What is Meridian? Meridian is a MIDI editor for MSX computers. The MIDI editor is implemented as a steptime editor. This means that the notes are not displayed in music score but as events in a grid. This kind of music notation is familliar among MSX users and is often called 'american score notation'.  The rows of the grid are called tracks,  the columns are called steps and 16 steps is called a page. The number of pages depends on the amount of free memory. Click    for a screenshot of the editor.    System requirements Meridian runs on an MSX2 computer or higher with at least 512kB free memory, but 1 MB or more is recommended to work with most of the MIDI files. A MIDI interface like the Philips Music Module or the MSX-MIDI in the MSX Turbo-R is supported. If no MIDI interface is present, the MIDI data will be played on the Opl4. Finally MSX-DOS2 is required. The use of a mouse is recommended, but Meridian can be controlled by keyboard as well.  Meridian can be configured by the file MERIDIAN.INI. This file contains all the preferences of the user according to memory, display, fileformats, etc. The format of the file is ASCII, so it can be edited with a texteditor like TED. Meridian must be launched from BASIC.    What's inside the tool? Windowed user interface, controlled by mouse or keyboard Full support of the GM1 (General MIDI Level 1) standard Supported fileformats: Meridian (RW), Standard MIDI files (RW), Moonblaster (R), Soundtracker (R) Selection functions MIDI playback on the MIDI interface of  the Philips Music Module, MSX-MIDI and the Opl4 (Moonsound) System Exclusive editor MIDI driver editor Lots of editors for the Opl4.  Online help function    Suggestions for the development Meridian has been in development for almost 10 years (started in 1994) and the questions is: will it ever be finished? Well,  perhaps. But for the next few years, it will still be in development. The following item are planned to be implemented: MIDI IN functionallity for realtime MIDI recording. Because Meridian is a MIDI editor, this is a basic feature and must be present. Because MIDI IN is very time critical and the Z80 is not the fastest processor that you can imagine, a lot of work need to be done for this. The MIDI IN support in the Opl4 editors is not a realtime recorder, but an immediate MIDI IN processor, so it cannot be used as such. Because of the support for the Opl4, external wavetabels should be used. This isn't possible yet, but this is the next feature that will be implemented.    Redesign Opl4 sound administration The current approach of the Opl4, especially the PCM ROM, is not sufficient to hold the full GM set as Yamaha intented. This means that the whole administration of the Opl4 sounds needs to be redesigned. The following will be changed: 100 FM-2 tones (in stead of the current 200) 50 FM-4 tones (in stead of the current 100) 330 PCM-ROM tones (just ROM setting, no modifications). 128 PCM-USR tones. 640 Derived PCM tones (ROM and USR. These are modifications on envelopes of existing PCM tones) Why is this redesign necessary? In the 'official' GM set for the Opl4, defined by Yamaha, a lot of PCM-ROM tones are used more than once, each with slide modifications in the envelope parameters. In the current situation, a PCM-ROM tone can only be used with its current setting. Changing envelope parameters will effect on all programs that uses the concerning PCM-ROM tones and this is not what we want.

Menu structure:  (click for a screenshot)    Song    New Initializes Meridian for a new song. The existing song will be deleted. If the song has been modified, a confirmation will follow to save the changes. Properties, MIDI presets, track presets and drum keymaps will be reset. Load   Load a song. Supported fileformats for loading are: Meridian (.MER), Standard MIDI file format #0 and #1 (.MID), Moonblaster (.MBM), Moonblaster for Wave (.MBW) and Soundtracker (.MUS). You can filter on a selected format, but it is also possible to let Meridian determine what format the file has. If the format is not recognized or not supported, an errormessage will follow. Save Save the song if the songname and fileformat are already known. Otherwise the songname and fileformat must be entered first in 'Save as'. Save as   Save the song. Formats for saving are: Meridian (.MER) and Standard MIDI file format #0 and #1. If the entered filename already exists in the current directory, a confirmation to overwrite the file will follow. Properties Display the songname, composer and copyrights of the song. Quit Quit Meridian and returns to BASIC. If the current song has been modified, a confirmation will follow to save the changes.    Edit    Insert new steps Insert empty steps into the current step. You cannot insert steps after the last event. Delete steps Delete steps from the current step. You cannot delete steps after the last event. Copy Copy the selection to the current position. Conditions to copy a selection are: the events to copy must have the same type (MIDI events may not be copied to time events and vice versa), the events may not be copied after the last page and the current position may not be located in the selection. Pressing Ctrl+C will have the same effect. Move Move the selection to the current position. Conditions to move a selection are: the events to move must have the same type (MIDI events may not be moved to time events and vice versa) and the events may not be moved after the last page. Pressing Ctrl+M will have the same effect. Exchange Exchange the selection with the current position. Conditions to exchange a selection are: the events to exchange must have the same type (MIDI events may not be exchanged with time events and vice versa) and the events may not be exchanged after the last page. Pressing Ctrl+X will have the same effect. Clear Clear all events in the selection. Pressing Ctrl+W will have the same effect. Hide Clear the selection definition. Pressing the right mouse button or Ctrl+H will have the same effect. Go to... Jump to a specified location in the song. Possible locations to jump to are: first page, last page, end of song, begin of selection, end of selection or a specified page. Find...   Find specified events. You can look for all possilbe events. This function can be scoped to the current page, to the whole song or to the selection. Find next Repeat the previous findaction.    Play    Play song    Play the whole song. While playing the song or a part of it, a window is shown that contains information about the current play position. It also contains buttons for play, pause, backward and forward playing. Pressing left en right mousebutton simultaniously a popup menu will appear where you can select options to change MIDI presets, track presets, drum keymaps, etc. Play page Play the current page. Play from position Play from current position to the end of the song. Play interval Play a part of the song defined in 'Interval definition'. Interval Define the start and end position of the play interval. Conductor    Change the initial tempo of the song and the timesignature. MIDI interface & timer    Select MIDI interface en MIDI timer. Only the MSX-MIDI (in the Turbo-R FS-GT) and Philips Music Module are supported. Emulate MIDI THRU All MIDI data recieved from the MIDI-OUT will be send immediately to the MIDI-OUT to emulate a MIDI-THRU connection.    Midi    Midi    Set the controllers for the MIDI channels. The function contains 7 pages: Programs - Sets the instruments for the MIDI channels. A MIDI channel can be a voice channel or drum channel. General controllers - Sets volume, pan, pedal, modulation and expression. Send MIDI channels - Mutes a channel, play a channel solo, sets poly/mono and omni. Adjust MIDI channels - Sets the pitchbend, note correction, velocity correction and MIDI channel redirection. User controllers 1..5 - Sets the values for user controllers 1 to 5. User controllers 6..10 - Sets the values for user controllers 6 to 10. RPN controllers - Sets the pitchbend range, fine tuning and coarse tuning. Press F5 to enter this function. Tracks    Assign MIDI channels to the tracks. A MIDI channel can be assigned to several tracks. If no MIDI channel is assigned to a track, then this track will not be played. Press F10 to enter this function. Drum keymap    Assign drums to drumkeys. Press SHIFT+F5 to enter this function. User controllers Define user MIDI controllers. These are extra controllers and can be selected for the specific synthesizer or keyboard to create special soundeffects. Only the controllers that are defined in the driver can be selected. System exclusive    Editor for System Exclusive (SysEx) messages. SysEx messages are synthesizer specific: only the adressed MIDI device will act on the message, other MIDI devices will ignore these. The size of a message is limited to 1MB, depending on how much memory is reserved for SysEx. SysEx messages can be loaded from or stored in .SYX, .MID, .DRV and .MER-files. Load driver Load a driver for a specific MIDI device. Edit driver    Edit a driver for a specific MIDI device. Items that can be edited are: Device name, instrumentbank name, drumbank name, instrument name, drum name, bank controller data, RPN controller data, extra controllers and comment for the driver. After the driver is edited, it can be stored in a .DRV file. Driver information Display the MIDI devicename, programbanks, drumbanks and comments in the driver.    Opl4    2-Operator FM tones    Tone editor to create FM tones that use 2 operators. A lot of parameters can be set for each operator: attack, decay, sustain, release, waveform, vibrato, tremolo, feedback, envelope scaling, brightness, key scale level and synthesis type. Editfunctions to store, copy and restore a tone are available. Tones can be saved and loaded. A testfunction can be applied using F4 and a random generator is built in to create unpredictable tones. Up to 200 2-operator FM tones can be created. 4-Operator FM tones    Tone editor to create FM tones that use 4 operators. The same parameters as descibed above (2-operator FM tones) can be set, but now for 4 operators. Up to 100 4-operator FM tones can be created. PCM tones    Tone editor to create PCM-USR tones and adjust PCM-ROM tones. Parameters to edit a PCM tone are: sample adresses (start, end, loop), attack, decay 1, decay 2, decay level, release, LFO frequency, vibrato, tremolo and envelope scaling. PCM tones can be loaded and saved. For PCM-USR tones, the wavetable can be loaded en saved as well. Editfunctions to store, copy and restore a tone are available. A testfunction can be applied using F4 and a random generator is built in to create unpredictable tones. Opl4 programs    Opl4 program editor. An Opl4 program is a combination of 2-FM, 4-FM and/or PCM tones and is the instrument on the MIDI channel that is used when playing. For each tone a volume correction, pan position, transpose, fine tuning and keywindow can be set. A testfunction can be applied using F4 Opl4 drums    Opl4 drum editor. An Opl4 drum is a combination of 2-FM, 4-FM and/or PCM tones. For each tone a volume correction, pan position, transpose and fine tuning can be set. Load opl4 soundbank Load an Opl4 soundbank. An Opl4 soundbank contains the 200 2-FM tones, 100 4-FM tones, 330 PCM-ROM tones, 128 PCM-USR tones including wavetables, 2 Opl4 programsbanks (128 programs each) and 2 Opl4 drumkits (64 drums each). Save Opl4 soundbank Save an Opl4 soundbank. See 'Load Opl4 soundbank' for more info about an Opl4 soundbank. Opl4 global settings    Sets several parameters for the Opl4: FM-PCM mix (output balance), FM channel select, FM tremolo depth and FM vibrato depth.    Tools    Transpose Transpose notes. The transpose range is limited to 99 semitones up or down. The function can be scoped to the whole song, current page, selection or a specified MIDI channel. Velocity Change the velocity of note events. The change of the velocity can either be relative or fixed. In case of a relative velocitiy change, the entered velocity will be added to the current velocity. If the velocity change is fixed, the current velocity will be replaced by the entered velocity. The function can be scoped to the whole song, current page, selection or a specified MIDI channel. Clear events Clear specified events. The function can be scoped to the whole song, current page, selection or a specified MIDI channel. Order tracks Sort the tracks, sequenced by the assigned MIDI channel.    Option    Directories Define the location for the workdirectory, helpdirectory and systemdirectory. SMF filters Define which MIDI events and MIDI channels will be used when loading or saving a Standard MIDI file. Play filters Define which MIDI messages will be send while playing the song. Display colors Window to change the displaycolors. Attach mouse Rescan the mouse. If you plugged a mouse into one of the ports, use this function to attach it to Meridian. Save configuration Save the current configuration of Meridian in the file MERIDIAN.INI.    Help    Index    Display helpindex. Pressing F6 will have the same effect. What's this Display context sensitive help. Pressing F1 will have the same effect. About    Display the current versionnumber of Meridian.