What it is, how it works, why it's important
and how to hook it up in your home studio
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MIDI is DATA
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 quickly found out a computer could record and playback this data and it revolutionized the way music is produced.
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 and controller (knobs, wheels, and sliders) information.
---->Understand that MIDI is NOT an audio signal<-----
The sound 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 say when 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 cool thing 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.
To read more goto:
how_to_get_started_with_midi
a really cool page by: Rich the TweakMeister
Check it out.
