: Black MIDI: Add 1/256 note in midi file? I'm working on creating some black MIDI music. Is there any way that I can add a note that is shorter than a 1/128 note in midi? Like 1/256 or 1/1024 (if I am crazy). I have tried

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If you are familiar with programming you can solve your task using one of the libraries providing ability to manage MIDI files. For example, with DryWetMIDI (.NET library) you can write something like this:

var midiFile = new PatternBuilder()

// Insert 100 A3 notes with length of 1/256 following each other
.Note(Octave.Get(3).A, new MusicalTimeSpan(1, 256))
.Repeat(100)

// Insert pause of 1/512
.StepForward(new MusicalTimeSpan(1, 512))

// Insert G#2 with length of 3/1024
.Note(Octave.Get(2).GSharp, new MusicalTimeSpan(3, 1024))

// Build pattern and export it to MIDI file
.Build()
.ToFile(TempoMap.Default);

// Save to file
midiFile.Write("Black song.mid");

Or you can take existing file and turn it to black one with use of NotesSplitter to split notes into parts of the specified length:

// Split notes in a MIDI file with step of 1/512
midiFile.SplitNotesByStep(new MusicalTimeSpan(1, 512));

Read the library Wiki to learn more about Pattern and Notes/chords splitters.

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I suppose the concern would be more about the time intervals separating the notes than the duration of the notes themselves. For rapidly sequencing notes of intended equal duration, it is probably easier and more controllable to control the sustain of the sound used by means of the envelope control of the instrument used. It's hard to predict how a burst of dozens of notes per second will sound, fine tuning the sustain of the sound by experimentation is an easy way to get the best results, without the need to change literally thousands of notes durations.

Now another issue is the time positioning of the notes. For my self the only way I have found to that below a granularity of certain note value is to edit the MIDI events directly in the DAW. My main DAW (Sonar) allows to do that, but in a cumbersome way, so I have not taken these experiments too far. I expect these Japanese guys who do black MIDI music have specialized tools or even developed their own tools for that purpose, namely using algorithmic composition approaches.

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MIDI (SMF) files specify a PPQ (ticks per quarter note) value, which is used as the base for all timestamps.

Many programs use a value of 96 or 192 by default. The specification allows much larger values (up to 32767), but many programs do not bother to make this configurable.

Another way of getting faster timing would be to use 1/128th notes, but with doubled tempo.