basic midi question

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willsm

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Hey, I'd love to know more about MIDI basically. I can't seem to find a place to find the basic info.

I own an Alesis Ion. I'd love to hook it up to my computer. However, I'm not sure what I need.

What sort of MIDI cables? (are they all the same?)
What sort of MIDI controller box? (I have one which my cousin gave me but no cables)
What sort of software to edit etc?
What to plug in and where?

This is my first synth and I've got to gribs with how it works through just playing it but I'd love to do some more things with it.

Many thanks,

Will xx

edit: forgive my synth ignorance... i dived in the deep end and just bought the machine and worked out things from there
 
Midi stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It arrived around 1981.

The cables used to send this information are usually terminated with 5 pin DIN plugs, although midi data can also pass via USB ports on PCs, and via games ports on some PC sound cards. But usually it's 5 pin DIN cables, and these usually connect synthesizers to sequencers or PCs or other synths. Before midi came along a voltage control connection was common - Roland had a DCB standard (for connecting its polyphonic Jupiter 8 and Juno synths to its sequencers), and Arp, Moog, Oberheim monophonic synths used to use a standard of about 1V per octave to control pitch when two synths were played via one keyboard.

MIDI has several parts -

Firstly the file format / specification for midi files. These are basically a series of commands that send the timing and note pitch and volume data on a series of "channels". The usual filename suffix on PCs is *.mid

Secondly, the midi electronics specification - which determines the way devices are connected physically. Some midi messages are simply note-on and note-off data. Some are "Sysex" messages, which contain configuration data specific to one device only. So amp settings for a Fender Cybertwin can be sent by midi. And patch change information for a synth can be sent via midi.

Thirdly, there is a "General Midi" standard for instrumentation. So patch number one is always a grand piano sound, and there are (usually) 128 basic sounds which are numbered according to a standard. This means that a midi file playing through a PC soundcard on instrument 1 will produce a piano sound from the soundcard. The same file sent to a synth which accepts general midi data would also switch to its internal piano sound for midi instrument number 1. Later versions of General midi handle more than 128 instruments.

Midi doesn't contain audio data. Midi predominantly contains note on and off data - much like a pianola roll doesn't contain any sound but still conveys the pitch and timing information for notes played on a pianola.

The above is not comprehensive, but designed to give you a start.
 
To connect a PC to a synth you can use a sound card with midi outputs, or a device like the Edirol UM1 to connect midi to your PC's USB port.

For cheap a sequencer, try very compact and stable Noteworthy Composer from www.noteworthysoftware.com (30 day free trial), and cheap to buy. This will import and export midi files, and has a good user interface.

Or you can play midi files using Windows media player (direct to synth)
 
see if the book 'Midi for Musicians' is still in print...

willsm said:
Hey, I'd love to know more about MIDI basically. I can't seem to find a place to find the basic info.

I own an Alesis Ion. I'd love to hook it up to my computer. However, I'm not sure what I need.

What sort of MIDI cables? (are they all the same?)
What sort of MIDI controller box? (I have one which my cousin gave me but no cables)
What sort of software to edit etc?
What to plug in and where?

This is my first synth and I've got to gribs with how it works through just playing it but I'd love to do some more things with it.

Many thanks,

Will xx

edit: forgive my synth ignorance... i dived in the deep end and just bought the machine and worked out things from there
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