by The TweakMeister
Those that succeed as home electronic musicians understand MIDI. You can try to get by without it, but it will dog you at every turn. Don’t think the MIDI is only something that keyboard players need to know. Today, MIDI controller data is used to automate a variety of studio gear, including the hardware and software mixing consoles we use.
MIDI, the Musical Instrument Digital Interface is a protocol developed in 1983 by major synthesizer manufacturers to allow one synth to play another remotely. They tried to figure out a way they could make a second synthesizer play by sending it control data from the first. They figured it out, and more! The developers quickly found out a computer could record and playback 16 channels of this data and it revolutionized the way music is produced. Then they discovered with the right hardware you can have several of these 16 channel bundles (or ports) all running at once. The implications were profound. Now one person could compose multi-part music all by themselves.
The sound (or audio waveform) of the keyboard or module does not go down the MIDI cable, only these computer encoded “events” do. What is an “event?” It’s all just numbers, man. But not the large blocks of numbers that make up an audio waveform. MIDI events are just ones and zeros that saywhen you pressed down which key (a note ON event), how hard you pressed it (velocity number), when you let the key up (a note OFF event), pressed the next key, moved a knob (controller data), changed a program (program change command). That is the basic point you have to fully understand. The coolthing is that all this MIDI data, once recorded, is fully, totally, completely editable, malleable, changeable, transformable, re-assignable, erasable, replaceable and it all happens on the edit screens of your sequencer.
| IMPORTANT: MIDI works by sending NOTE ON and NOTE OFF events down a midi cable as well as timing information and controller (knobs, wheels, and sliders) information. Read that again, OK? MIDI works by sending NOTE ON and NOTE OFF events down a midi cable as well as timing information andcontroller (knobs, wheels, and sliders) information. MIDI does not send sound, or audio down the MIDI cable.
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