Announcements

International Computer Music Conference Proceedings On-Line 1998-2001

The full text of the 1998-2001 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) proceedings has been made available on-line. The 1998-2001 proceedings (full-text, author, and abstract) are searchable using basic, Boolean, and proximity searches. The on-line proceedings are currently accessible in the members-only section of the International Computer Music Association (ICMA) Web site at www.computermusic.org. Those interested in becoming members of the ICMA can use the on-line secure credit-card application process. Once credit card payment has been processed, new members will be electronically mailed a log-on and password to the members-only section of the ICMA Web site, giving access to the on-line proceedings.

Start of Distributed MIDI Standard—Transmission Over Ethernet and IEEE 802.11

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standards Association has begun work on a standard to extend the reach of Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) devices by allowing for MIDI transmission over Ethernet and IEEE 802.11 networks. The new standard, IEEE P1639, "Standard for Transmission of Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) Data within Local Area Networks: Distributed MIDI—DMIDI," should be finalized by the end of 2003. It will retain backward compatibility with existing hard-ware and software under the original MIDI specification, which is now 20 years old.

The original MIDI standard allowed for a transmission speed of 31.25 kbaud, which was adequate for a musician to control a small number of MIDI devices. DMIDI will use the current Ethernet-based networking infrastructure to carry MIDI data at transmission speeds as great as 10 Gbit/sec. This speed boost will allow for the full use of such sub-protocols as Downloadable Sounds (DLS) and MIDI Show/Machine Control.

The new standard will increase the number of addressable devices. The original MIDI specification provided 16 channels for devices. DMIDI will allow for nearly 16 million devices, each retaining the existing 16-channel MIDI structure. DMIDI also adds the ability to send meta-messages for enhanced device control.

The standard will optimize DMIDI for low-powered devices. It will specify communication protocols for transmitting MIDI data in Local Area Networks (LANs) and contain low-level protocols and high-level addressing schema for interconnecting MIDI-capable devices over LANs. It also will detail buffering strategies, so traditional MIDI hardware can deal with the higher transmission speeds and so software-based MIDI applications can coexist in the same networking domain as MIDI hardware and still run at full LAN speeds.

Anyone with a technical and manufacturing interest in MIDI is invited to join the IEEE P1639 Distributed MIDI Working Group. Others who might want to join include those who seek to explore DMIDI's creative possibilities and those with expertise in Ethernet-based and wireless LAN networking infrastructures.

For more information on DMIDI, visit www.dmidi.org/. The IEEE Computer Society sponsors IEEE P1639.

GUIDOLib Open Source Project

The GUIDOLib project aims to develop a generic portable library for musical score graphical rendering. This library takes account of the conventional music notation system and should be flexible enough to include any graphical sign and musical information necessary for the contemporary music notation or for any other purpose requiring such extension. The project is to provide a simple API to musical applications that have to deal with graphical score processing. It is based on the GUIDO Music Notation format, but supports alternate formats under the form of converters or plug-ins in order to widen the library use.

The project originates from a work achieved at the Darmstadt University of Technology (Germany) and the University of British Columbia (Canada) by Holger Hoos, Keith Hamel, Jürgen Kilian, and Kai Renz. It is now an open-source project, which can be reached on the Source Forge repository at guidolib.sourceforge.net/.

Those interested in issues regarding music representation are invited to join the project. They may contribute to the standard tasks identified by the project management, as well as to the study of a general suitable API, which is to be discussed on the guidolib-dev mailing list (which can be accessed at lists.sourceforge.net...