n00b question

[austin4130]

What exactly is the point of MIDI? Any benfits? What exactly IS midi?

[Synkrotron]

M.I.D.I. stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.


If you are a band/person that is totally happy with how you currently produce music then I'd recommend that you don't go there.

But if you fancy the idea of hooking up loads of different electronic musical devices such as synthesizers, drum machines and samplers then MIDI is the way to go.

Some of the advantages of MIDI are:-

a) The data stored to capture a performance is much much smaller than audio data.

b) It's so easy to make changes such as pitch or tempo and there are no issues with time stretching that you would get with audio files.

c) You can tweek like hell, adding pitch bend effects plus much more without having to re-record your session. Your sequencer play back all your data the same each time and if you don't like those tweeks then it's easier to remove them.

Disadvantages are:-

a) MIDI music is sometimes frowned upon as being mechanical and played/programmed by people who are not "real" musicians.




That's all I can think of for now.

I can go into more detail if you wish, about the data that is stored for instance...



andy

[TimOBrien]

>>Sigh.....<< When you need a definition (or are just to bored), go to wikipedia for definitions....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midi

[tylerxxx]

so, say i had a synth and wanted to play it/record to my computer, a midi interface is what i need? a friend of mine said he took some "midi classes" which is what inspired me to write this amazing thread.

also, if i have a DAW with midi out/in could i hook it up to my computer and use it for something? (i think i just like the idea of lots of tools to use)

[sixways]

http://www.tweakheadz.com/how_to_get...with_midi.html


I'd give that a read. May help.

6

[austin4130]

thanks a lot, sixways

[Synkrotron]

if you come up with any further specific MIDI related questions then don't hesitate to ask...

I've been using MIDI for over twelve years now so even if I may not remember a solution to a question straight away, it shouldn't take too long for me to suss it out again.

Rich's article is a great article but I wasn't sure how much you were willing to get dragged into the MIDI thing which is why I kept it "light" if you know what I mean