SYX

System Exclusive
Developer:	MIDI Manufacturers Association
Header:	Custom
Content:	Instrument
Instruments:	Intrinsic
Target Output
Released:	1991-??-??
First Game:	?
Extensions	*.syx *.bin

System Exclusive data isn't music by itself. It is special information sent to a MIDI device to program extra instruments beyond the manufacturer's default setup. They are used by most games that support MIDI devices for audio output (like the Roland MT-32 and LAPC-I) instead of the more ubiquitous sound systems of the day. The SysEx data is usually ripped from the game's data files or recorded while playing the game and stored into a separate file.

For games that use SysEx data, the ripped music files won't sound proper unless the MIDI device used to play them is first loaded with the SysEx data. There are many programs available that can send SysEx data to a MIDI device.

Some companies created their own format for storing system exclusive data like Sierra On-Line's PATCH format.

Players

(Category)

• MIDI-OX - Windows

Converters

(Category)

SYX to ?

• MIDIPLEX - Windows 32 - MIDI

? to SYX

• MIDIPLEX - Windows 32 - MIDI

Games

(Games Category)

(Conversions Category)

Technical

According to MMA's specs, a SYX file (or SysEx Block into a MIDI File) always begin with 0xF0, and ends with 0xF7.

Links

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SysEx - Wikipedia.