AMIDI(1) General Commands Manual AMIDI(1)

amidi - read from and write to ALSA RawMIDI ports

amidi [-p port] [-s file | -S data] [-r file] [-d] [-t seconds] [-a]

amidi is a command-line utility which allows one to receive and send SysEx (system exclusive) data from/to external MIDI devices. It can also send any other MIDI commands.

amidi handles only files containing raw MIDI commands, without timing information. amidi does not support Standard MIDI (.mid) files, but aplaymidi(1) and arecordmidi(1) do.

Use the -h, -V, -l, or -L options to display information; or use at least one of the -s, -r, -S, or -d options to specify what data to send or receive.

Help: prints a list of options.
Prints the current version.
Prints a list of all hardware MIDI ports.
Prints all RawMIDI definitions. (used when debugging configuration files)
Sets the name of the ALSA RawMIDI port to use. If this is not specified, amidi uses the default port defined in the configuration file (the default for this is port 0 on card 0, which may not exist).
Sends the contents of the specified file to the MIDI port. The file must contain raw MIDI commands (e.g. a .syx file); for Standard MIDI (.mid) files, use aplaymidi(1).
Writes data received from the MIDI port into the specified file. The file will contain raw MIDI commands (such as in a .syx file); to record a Standard MIDI (.mid) file, use arecordmidi(1).

amidi will filter out any Active Sensing and Clock bytes (FEh, F8h), unless the -a or -c options have been given.

Sends the bytes specified as hexadecimal numbers to the MIDI port.
Prints data received from the MIDI port as hexadecimal bytes. Active Sensing and Clock bytes (FEh, F8h) will not be shown, unless the -a or -c options have been given.

This option is useful for debugging.

Stops receiving data when no data has been received for the specified amount of time.

If this option has not been given, you must press Ctrl+C (or kill amidi) to stop receiving data.

Does not ignore Active Sensing bytes (FEh) when saving or printing received MIDI commands.
Does not ignore Clock bytes (F8h) when saving or printing received MIDI commands.
Adds a delay in between each SysEx message sent to a device. It is useful when sending firmware updates via SysEx messages to a remote device.

will send the MIDI commands in my_settings.syx to port hw:0.
will send the MIDI commands in firmware.syx to port hw:1,0,0 with 100 milliseconds delay in between each SysEx message.
sends an XG Reset to the default port.
sends a “Parameter Dump Request” to a GS device, saves the received parameter data to the file dump.syx, and stops after the device has finished sending data (when no data has been received for one second).
creates a virtual RawMIDI port and prints all data sent to this port.

/usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf default rawmidi definitions
/etc/asound.conf system-wide rawmidi definitions
~/.asoundrc user specific rawmidi definitions

aplaymidi(1)
arecordmidi(1)

Clemens Ladisch <clemens@ladisch.de>

30 Aug 2016