MIDI,
an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface,
is
a system for encoding, sending and receiving electronic
messages
which control MIDI devices. Anything that
generates
or responds to MIDI messages is a MIDI device.
Common
MIDI devices are electronic musical synthesizers
(synths),
keyboards, and drum machines. MIDI commands
can
also control more specialized devices, such as
theatrical
lighting systems. A sound card installed in a
computer
can also be programmed to respond to MIDI
commands.
MIDI files do not actually contain sound. Instead. They
are
a set of instructions that tell a synthesizer which sounds
to
make and when to make them. In this sense, a MIDI
device
is like a player piano and a MIDI sequence is like
the
perforated paper roll that controls it. If one of the holes
instructs
the piano to play the middle C key, the piano will
do
so.
When
it comes to listening to MIDI, a good sound card will
definitely
help. How can you tell the difference bewteen a
good
and a not so good sound card? There's a big
difference
between the two. If you have a regular sound
card,
say one that is an FM synthesis then listening to MIDI
sounds
like computer music. Now what do I mean by that?
I
mean that a piano should sounds like a piano and a drum
beat
should sound like a drum beat. Computer music does
not
distinguish the sound of each instrument very well. A
piano
for example will sounds like a xylophone. A good
sound
card on the other hand will be able to recognize
each
instrument and plays it just as if it's an audio file,
meaning
as real as it gets. I'm using a Yamaha SW60XG
sound
card in my system and it's very realistic when I listen
to
MIDI file. I also have Sound Blaster AWE-64 GOLD. I'm
so
use to listening to MIDI with my Yamaha sound
card
that
when I switch back to my AWE-64, AWE-64 sounds
like
computer
music. Believe me, it makes a lot of
difference
what
types of sound card you use to listen to MIDI.
Here are
a
couple of links that will give you more infos.
Sound Blaster
- AWE-64 Value/Gold
Yamaha
- Sound Cards & Daugher Boards |
Below
are a few links to MIDI sequencers,
both
professional and
shareware. Most of
the
professional ones have a demo model
available
for downloading. The demo
model
usually doesn't let you save your
work,
though.
Cakewalk (Professional)
Cubase (Professional)
Jammer (Shareware)
Jazz (Shareware)
Newbeat
TranceMission (Shareware)
Sweet 16 (Shareware)
Voyetra Digital Orchestra (Professional)
WinJammer (Shareware)
With
a MIDI Plug-in, you can experience
websites
with a full music soundtracks.
Live
Update's Cresendo plug-in enables
navigator
to play inline MIDI music
embedded
in web pages. With a MIDI-
capable
browser, you can create Web
pages
that have their own background
music
soundtracks. MIDI instruments
can
be sampled sounds, so you can also
create
sound effect tracks. There
are many
MIDI
plug-ins out there, but here are the
popular
ones use
by most people.
Cresendo - requires a
Multimedia
Personal
Computer (MPC), MIDI-capable
sound
card, and Netscape Navigator
version
2 or above.
It launches automatically
and
invisibly and is a fun addition to
Web
browsing.
An enhance version called
Cresendo
Plus adds onscreen
controls and
live
streaming (you don't have to wait for
a
MIDI file to download completely before
it
starts playing). Cresendo Plus features a
comvienent
popup menu and a control
pannel
that resembles a CD player.
Yamaha
MIDPLUG - features a Yamaha
"Soft
Synthesizer" which makes
it easy to
enhance
Web pages with high-quality music.
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