pdMidi

pdMidi is a Lua library and interface for exchanging MIDI data between the Playdate console and MIDI devices using a separate pdMidi host device. Since playdate does not support direct serial or MIDI communication, it communicates OSC-like messages via text serial.

For the host device, it was branched out into a separate project. pdMidi-host

Features

• Initialization of the pdMidi library on the Playdate console
• Setting a callback function for receiving MIDI Clock messages
• Sending MIDI Clock messages from the Playdate console
• Sending MIDI Note On/Off messages from the Playdate console

Architecture

The pdMidi system consists of two main components:

1. Playdate Console:

• Runs the Lua library for pdMidi
• Communicates with the pdMidi host device via USB serial communication
• Sends and receives MIDI commands as text messages

2. pdMidi Host Device:

For the host device, it was branched out into a separate project. pdMidi-host

[Playdate] <---USB---> [pdMidi Host] <---USB/MIDI---> [MIDI Device]

Lua Library

1. Import the pdMidi library in your Playdate project.
2. Call pdMidi.begin() to initialize the library.
3. Set a callback function using pdMidi.setClockCallback(callback) to handle received MIDI Clock messages.

Example

Please compile and run main.lua on Playdate.

Send Functions

Function	/pdmidi/ Message	Payload Data Content and Types	Parsed MIDI Example
pdMidi.clockSend()	/pdmidi/clock/	None	[0xF8]
pdMidi.startSend()	/pdmidi/start/	None	[0xFA]
pdMidi.stopSend()	/pdmidi/stop/	None	[0xFC]
pdMidi.continueSend()	/pdmidi/continue/	None	[0xFB]
pdMidi.programChange(channel, value)	/pdmidi/programchange/[channel]/ [value]	channel: MIDI channel number (integer) value: Program change value (integer)	[0xC0 + channel, value]
pdMidi.pitchWheelChange(channel, value)	/pdmidi/pitchwheel/[channel]/ [value]	channel: MIDI channel number (integer) value: Pitch wheel value (integer)	[0xE0 + channel, value]
pdMidi.controlChange(channel, type, value)	/pdmidi/cc/[channel]/ [type] [value]	channel: MIDI channel number (integer) type: Control change type (integer) value: Control change value (integer)	[0xB0 + channel, type, value]
pdMidi.noteOn(channel, noteNumber, velocity)	/pdmidi/noteon/[channel]/[noteNumber] [velocity]	channel: MIDI channel number (integer) noteNumber: Note number (integer) velocity: Velocity value (integer)	[0x90 + channel, noteNumber, velocity]
pdMidi.noteOff(channel, noteNumber, velocity)	/pdmidi/noteoff/[channel]/[noteNumber] [velocity]	channel: MIDI channel number (integer) noteNumber: Note number (integer) velocity: Velocity value (integer)	[0x80 + channel, noteNumber, velocity]

Callback Functions

Function	Description
pdMidi.setClockCallback(callback)	Sets the callback function to be called when a MIDI clock message is received.
pdMidi.setNoteCallback(callback)	Sets the callback function to be called when a Note On/Off message is received.
pdMidi.setStartCallback(callback)	Sets the callback function to be called when a Start message is received.
pdMidi.setStopCallback(callback)	Sets the callback function to be called when a Stop message is received.
pdMidi.setContinueCallback(callback)	Sets the callback function to be called when a Continue message is received.
pdMidi.setCCCallback(callback)	Sets the callback function to be called when a Control Change message is received.

Contributing

Contributions to this project are welcome. If you find any issues or have suggestions for improvements, please open an issue or submit a pull request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Acknowledgments

• Pico-PIO-USB
• PD-Camera project