Understanding Basic MIDI
This article was designed to give you a basic understanding of the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), and to leave you with a brief knowledge of it's past. It is a tool widely used today in many varied recording or live preformance situations. MIDI is what allows electronic musical instruments to communicate with each other to preform certain tasks. These tasks may include starting or stopping a song, changing the voice of a keyboard or other controller, etc. A few of the main types of components are listed below: Controller - A device used to recieve the information from the user. (keyboard, electronic drum pads) Sound Module - This is the machine that actually contains the sounds that you hear. Sequencer - The device used to record the data in which it was played from the controller. (which note, when it was played)
MIDI time code speeds up and slows down depending on the tempo of the song. Except for controllers, almost all devices should be equipped with an IN, OUT, and THRU jack. is description, we will use a keyboard for our default controller. The basic duties of a controller are to translate what your playing into note information. If you were recording it on analog tape or digitally, you would need to preform the part again. MIDI is an increasingly useful tool in today's loop-based music. The only other peices necessary are a modest stereo system (heck, headphones would even work) and you'll be jammin in no time!. A person could start out with MIDI for around $300 for a very basic setup. Standard sequencers record in MTC (MIDI time code) format. For instance, if you press down the note "middle c", it sends: 'note# 36 (middle c) was pressed with a velocity of 91 (1 -127)'. Some sequencers may have sounds built in for around $200. If you understand the purpose of each peice as stated above and follow the signal flow (out to the in), building yourself a very capable MIDI setup should be easy. It records at very small fractions of time, this making it very precise in recording real-time preformances acurately. That note is now considered 'on' by the other machines until you release the key and the receive the "note off" command. MIDI can be a cheap alternative for making professional multi-track recordings, or it can be the start to a much more elaborate and powerful setup.
Common topics in this essay:
Sound Module,
MTC MIDI,
Interface MIDI,
Basic MIDI,
sound module,
basic midi,
note information,
midi code,
information sound,
midi setup,
'middle c',
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