How compatible is MIDI?
If the question is: “What systems can play MIDI?”, the answer is “very compatible”. If the question is “Will it sound the same?”, the answer is: “You’ll get the same idea, but the actual sound can be very different.” As for the other multimedia files on the Internet you need a browser add-on (plug-in or ActiveX control) in order to play MIDI. Microsoft Internet Eplorer can use the built-in media player of Windows to play MIDI. Most MIDI plug-ins work only with a soundcard that is wavetable synthesis enhanced. Most PC soundcards have that feature — in different grades of perfection. On the Mac MIDI files can be transformed into Quicktime “movies” (with sound only). This process cannot happen in real-time. You have to download the MIDI file and start it from your hard disk. This will launch Quicktime. The sound quality of this process is far superior to wavetable synthesis! The plug-in “Beatnik” carries the sound quality of the Mac into the browser, and even onto the PC (with Netscape 3
