synthImprov Environment

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synthImprov is an environment which handles MIDI input/output between the computer and an external MIDI synthesizer/keyboard. Example uses of the environment are given in the synthImprov examples directory. There is currently one Windows 95 console interface for the synthImprov environment which is described further below.

User functions:

There are five functions which must be defined by the user in the synthImprov environment (although they can be defined as blank):

void keyboardchar(int key);

This function is called whenever a key on the computer keyboard is pressed. (Except for characters used for the main envorinment commands). All keys which do not need the shift key can be used, since the shifted keys may be used by a particular interface to the synthImprov environment.



void mainloopalgorithms(void);

This function is called as often as possible while the program is running.



void initialization(void);

This function is called once when the program is started.



void finishup(void);

This function is called once just before the program is Quit.



void description(void);

This function should be filled in so that your program has value to other people other than yourself (or to yourself after a day). In the default console interface, this function is called whenever the uppercase "D" is pressed on the computer keyboard.

Global variables:

There are two global variables accessible in the synthImprov environment:

Synthesizer synth;

The MIDI I/O interface to the synthesizer. This C++ object defines the basic MIDI input/output functions which are described in the documentation for the Synthesizer class, such as commands to play notes, send continuous controllers, pitchbend, or patch changes.



long t_time;

A timer that keeps track of time in milliseconds (1/1000 of a second). t_time is updated just before calling the mainloopalgorithms function. Its value does not change during one iteration of the mainloopalgorithms.

Shown below is a schematic of the device connections inteneded for the synthImprov environment. Note that the global object synth listed above represents a MIDI synthesizer/keyboard as shown in the figure below.

Program template:

The basic structure of a synthImprov program is shown below. You must: (1) include a particular synthImprov interface (in this case the default "synthImprov.h" interface, and (2) define the five user functions (which are defined to be empty). See the synthImprov examples for examples of what to put into the function definitions below.

          #include "synthImprov.h" 

          void description(void) { } 
          void initialization(void) { }
          void finishup(void) { }
          void mainloopalgorithms(void) { }
          void keyboardchar(int key) { }

Here is a template file which you can use to create a synthImprov program: synthTemplate.cpp

Default console interface for the synthImprov environment

The default console interface for the synthImprov environment can be loaded into the synthImprov program by adding the preprocessor line:

      #include "synthImprov.h"

synthImprov Console Interface Commands:

"?"	Print Main list of interface commands
"C"	Set the apparent speed of the CPU (for timing functions)
"D"	Display user-provided description
"I"	Set MIDI input port for synthesizer
"M"	Print more commands that are not shown by the '?' command.
"O"	Set MIDI output port for synthesizer
"Q"	Quit the program
"S"	Silence the synthesizer
"X"	Toggle MIDI output trace
"Y"	Toggle MIDI input trace