Instruments in javax.sound.midi

[Timothy Stone]

I think December a year ago is the last time some one posted about a topic from this package, javax.sound.midi.*
I'm trying to expand on the work and examples provided in Head First Java by Sierra-Bates.
The Beat Box program that is built incremently in the book provides Drums. But how are the various drums determined. I cannot find any documentation on the types of instruments, be it piano, guitar, or drum.
How are the ints matched to drums? For instance, 35 seems to be a piano key, but it can also be a sax? Is there a list of instruments?
Thanks,
Tim

[SJ Adnams]

you need to read about system exclusive commands. and read your midi expander handbook sc-88 et al.

[Timothy Stone]

Originally posted by Simon Lee:
you need to read about system exclusive commands. and read your midi expander handbook sc-88 et al.

Okay...thank you for the reply, but it is very cryptic. System exclusive commands? MIDI expander Handbook, SC-88?
Extrapolating here, but I assume there is some documentation on the JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/audio/soundbank.gm that is default? If there is, I can't find it and it seemed to be a mystery to Sierra-Bates, as they don't explain it in the book, just provide examples of working code.

 1. ShortMessage change = new ShortMessage();
 2. change.setMessage( ShortMessage.PROGRAM_CHANGE, 1, 32, 0 );
 3. MidiEvent changeInstrument( change, 1 );
 4. track.add( changeInstrument );
 5.
 6. ShortMessage a = new ShortMessage();
 7. a.setMessage( ShortMessage.NOTE_ON, 1, 40, 100 );
 8. MidiEvent noteOn( a, 1 );
 9. track.add( noteOn );
10.
11. ShortMessage b = new ShortMessage();
12. b.setMessage( ShortMessage.NOTE_OFF, 1, 40, 100 );
13. MidiEvent noteOn( b, 1 );
14. track.add( noteOff );

Where's the legend to what 32 (Line 2) means when played in channel 1 vs. channel 9? I understand that the note scale runs from 0 thru 127 (Lines 7 & 12).
The Java Sound pages at http://java.sun.com/products/java-media/sound/index.html has nothing, that I can find. It seems strangely undocumented. I'm not a sound engineer, I'm not a musican, I'm just a guy that wants to know the "why" something works.
Thanks,
Tim

[Timothy Stone]

import javax.sound.midi.*;
public class InstrumentsTest {
    public static void main( String[] args ) {
        try {
            Synthesizer synth = MidiSystem.getSynthesizer();
            synth.open();
            Instrument[] instruments = synth.getAvailableInstruments();
            if( synth.loadAllInstruments( synth.getDefaultSoundbank() ) ) {
                System.out.println( "There are " + instruments.length + " instruments." );
            }
            for( int i = 0; i < instruments.length; i++ ) {
                System.out.print( instruments[i].getName() + " >> ");
                System.out.println( instruments[i].getPatch().getProgram() + "::" +
                                    instruments[i].getPatch().getBank() );
            }
        } catch( MidiUnavailableException mue ) {
            // ignore
        }
    }
}

Thanks for assisting however...
Tim

[ce orto]

I know that it's a 2003 thread.

Where is the list of what instruments are all available under the third argument of setMessage:

 first.setMessage(192,1,58,0); 

Yes, I've looked at FAQ_MIDI (here and here).