Liquid Silicon

Back to Index Order form

We have taken over development of ESP's MIDI, MIDISupport and related driver modules and have updated them for 26/32-bit compatibility for using on the A9 and Iyonix etc. as well as older hardware.

This page details the status of current products and their latest version numbers. Unless specified, all of these products are 26/32-bit neutral but require RISC OS 3.50 or later to run. We can supply older copies for previous versions of the operating system in most cases.

All sales and support issues should go to us, not ESP. Prices include VAT. Emailed versions have text, HTML and/or PDF manuals, posted versions include disc and printed manuals.

For information about MIDI under RISC OS, including programming details, please visit Somascape.

!MIDISupport (includes MIDI 5)

Description:	This package (MIDI 5 and MIDISupport) provides modern drivers for older cards on new and current hardware. They give the ability to use more than one device at a time, allowing for 64 or more MIDI channels to be connected between several interfaces and software applications simultaneously. For example MelIDI or Sibelius could play a MIDI keyboard externally and !MIDISynth internally at the same time. The !MIDIMan application manages all of the connections and installation for you. Drivers are currently available for the following cards: AKA10, AKA16, DMI50 (MIDI side only at the moment), Lark, MIDIMax I/II, MIDIPod and MKA16. The Eagle driver is currently not available. A lot of work has gone into updating all of the MIDI code. As well as being 26/32-bit neutral, both MIDI5 and MIDISupport have been streamlined and made more efficient, including adding proper wimp poll masks, null task lists, new service call code and only stacking necessary registers. Superfluous code and small bugs have been removed. !Player is also included (see below).
Versions:	0.32 (!MIDIMan application), 5.00 (MIDI module), 0.34 (MIDISupport module), 2.24 (driver modules).
Known issues:	There is an issue with some podules on the Iyonix just now - please check before ordering if you want to use podules. Also, do not use the MIDI_FastClock SWI on the A9 until hardware timer support has been added in 5.01. HAL support is already there so Iyonix use is fine. Only a few applications are known to use this SWI, e.g. Sibelius.
Availability:	Emailed version available now! £19.95 for new orders, £10.95 for upgrades for current owners (we must receive your registration details to qualify). Posted version: TBA

!MIDISynth

Description:	ESP's MIDI Synthesiser is a software music synthesiser which responds to MIDI commands in a similar way that a hardware sound module or keyboard would. This means that it can play MIDI music from any RISC OS music application (Sibelius, MelIDI, Rhapsody etc.) that can utilise MIDI without needing to be connected to a sound module or keyboard. It can also be played from PC MIDI music programs where a machine is being used that contains a PC card. The instruments supplied with the synthesiser conform to a standard set of MIDI instruments known as General MIDI, consisting of 128 melodic instruments and a drum bank of 46 drum sounds. Requires 16-bit sound and RISC OS 3.50 or later. A StrongARM machine or faster is recommended although there are concessions available in the playback quality for slower machines. Supplied with MIDI5 and MIDISupport modules.
Versions:	0.50 (application), 1.81 (synth module), 0.18 (driver modules).
Known issues:	Heavily-overworked machines can cause sound pauses or slight breakups but works very well under normal use.
Availability:	Emailed version available now! £59.95 for new orders, £29.95 for upgrades for current owners (we must receive your registration details to qualify). Posted version: TBA

!Player

Description:	MIDI file player (through MIDISupport) and sound sample player (through SharedSound). Sample formats supported are: ArmMovie, 'Data', Armadeus, AudioWrk, WaveForm (WAV), Riff, DOS and Modules.
Versions:	1.37 (application), 0.78 (sample player module), 2.24 (MIDI player module).
Known issues:	None on 16-bit sound hardware. Strange issues on 8-bit machines (early Risc PCs) where the playback rate is wrong unless you load !MIDISynth first. Investigating, but low priority.
Availability:	Now. Supplied with MIDI interfaces and !MIDISynth. Possibly available separately - please ask.

!SerialMIDI

Description:	A MIDISupport driver for using sound modules/keyboards which have a 'To Host' interface. Includes !MIDISupport but does not include the serial connection cable.
Version:	0.10 (module). SerialMIDI is now intergated with !MIDIMan and so no longer requires a separate applicaion.
Known issues:	None.
Availability:	Imminent.

!ParallelMIDI

Description:	A hardware dongle-type interface which plugs into the parallel printer port and provides MIDI IN, OUT and THRU. NOT 32-bit compatible (no parallel ports on new machines!). Includes !MIDISupport.
Version:	0.93 (module). ParallelMIDI is now intergated with !MIDIMan and so no longer requires a separate applicaion.
Known issues:	None.
Availability:	Now.