Now that I want to use MIDI...

[microchip]

Greetings all...

I have finally advanced far enough into my recording process that I want to start adding in MIDI items. I have a list of specific questions below. Please help by answering all of them or even one. Thanks!

1. What is the difference between a sound module and a sampler?
1a. Are both of these devices triggered by a keyboard using MIDI?
1b. If not triggered by a keyboard, then how are they triggered?

2. One of my keyboards is a Roland RS 5. It is of course MIDI compatable. But what kind of setting would I have to put in on to play triggered devices like a sampler. In other words, I have a pick of 128 MIDI voices on my keyboard to play it...how do you play into a MIDI triggered device? So if I happen to put on the Piano voice on my synth and play into the sampler, the message the computer will receive will be what comes from the sampler? Or, is there a special, "blank-sound" MIDI keyboard that I need?

Thanks for all the help!

[AlChuck]

1. Sound module is a general term meaning a box that responds to input with sounds. A sampler is a sound module that can be used to record sounds, manipulate them, and save the results as a sound set. The ones that are usually called "sound modules" don't have sampler functionality; they may or may not allow you to load other sounds; they may or may not allow you to apply effects or change other parameters or combine different sounds in layers to make other patches.

1a. Both are triggered by MIDI keyboards if they are MIDI compatible devices, as probably all are and have been since the 80's.

This answer negates question 1b.

2. I am a bit confused as to what exactly you are asking, but my best guess is, can a MIDI synth/sampler that has a keyboard be used to trigger an external MIDI sound module? The answer is most decidedly yes, you don't need a controller-only keyboard by any means. Any MIDI keyboard with a MIDI output will suffice.