RtMidi

A set of C++ classes that provide a common API for realtime MIDI input/output across Linux (ALSA & JACK), Macintosh OS X (CoreMIDI & JACK) and Windows (Multimedia).

By Gary P. Scavone, 2003-2019.

This distribution of RtMidi contains the following:

• doc: RtMidi documentation (also online at http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~gary/rtmidi/)
• tests: example RtMidi programs

On Unix systems, type ./configure in the top level directory, then make in the tests/ directory to compile the test programs. In Windows, open the Visual C++ workspace file located in the tests/ directory.

If you checked out the code from git, please run ./autogen.sh before ./configure.

Overview

RtMidi is a set of C++ classes (RtMidiIn, RtMidiOut, and API specific classes) that provide a common API (Application Programming Interface) for realtime MIDI input/output across Linux (ALSA, JACK), Macintosh OS X (CoreMIDI, JACK), and Windows (Multimedia Library) operating systems. RtMidi significantly simplifies the process of interacting with computer MIDI hardware and software. It was designed with the following goals:

• object oriented C++ design
• simple, common API across all supported platforms
• only one header and one source file for easy inclusion in programming projects
• MIDI device enumeration

MIDI input and output functionality are separated into two classes, RtMidiIn and RtMidiOut. Each class instance supports only a single MIDI connection. RtMidi does not provide timing functionality (i.e., output messages are sent immediately). Input messages are timestamped with delta times in seconds (via a double floating point type). MIDI data is passed to the user as raw bytes using an std::vector<unsigned char>.

Windows

In some cases, for example to use RtMidi with GS Synth, it may be necessary for your program to call CoInitializeEx and CoUninitialize on entry to and exit from the thread that uses RtMidi.

Further reading

For complete documentation on RtMidi, see the doc directory of the distribution or surf to http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~gary/rtmidi/.

Legal and ethical

The RtMidi license is similar to the MIT License, with the added feature that modifications be sent to the developer.

RtMidi: realtime MIDI i/o C++ classes
Copyright (c) 2003-2019 Gary P. Scavone

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files
(the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction,
including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge,
publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software,
and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so,
subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

Any person wishing to distribute modifications to the Software is
asked to send the modifications to the original developer so that
they can be incorporated into the canonical version.  This is,
however, not a binding provision of this license.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR
ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF
CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.