Music Representation of Score, Sound, MIDI, Structure and Metadata All Integrated in a Single Multilayer Environment Based on XML - Intelligent Music Information Systems: Tools and Methodologies - page 319

Box 7. Audio layer: Mapping music events based on timing values

<audio>
<trackile _ name="audio\tosca1984.wav"
ile _ format="audio _ wav"encoding _ format="audio _ wav">
<track _ indexingstart _ time _ type="seconds">
<track _ eventstart _ time="0.00"event _ ref="p1v1 _ 0"/>
<track _ eventstart _ time="0.00"event _ ref="p1v1 _ 1"/>
<track _ eventstart _ time="0.00"event _ ref="p1v1 _ 2"/>
<track _ eventstart _ time="1.05"event _ ref="p1v1 _ 3"/>
<track _ eventstart _ time="2.07"event _ ref="p1v1 _ 4"/>
…
</track _ indexing>
</track>
…
</audio>

again, many audio/video clips in a number of
formats are supported. Here the device used to
map music events is based on timing values, as
shown in Box 7.
The complete DTD of MX 6 is downloadable
at http://mx.dico.unimi.it, together with complete
music examples encoded in MX format.

and rests according to XML formal rules (that
are substantially different from score notation)
is unacceptable. Besides, after obtaining a well-
formed, valid, complete, and semantically correct
encoding of the piece, the author of the MX file
should face other complex tasks: for example,
the author should manually find the symbols to
map, synchronize heterogeneous media objects,
and enter those values in the MX file.
Since the central part, and in a certain sense
the skeleton, of an MX file is represented by
Logic layer, this is the first part to be produced. A
practical way to perform this task is implementing
conversion tools that take in input widely used
formats of music representation and translate
them to a basic MX file. At the moment, we have
developed an application that converts ETF 7 and
MIDI files into MX format. The simple interface
of this tool is shown in Figure 7.
This tool prepares a basic MX file as regards
only Logic layer, creating a spine structure and
LOS sub-layer.
After describing symbolic information from
a logic perspective, we have to face the problems
related to heterogeneous media linking and syn-
chronization. As a solution, we have implemented
two of utilities to support the creation and man-
agement of rich MX files, namely MX Graphic
Mapper and MX Audio Mapper. Their general
purpose is simplifying the assemblage process

mx applIcatIons

As stated before, MX format allows a rich and
comprehensive description of music contents. MX
technology represents a base for the development
of applications that allow a full musical experi-
ence. Richness is just a possibility: a piece could
be described only in terms of its music symbols,
without multimedia objects attached, and the MX
file would be validated in any case. However, if the
file has as many related material as possible, a more
comprehensive description of music is achieved.
Before enjoying music contents, the MX file
has to be created. Like any other XML-based
encoding, files in this format can be written and
edited even by a simple text editor. It is virtually
possible to encode all the score symbols and all
the synchronization information by hand and in
plain text format. Nevertheless, this approach
would be very cumbersome and time-consum-
ing. First, for a musician the task of writing notes