Many MIDI files contain entire musical compositions. Because MIDI supports only 16 channels, however, no more than 16 different instruments can play at any time, and one of those is the key-based percussion instrument.

Charles Petzold

Any Because Channels Contain Different Entire Files However Instrument Instruments Many More Musical Only Percussion Play Supports Than Those Time

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All modern MIDI synthesizers are capable of polyphony, which means they can play more than one note at a time and more than one instrument at a time.

— Charles Petzold

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MIDI made a natural transition to the PC. The MIDI messages that make up a musical composition can be saved as MIDI files, which are collections of MIDI messages with timing information.

— Charles Petzold

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A MIDI file contains coded instructions to play a particular series of notes on an electronic music synthesizer. A MIDI file is more like a piano roll in a player piano than any type of sound recording.

— Charles Petzold

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I play a musical instrument a little, but only for my own amazement.

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