback to reset tone generator
  • Preset: GM System ON, GS Reset, XG System ON
  • If you want to use other System Exclusive or some reset messages, you can set any MIDI file to sent
• Continuous playback (whole files of directory / playlist)
  • Original xpmidi doesn't have this...
• Bug fixes
• UI enhancement

System Requirements

Xpmidi+ needs following programs:

• MIDI player e.g. aplaymidi or pmidi
• Python 3 or greater
• tcl/tk and tkinter

Usage

Just execute xpmidiplus.py script. No instllation is needed.

Basic usage of xpmidiplus.py

1. You must set proper MIDI port number in the "Player Options". See the Settings section.

2. Click "Open Dir" button and select the directory contains .mid files.

3. Double click some .mid file and the file will be played.

How to use "PDF Display" function

Put PDF files in the same directory as MIDI files, and specify the PDF viewer in the Settings dialog.

To be written in detailed.

Settings

You can set following options in the "Settings" screen.

MIDI Playback Options

• MIDI Player

  • MIDI player's name. aplaymidi and pmidi are supported.

• Player Options

  • MIDI player's option.
  • -p option (MIDI port) is specified by default. You can check ports by pmidi -l or aplaymidi -l commands.

• System Exclusive

  • System Exclusive to send tone generators before each playback.
  • [Specified System Exclusive].mid file in the sysex directory will be used. Preset: GM, GS and XG.
  • If you want to use another system exclusive, you can add any files in the sysex directory, and specify the name in this field.

UI Options

• Foreground Color / Background Color
  • Color of xpmidi+'s screen.

PDF Options

• PDF Display / PDF Options
  • PDF viewer's name e.g. evince and command line options to the PDF viewer.

Command Line Options

(This chapter was just copied from original xpmidi's README. To be revised)

xpmidi recognizes the following on the command line:

-v Prints the version number and exits

DIRNAME - you can pass a single directory name on the command line. This is scanned of midi file (actually, any names ending in '.mid'). The filenames are displayed in the selector. Only 1 directory name can be used.

FILES - you can supply one or more midi filenames instead of a directory.

You can't mix FILES and DIRNAME on the command line.

Settings File (~/.xpmidiplus.json)

Xpmidi+ stores settings in the json file ~/.xpmidiplus.json.

Bugs and Issues

• User interface is not good
  • Original xpmidi works well, but I was dissatisfied with the original UI... That was why I developing xpmidi+
  • Current xpmidi+ is much the same as original.

Contacts

Xpmidi+ is written by tuxjunky [email protected].

Original xpmidi is written by Bob van der Poel [email protected]. Original program can be obtained from http://www.mellowood.ca.

Copyright and License

Xpmidi+ is copyright tuxjunky, 2013. The original program xpmidi is copyright Robert van der Poel, 2003-2009.

The original xpmidi is distributed under GPLv2, and xpmidi+ follows it. (See the COPYING file)