MIDI Interfaces

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface and it has an existence of about six years. MIDI has been the rant and rave among the electronic musicians.

MIDI Interface is nothing but an information/communication protocol which allows synthesizers which are abide by the MIDI standard to communicate performance data with each other. MIDI info can be stored as a MIDI file on disk and can be utilized in a multimedia program.

Musical Instrument Digital Interface file is a set of instructions for a computer for playing a certain musical composition.

A Method, Not an Object All too often I have seen misinformed customers browsing through a music store: Where do you keep your MIDI s? Can I get two MIDI s for talking with each other? Just illuminating the facts to customers that they cannot just get a MIDI becomes annoying to the salesman. Providentially the average consumer is learning a lot about the concept of MIDI through articles.

The combined and cost-efficiency in synthesizer technology wedged the music world by hurricane. Sometimes if a musician could not get a new synthesizer home before it had been archaic by an innovative product.

Popular and avant-garde performers alike preferred to layer their new sound creations, as to play two or more sounds mutually to produce a larger reverberation. Though this was possible to some extent in a multi-track recording studio, layering could not be realized on the road. A few synthesizer design technicians from different manufacturers then got together to discuss an idea they shared. Sure there had to be a way to play one keyboard and have another one sound simultaneously. They jotted few notes and scuttled back to their design labs to create this communiqué method.

Status bytes play a proficient task in MIDI Interfaces and they are being contented. as follows:

• Note On
• Note Off
• System Exclusive (SysEx)
• Patch Change

Note On command: The command to start playing

Note Off command: The command to stop playing

System Exclusive : The most influential and least tacit of all the status bytes because it can instigate a variety of functions.
Patch Change : The patch number is not similar for every synthesizer and the standards are being set by MMA (MIDI Manufacturers Association). Channel selection helps for sending patch change commands and it entails only one additional byte.

Depending on the status byte, a number of different byte patterns will follow. The Note On status byte tells the MIDI device to begin sounding a note. Two additional bytes are required are:

• Pitch byte: Informs MIDI device which note to play.
• Velocity byte: Informs the device hoe loud to play the note.

Show control, theatre lighting, special effects, sound design, and recording system
synchronization, computer networking and audio processor control come under the applications of MIDI files.