I have a lot of old MIDI equipment that was recently given to me by a retired music teacher. I have a lot of interest in it, and would like to make a MIDI synth. It does not need to be high quality or sample based, but I want to know how to implement a MIDI decoder in hardware.
(By the way, I'm not asking you to build it for me; I just want to know where a good document is. I want to do this project on my own. Nothing more complex than simple logic IC's, so don't tell me about those MIDI generating IC's.I have chosen the 7400 series ICs. Such as
7400PC )
I know that MIDI is just digital signals representing instruments, so I'm thinking something like this.

Yeah, it's not a technical diagram. But basically, I want a really excellent guide to how MIDI works. What the signal contains and so on. I have an arduino ready to act as a PWM generator, and I have tested it. It just needs to generate simple waves (like square waves, NES/Famicom style).
Does anyone know a concise, easy to understand documentation for the MIDI standard? Something like what would be in "The Art of Electronics" (the textbook) if it talked about MIDI at all. Something that a beginner could understand, preferably. I mainly work in analog technology, so this has been a new experience for me.
Thank you.