what to do with MIDI? Help!

B

brahma jay

New member
hi guys.
new to midi and want to get an idea how this thing works. the simpler the better.
why do i need it? if midi is built in y synth is it enough? or should i get midi controllers or midi mixers? whats the difference?
what exactly do i need (talking about the whole midi thing)
building my home studio and dont wanna miss any pieces.

really need help with it. would love friendly advices.
thanks
 
miroslav said:
:laughings:

"Must spread rep...."






C'mon...you can try a little harder.
There's so much info out there on the interwebs about MIDI already, you just need to go get it....so why make someone retype every little thing here just for your benefit? :)
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sorry guys... doing it right now.
dealing with unknown could be really frustrating :-)
 
The thing about building a studio is, you can't miss any pieces if you don't know what the missing pieces do. Strictly speaking, all you need is a mixer, a recorder, and some mics to start. (That's a computer, audio interface, and DAW program to you digital folks.) You can add in other pieces as you find a need for them. Buying a bunch of stuff up front just to say you have all the possible bases covered could end up being a huge waste of money.

More often than not, if you have a MIDI keyboard and your audio interface provides MIDI connectivity, you have all the physical hardware you need to tap into a whole world of MIDI functionality.
 
brahma jay said:
hi guys.
new to midi and want to get an idea how this thing works. the simpler the better.
why do i need it? if midi is built in y synth is it enough? or should i get midi controllers or midi mixers? whats the difference?
what exactly do i need (talking about the whole midi thing)
building my home studio and dont wanna miss any pieces.

really need help with it. would love friendly advices.
thanks
Click to expand...

think of MIDI as an old style player piano that you can aim at any midi compatabile instrument/VST.

Start here and after you watch this keep hunting and learning.
MIDI 101: MIDI Demystified - 3 Controllers Sound Modules Plugins and other MIDI Instruments - YouTube
 
bouldersoundguy said:
How would we know? MIDI does all kinds of stuff. What is your idea of a final product? That will determine what technologies you might use. Such undefined questions don't lend themselves to useful answers.
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im gonna work with electronic music, very loungy. Wanna play synth and add some vocals. In the future probably get some live instruments like guitars, violins, sax etc.
if im not wrong nowadays all synth are coming with MIDI (which is just a data transmitter?) so i guess i need a midi interface in order to send final track (data) to the computer.
But if can connect my synth through audio interface to my comp, and record my tracks, why do i need MIDI? or Midi is that Data that are going from synth to computer?
 
brahma jay said:
Midi is that Data that are going from synth to computer?
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That's it - MIDI is just a language devices and computers use to communicate instructions. If your synth has a USB port, you can probably plug straight into your computer. If it has the older MIDI sockets, you might need an interface or a specific sound card.
 
You can record the audio straight from your keyboard onto an audio track in your DAW if you're just looking to capture a live performance. If you want to edit aspects of the performance in the DAW or take advantage of samples or VSTi instruments stored on your computer, MIDI is what enables you to do that.
 
diggy_dude said:
You can record the audio straight from your keyboard onto an audio track in your DAW if you're just looking to capture a live performance. If you want to edit aspects of the performance in the DAW or take advantage of samples or VSTi instruments stored on your computer, MIDI is what enables you to do that.
Click to expand...

yes i definitely want to use and then edit samples, instruments etc. so for example if i have midi on my synth, i just have to get a midi interface in order to work with it?
and is "midi controller" that midi device in the synth? or its something different?
 
jonny deep said:
That's it - MIDI is just a language devices and computers use to communicate instructions. If your synth has a USB port, you can probably plug straight into your computer. If it has the older MIDI sockets, you might need an interface or a specific sound card.
Click to expand...

ok. so it all depends on the synth im getting?
 
brahma jay said:
yes i definitely want to use and then edit samples, instruments etc. so for example if i have midi on my synth, i just have to get a midi interface in order to work with it?
and is "midi controller" that midi device in the synth? or its something different?
Click to expand...

A MIDI controller is generally an electronic instrument that doesn't create its own sounds. It could be a keyboard, guitar, wind controller, drum pads, or whatever. You can use it to control the synths in other keyboards, rackmount modules, or VSTi synths on your computer.
 
I am NO MIDI guru Jay but maybe then the best guy to help you?

You need an "Audio Interface" as a basic tool but beware! Many quite pricey AI's these days have left off MIDI "ports" (including Steinberg FCS!) sure that whatever AI you get has two "DIN"* MIDI ports.

Time was when MIDI keyboards talked to "Sound Modules" and these modules gave out audio from data. These have almost been supplanted by "Softsynths" in the PC plus they were generally very expensive. I found however that I could get a better handle on this MIDI thing if I had another piece of hardware to plug up to so I found a cheap, s/h "Portasound" keyboard for £50, a Yamaha PSS-790. 'Twas not ideal, 61 mini-keys for starters and it turns out that early Yammies did not talk "proper" MIDI but if you find a Roland kdb it should be fine.

You will need some MIDI cables, DIN to DIN 5pin and do not buy special, high priced MIDI leads. THE most basic fully wired audio cables will do, in fact some V old PC keyboards use DIN and those leads work fine. You can also plug MIDI kit together any old whichway you like, might not work! But it won't smoke.

Last thing for now. MIDI recording work demands the lowest possible "latency" from the system, notably the AI. Not sure if you have an AI yet? If not DO look at the "NI KA6".

*Things I have put in "---" are for you to Google"

Dave.
 
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