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What good is MIDI??

I've played keyboards my whole life (I own a KORG Trinity and a KORG Wavestation) and I've always wondered what MIDI was good for. I mean I know that its purpose is to ensure that the notes from any instrument are compatible at the computer/sequencer level...but who cares? Who wants to listen to midi?

What are you doing with these midi files you post on here?

(thank God no one here hates noobs or I'd be flamed for sure!)

midi is more like the instructions for your sequencer to play the notes...
it isn't the same midi you think that you can d/l off the internet and listen to on winamp

when you import a midi in your sequencer for an instrument, it tells the instrument, what notes to play, when to play it, how long to play it, and how loud to play it

Re: What good is MIDI??

quote:

Originally posted by Digital Aura What are you doing with these midi files you post on here?

we just want the notes of other melodies.... for remixing and such

and what kewlness said

Re: What good is MIDI??

quote:

Originally posted by Digital Aura I've always wondered what MIDI was good for. I mean I know that its purpose is to ensure that the notes from any instrument are compatible at the computer/sequencer level...but who cares?

That's kind of like saying "why does an orchestra need sheet music"? MIDI is actually quite important for digital music production, as those above have mentioned.

Re: What good is MIDI??

quote:

Originally posted by Digital Aura I've played keyboards my whole life (I own a KORG Trinity and a KORG Wavestation) and I've always wondered what MIDI was good for. I mean I know that its purpose is to ensure that the notes from any instrument are compatible at the computer/sequencer level...but who cares? Who wants to listen to midi? What are you doing with these midi files you post on here?

I think you are referring to MIDI as the .mid files you see posted here and on the net, and when you play them normally, it sounds crap. That's because your soundcard has a pretty basic wavetable (or FM) synth integrated, that makes the sounds.

First misconception : you say, who wants to listen to midi? Midi doesn't carry audio at all. You can't listen to midi. Midi is a protocol invented to let several musical instruments communicate with each other. Of course, over the years Midi has received other features (you can control parameters with it, sync several machines together with MTC, even control light effects, ...). But it's still used for it's main purpose, communication between musical instruments.

So, let's assume the notes and parameters are well played in midi (good timing, velocity, aka not played by a noob). Then the quality of the sound depends only on the instrument the midi is controlling. If it's the internal wavetable of your soundcard, no wonder it sounds crap. But if it's your Trinity for example, it will sound much better.

So why use midi? Let's say you have three midi instruments (for example your Trinity, your Wavestation and something else). You want them all three to play something. Without midi, you'd sit behind the Trinity, play something and record it. Then get behind the Wavestation, play something, record it. Then get behind the third instrument, and so on and so on.

With midi all that is made much easier. Provided you have the right equipment of course (enough midi ports, everything set up right, ...) your workflow could be : you sit behind the Trinity, and play something, but you only record the midi (so no audio). Now you want to play the Wavestation part. What you do, is only change the midi channel to that one that is assigned to your Wavestation. But you play on the Trinity keyboard. You control your Wavestation with your Trinity in other words. Same could be done for the rest of the instruments.
Of course this is only an example, where I took the Trinity as master keyboard. In this example you recorded only midi, no audio yet. If you find there is something wrong (one note is off, or not in time for example), you can simply edit the midi part to solve the problem. And the next time you play, the instrument will play exactly the same thing again, only with that particular note fixed.
Like I said, not only notes can be controlled, but also parameters like filter cutoff frequency, pitch bend, velocity, modulations etc...

So you see, Midi is very powerful, and that's why in many studio's (especially where electronic music is made) it's pretty standard. That doesn't mean you cannot achieve the same result without midi, just that it will take much longer and much more effort.

Midi is also the reason rack/desktop instruments are possible. Have you never wondered how the hell you could play on a Trinity rack for example? It has no keys! That's because it's controlled by Midi.

So what do people do with the mid's they post here? Well, they steal (haha) the melody/rhythm/whatever from a tune so they can use it in their own productions. Personally I don't see the use either, cuz I find in most electronic music the melodies aren't so complicated to recreate yourself, but hey, if some people ask for it, they find it useful don't you think...

well said.

very good answer. Thanks for that. You're an expert i c. That said, I think I have a clearer understanding.
So its easier to compose with MIDI but playback is always dependent on what you are channeling the MIDI back into! My problem is...
If I were to write a melody in MIDI, my Trinity (being MIDI compatible) must use the GM Midi Preload Sounds for playback.
Thus, midi piano on my PC MIDI composer is still "MIDI Piano" on my Trinity.
If it was just a simple language or signal, then why is there a standard or universal 100+ MIDI sounds. You would only need one to compose with...then playback into whatever channel you want.
Don't know if Im being clear but this is what I could never figure out.
Essentially, I don't know why there has to be so many MIDI preload instruments given what you have said above.
Thanks DJ THY

Well, GM (and GS and XG) are just that : a standard.

They were invented for compatibility reasons. In the beginning of Midi, each manufacturer made it's own standards.

So you made a tune, with piano, and drums, etc... And it sounded good with your instrument. Now you exported the midi, and brought it over to a friend, which didn't have the same instruments as you. When he played the midi on his instrument, it sounded like a big mess. Because, the locations of his instruments' sounds, were not the same as on yours. So for example, if you played a melody that used a piano sound on your instrument, it was not guaranteed to play a piano sound on your mates instrument. It could even be the instrument tried to play the melody with a snare sound!

Then somebody came on, and thought, why not make a standard? And they made one. They made kind of a chart, that said, this program number is a piano sound, this one brass, this one ... And soon several manufacturers took it over. In the meanwhile, three big standards exist : GM, GS (by Roland) and XG (by Yamaha).
What they do is just ensure that if you bring over a composition from yours to someone else, or to another instrument, it still sounds roughly the same (well, that it still sounds like music).

I'm not really familiar with the Trinity, cuz I don't own one, and sadly I don't know anyone near me that owns one. But I suggest you read up about midi in the manual. I'm sure the midi implementation of your Trinity will be more versatile than that (I think there's even a pretty extensive midi chapter in the manual).

Did u learn all this through experience or is there a great link somewhere for beginners venturing into Midi Composition. You must have some links there in "My Favourites" that you refer to often.
Hey , thanks for your help pal!

Nah I'm just a genius!

Just kidding, a lot of it I know from experience. But there are enough pages that explain a lot about music production and related things. Sadly, the best one I knew went down not so long ago (studiocovers).

But some other stuff you can read up :

http://www.epanorama.net/links/music.html#midi
http://www.borg.com/~jglatt/tutr/miditutr.htm
http://www.midi.org/

And let's forget the most powerful tool on the net : Google...

Read some of that, but I must warn you, you'll learn the quickest by deliving into the meanders of your gear and just trying stuff. Some of it won't appeal to you, but you'll discover cool things that way also. And the more you know, the more that knowledge can help you in creating things.

In these modern times : knowledge is power...

too right!

cool..thx bro. World of help.
I'll start xperimenting after i try those links.
Thanks again..hope i can figure out for myself even half as much as you already know.


edit - dude thats exactly what i was lookin for !!! THANKS!

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