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You've heard the adage: The better something tastes, the more fattening it is. There should be a similar truism for media: the more exotic the data type, the more disk space and bandwidth it demands. Of course, there are exceptions to both rules, and I waddle before you to discuss one of them: a low-fat media type called MIDI. Short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, MIDI is a hardware and software standard originally created to enable musicians to interconnect synthesizers so that they could and play multiple instruments from a single keyboard. MIDI has since evolved into a medium that, among other things, enables you to endow a Web site (or any other interactive production) with extremely low-bandwidth background music and sound effects. How low? How does 25K for a five-minute music clip sound? My March 1997 "Media" column focuses on creating and obtaining MIDI files and adding them to Web pages. If you haven't read the column, you can read its online version on Macworld Online. (Tip: Because my column always relies heavily on graphics and how-to illustrations, you'll get more out of it by reading the print edition of Macworld.)

WHAT'S IN THIS MONTH'S HOTMEDIA

This installment of HotMedia includes some sample MIDI files located here on Heidsite as well as links to additional information on MIDI. I've also included links to other areas of Heidsite that contain MIDI utilities and tutorials.

MIDI FILES ON HEIDSITE

I've created a sample page containing a couple of MIDI files movies that illustrate the concepts and techniques described in my column. To hear the clips, you need a browser that supports MIDI playback. Browsers that do include Netscape Navigator 3.x and Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.x.

SITES, UTILITIES, AND MORE

What is MIDI? -- A Heidsite tutorial on MIDI basics. (Note: To see the illustration in this tutorial, you need Macromedia's Shockwave. If you don't have Shockwave, just click Cancel when the error dialog box appears. You can still read the text of the tutorial.) MIDI utilities on Heidsite -- Straight from Heidsite's download zone. Get freeware and shareware MIDI sequencers, converters, and more. Yamaha's MIDPLUG -- Yamaha's MIDPLUG plug-in provides sound-synthesis features that are superior to those built into QuickTime. You can download it from Yamaha's Web site. LiveUpdate's Crescendo -- Another plug-in for playing MIDI files, Crescendo provides some unique features, including MIDI streaming. (My question is, do you really need streaming for files that are smaller than most graphics?!) Classical MIDI Archives -- This site boasts the largest collection of classical MIDI files I've found. Harmony Central's List of MIDI File sources -- A comprehensive list of links to sites that have MIDI files. Macintosh MIDI User's Internet Guide -- Charles Kelly provides news, tips, and tutorials for Mac MIDI musicians on this fine site. MIDI Software by Christopher Yavelow -- This MIDI and electronic music authority has created some very cool MIDI applications, including ones that use algorithmic composition schemes to create music that generates music in the style of Bach and Mozart. The MIDI Sounds news group -- Trade MIDI files and information about them on this news group.