MPLAY(1)                                                 MPLAY(1)


NAME
       mplay  -  play a standard MIDI file through a MPU-401 com-
       patable device

SYNOPSIS
       mplay [ -rv ] [ -t tempo-scalar ] [ -T track-list ] [ [ -R
       ] midi-file ...  ]

DESCRIPTION
       Used without arguments, mplay reads a standard MIDI format
       [ SMF ] file data from stdin, converts it to a form  suit-
       able  for  playing through a MPU-401 compatable device and
       sends the converted data through the  device.   More  than
       one  SMF file can be sent through stdin and new files will
       be processed until there is no more data available.

       Alternatively, mplay can be run with the SMF files  speci-
       fied on the command line.

       In both cases, the files are loaded and processed individ-
       ually so there  might  be  slight  delays  in  the  output
       between  each  file.   Also,  if  any  file has more the 8
       tracks, a warning is printed to stdout and only the  first
       8 tracks are used.

OPTIONS
       -r     This  option  causes  the  first SMF file to repeat
              indefinitely.  This differs from the  R  option  in
              that  the  file  is only loaded once and the repeat
              will incur no delay.

       -v     This options turns on verbose output.  When the SMF
              file  is  processed, all META events are printed to
              stdout.  Some  other  useful  information  is  also
              printed.

       -t     This  option  takes  a floating point argument.  It
              specifies a factor that will scale all tempo values
              found  in  the  SMF  files.  The argument can range
              from 0 to 4, other values will be silently chopped.
              This  option  is implemented via the MSETRELTMP.  A
              maximum tempo value of 250 beats per minute  and  a
              minimum value of 8 beats per minute are enforced.

       -T     This  option takes an argument that specifies which
              tracks to play.  The argument is in the form  of  a
              list  of integers separated by The '-' specifies an
              inclusive range between the two  surrounding  inte-
              gers,  while the ',' separates individual integers.
              SMF files of type 1 start with track 0,  the  tempo
              track  and  continue  to  the number of tracks - 1.
              SMF files of type 0  are  logically  split  into  a
              tempo track in position 0 and a data track in posi-
              tion 1.  SMF files of type 2 are treated like  type



                          3 August 1992                         1

MPLAY(1)                                                 MPLAY(1)


              1 files.  If more than 8 tracks are specified, only
              the first 8 are used and a warning is printed.

       -R     This is a different form of the repeat option.   It
              is  only  valid when SMF files are specified on the
              command line.  It causes mplay  to  repeat  playing
              the  list of MSF files.  Since the files are loaded
              individually, there might be a slight delay between
              playing  the  last  file and the first, and thus is
              not as desirable for repeating only a  signal  file
              as the r option.

FILES
       /dev/midicntl
       /dev/midicond
       /dev/midi[0-7]

SEE ALSO
       midi(4), smf(5)






































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