The purpose of this page is to supply the MIDI beginner with just enough information to get his gear hooked up and get started using MIDI to create music.
What is MIDI?
MIDI (short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface and pronounced "middy") is a standard specification for networking two or more devices togethor. The type of devices we will discuss here, mainly just to keep things simple are sequencers and synthesizers (to find out what a sequencer is -- go to the "Sequencing Basics" page). What does this mean in the real world? This means that you can hook up two musical devices and have them "communicate" with each other. An example would be plugging a MIDI cable in the MIDI "OUT" of a sequencer and plugging the other end into the MIDI "IN" of a synthesizer. Then what ever song you loaded up in the sequencer, it would send the information along the cable to the synthesizer, and the synth would play the song. However, the MIDI is a bit more complicated than that. There are things you need to know in order to get the sequencer to play the song correctly if at all on the synthesizer! Let's explore the basics of MIDI below.
Some Basic Concepts
In order to use MIDI you don't have to have a huge technical grasp on the subject. You just have to understand a couple things. The first is that MIDI information is _not_ audio information. It is merely a set of numerical instructions that are sent and recieved between devices. The musical devices then translate this data into meaningful commands. So when a sequencer "plays" a song it is merely "telling" the synthesizer it is hooked up to which notes to play, how long to hold them, which sounds to use... etc. Think of MIDI instructions as a roll in a player piano. The roll by itself doesn't make any sound because it is instructions for the piano. But when the piano uses it to determine what notes it should play Wala! you get music!
Secondly, you need to understand how the flow of MIDI information works. When I first started out using MIDI when I was 16 all the "IN's" , "OUT's" confused the bejesus out of me. But it can all be simplified. In fact, let's do this now! MIDI data is sent out of the "OUT" port, MIDI data is recieved at the "IN" port. So for example if you want to send a MIDI data from a sequencer to a synthesizer the cables would connect on the OUT of the sequencer (because info is coming out) to the IN of the synthesizer (because the synth is recieving info). If you wanted to send info from the synthesizer to the sequencer, say sequence in a track then you would have a cable coming OUT of the synthesizer to the IN of the sequencer. (see diagram below)
Most synthesizers also have a THRU port next to their IN and OUT ports.
Channels
MIDI transmits on 16 different channels. This allows for 16 different sets of MIDI data to be sent at once. This would allow a sequencer to play a song with 16 different instruments. Each instrument, typically would be sent on a different channel. For example the drum track would play back on channel 10, the synth-bass on channel 1, the lead synth on channel 5, and so on. You just have to make sure that the synthesizer that is recieving the channels has the correct sound selected for that channel. When setting up a synthesizer to recieve MIDI channels, especially if it is not a multi-timbral synthesizer (See the glossary for definition), it is important that the synth is not in "OMNI" mode. What's this? Let me explain. There are 3 different MIDI modes on a MIDI synthesizer. These modes are: "OMNI", "MULTI" and "POLY".
OMNI mode means that the synth will take all midi messages it recieves, ignore the channel data and play back all notes on the current channel. So lets say you have a sequence of a song that is arranged for a rock band. One channel plays drums, one bass and one a guitar line. Let's say that you have a synth in "OMNI" mode that has the bass guitar patch called up at the moment. Well if you send the whole sequence to the synth in "OMNI" mode it will play back all of the tracks: drums, guitar & bass using the bass guitar sound. Needless to say it will sound like a mess! To be honest, I'm not really sure why you would ever want to use OMNI mode and I always make sure my synths are not in that mode.
MULTI mode is for multi-timbral synths that are capable of playing back different instrument on different channels at the same time. Some of the earlier multi-timbral synths were the Korg DS-8 and the Ensoniq ESQ-1. Nowadays, most synth workstations are multi-timbral. I use a Kurzweil K2000 for this. When a multi-timbral synth is in MULTI mode it takes the MIDI data it recieves and uses the channel data to distribute the info to the correct channel on the synth. If you played the same rock tune mentioned up above on a multi-timbral synth in MULTI mode (provided the right patches were set), you would get a nice playback of drums, guitar and bass guitar.
POLY mode is used on synths that you only want one specific channel to playback. The MIDI data recieved and played back depends soley on the MIDI channel you have chosen for that synthesizer to recieve.
Now, you have the basic information needed to get started hooking everything up and getting it to work. If you're like me, you want to get everything up so you can play with it before you really get into the technical aspects of MIDI. For more on how MIDI works, and it's specifications, see the Advanced MIDI page.
Some Applications for MIDI and Set-up Diagrams
The diagrams below will show you a few common ways to use MIDI to hook up synthesizers/Drum Machines and Sequencers/Computers.
Sequencer or Computer with Multi-timbral Synthesizer
The hook up for this setup is exactly like the diagram above about "MIDI Data Flow". Make sure the synth is in Multi mode and that the correct instruments are assigned to the correct channels.
Sequencer or Computer with Multiple Synthesizers and no MIDI Patch Bay or Thru Box
Sequencer or Computer with Multiple synthesizers and a MIDI patch bay or thru Box
Master & Servant
This setup is a bit different than the others. This setup allows you to play two keyboards at once or as it is called in MIDI speak "slaving". This can be especially useful for live applications.
To continue learning about MIDI and it's uses you can go to the:
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