The MIDI Manual

A Practical Guide to MIDI within Modern Music Production

David Miles Huber

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781317368298
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Tecnología e ingeniería
• Subtopic: Ingeniería acústica

The MIDI Manual: A Practical Guide to MIDI within Modern Music Production, Fourth Edition, is a complete reference on MIDI. Written by David Miles Huber (a 4x Grammy-nominated musician, producer and author), this best-selling guide provides clear explanations of what MIDI 1.0 and 2.0 are, acting as a guide for electronic instruments, the DAW, MIDI sequencing and how to make best use of them. You will learn how to set up an efficient MIDI system and how to get the most out of your production room and ultimately … your music.

Packed full of useful tips and practical examples on sequencing and mixing techniques, The MIDI Manual also covers in-depth information on system interconnections, controllers, groove tools, the DAW, synchronization and more. For the first time, the MIDI 2.0 spec is explained in light of the latest developments and is accompanied with helpful guidelines for the long-established MIDI 1.0 spec and its implementation chart.

Illustrated throughout with helpful photos and screenshots, this is the most readable and clearly explained book on MIDI available.

CHAPTER 1

What Is MIDI?

Simply stated, Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) is a digital ­communications language and compatible specification that allows multiple hardware and software electronic instruments, performance controllers, computers and other related devices to communicate with each other over a connected network (Figure 1.1). MIDI is used to translate performance- or control-related events (such as playing a keyboard, selecting a patch number, varying a controller modulation wheel, triggering a staged visual effect, etc.) into equivalent digital messages and then transmit these messages to other MIDI devices where they can be used to make music and/or control performance parameters. The beauty of MIDI is that its data can be recorded into the “sequenced” track of a software Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), where it can then be edited and transmitted to electronic instruments or other devices within a networked system.

FIGURE 1.1 Example of a typical MIDI system with the MIDI network connections highlighted.

In artistic terms, this digital language is an important medium that lets artists express themselves with a degree of flexibility, repeatability and control that, before its inception, simply wasn’t possible. Through the transmission of this control language, an electronic musician can create and develop a song or composition in a practical, flexible, affordable and fun production environment that can be tailored to his or her needs.

In addition to composing and performing a song, musicians can also act as creative producers, having complete control over a wide palette of sounds, their timbre (sound and tonal quality), overall blend (level, panning, effects, etc.) and other real-time controls. MIDI can also be used to vary the performance and control parameters of electronic instruments, recording devices, controllers and signal processors in the studio, on the road or on-stage.

The term “interface” refers to the actual data communications link between software/hardware systems within a connected MIDI network. Through MIDI, it’s possible for all of the electronic instruments and devices within a network to be addressed using real-time performance and control-related MIDI data messages throughout a system to multiple instruments and devices over one or more data networks. This is possible because a single, connected network is capable of transmitting a wide range of performance- and control-related data, in a way that allows creative individuals to record, overdub, mix and playback their performances in a working environment that loosely resembles the multitrack recording process. Beyond this, however, MIDI surpasses this analogy by allowing a composition to be edited, controlled and altered with complete automation and repeatability – providing a wide range of production possibilities that are well beyond the capabilities of the traditional analog and digital audio process.

The Digital World

One of the best ways to gain insight into how the MIDI specification works is to compare MIDI to a spoken language. As humans, we’ve adapted our communication skills to best suit our physical bodies and brains. Ever since the first grunt, we’ve found that it’s easy for us to communicate with our vocal cords … and we’ve been doing it ever since. Over time, language developed by assigning a standardized meaning to a series of vocalized sounds (words). Eventually these words came to be grouped in such a way as to convey meanings that can be easily communicated … and, finally, written. For example, in order to write down the English language, a standard notation system was developed that assigned 26 symbols to specific sounds (letters of the alphabet) that, when grouped together, could communicate an equivalent spoken word (Figure 1.2). When these words are strung into complete sentences, a more complex form of communication is used that conveys information in a way that has a greater meaning. For example, the letters B, O, O and K don’t mean much when used individually; however, when grouped into a word, they refer to a physical media form that hopefully conveys messages relating to a general theme. Changing a symbol in the word could change its meaning entirely; for example, changing the K to a T within the grouped word makes it refer to a handy thing that’s better off worn on your feet than carried in a backpack (e.g., Dude, is that a book about pirate boots?).

FIGURE 1.2 Meaning is given to the alphabet letters “b, o, o and k” when they’re grouped into a word or placed into a sentence.

Microprocessors and computers, on the other hand, are digital devices that obviously lack vocal cords and ears (although even that’s changing). However, since they have the unique advantage of being able to process numbers at a very high rate, digital is the obvious language for communicating information at high speeds with complete repeatability.

Unlike our base-10 system of counting, computers are limited to communicating with a binary system of 0s and 1s (off and on). Like humans, computers group these binary digits (known as bits) into larger numeric “words” that represent and communicate specific information and instructions. Just as humans communicate using simple sentences, a computer can generate and respond to a series of related digital words that are understood by other digital hard- and software systems (Figure 1.3).

FIGURE 1.3 Example of a digitally generated MIDI message.

What MIDI Isn’t

For starters, let’s dispel one of MIDI’s greatest myths: MIDI does not communicate audio nor can it create sounds on its own! It is nothing more or less than a digital language that instructs a device or program to create, playback or alter sounds. MIDI is a data protocol that communicates control info and parameter messages to instruct instruments and/or devices to generate, reproduce or control production-related functions. Because of these differences, the MIDI data path and the audio routing paths are entirely separate from each another (Figure 1.4). Even if they digitally share the same transmission cable (such as through USB, Thunderbolt, FireWire or LAN), the actual data paths and formats will remain completely separate.

FIGURE 1.4 Example of a typical MIDI system with the audio connections highlighted.

Put another way, MIDI communicates information that instructs a digital instrument or device to play or carry out a function. It can be thought of as the dots on an old player-piano roll. When we put the paper roll up to our ears, we hear nothing, but when the cut-out dots pass over the sensors on a player piano, the instrument itself begins to make music. It’s exactly the same with MIDI. A MIDI file or data stream is simply a set of instructions that pass down a wire in a serial fashion, but when an electronic instrument interprets the data … only then can we begin to hear sound.

What MIDI Is

In everyday use, MIDI can be thought of as a compositional tool for capturing, editing and controlling production-related media. It’s an amazingly powerful environment that, as with the digital world, is extremely chameleon-like in nature.

• It can be used in straightforward ways, allowing sounds and textures to be created, edited, mixed and blended into a composition.
• It can be used in conjunction with groove and looping tools to augment, control and shape a production in an endless number of ways and over a wide range of music genres.
• It is a tool for capturing a live performance (as a tip, if an instrument in the studio has a MIDI out jack, it’s always wise to record it to a MIDI track on your DAW). The ability to edit, change a sound or vary parameters after the fact is a useful tool that could save, augment and/or improve a performance.
• MIDI, by its very nature, is a “re-amp” beast; the ability to change a sound, instruments, settings and/or parameters in post-production is largely what MIDI is all about. You could even play an instrument back in the studio, turn it up and capture the electronically generated sounds acoustically in the studio or bedroom by using mics … there are practically no limits to your creative options.
• The ability to have real-time and post-production control over music and effects parameters is literally in MIDI’s DNA. Almost every parameter can be mangled, mutilated and finessed to fit your wildest dreams – either during the composition phase or in post-production.

In short, the name of this game is editability, flexibility and individuality. There are so many ways of approaching and working with MIDI that there are few wrong ways to approach a project … it’s very individualistic in its nature. Because of the ways that a system can be set up, the various approaches by which the tools and toys are used to create music and sounds are very personal. How you use your tools to create your own style of music is literally up to you, both in production and in post-production… That’s the true beauty of MIDI.

MIDI 1.0 – A Brief History

In the early days of electronic music (Figure 1.5), keyboard synthesizers were commonly only monophonic devices (capable of sounding only one note at a time) and often generated tones that were often simple in nature. These limiting factors caused early manufacturers to look for ways to combine instruments together to create a thicker, richer sound texture (known as layering). This was originally accomplished by establishing an instrument link that would allow a synthesizer (acting as a master controller) to directly control the performance parameters of one or more other synthesizers (known as slave sound modules). As a result of these links, a basic control signal (known as control voltage or CV) was developed.

FIGURE 1.5 The late, great synth pioneer Bob Moog, who was outstanding in his field. (Photograph courtesy of Roger Luther; www.moogarchives.com.)

This simple yet problematic system was based on the fact that when most early keyboards were played, they generated a DC voltage that could directly control another instrument’s voltage-controlled oscillators (VCO – which affected the pitch of a sounding note) and voltage-controlled amplifiers (VCA – which affected the note’s volume and on/off nature). Since many keyboards of the day generated a DC signal that ascended at a rate of 1 volt per octave (breaking each musical octave into 1/12-volt intervals), it was possible to use this standard control voltage as a master-reference signal for transmitting pitch information to other synths. In addition to a control voltage, this standard required that a keyboard transmit a gate signal. This second signal was used to synchronize the beginning and duration times of each note. With the appearance of more advanced polyphonic synthesizers (which could generate more than one note at a time) and early digital devices, it was clear that this standard would no longer be the answer to properly controlling a connected system. Thus, new standards began to appear on the scene, thereby creating the crazy fun of having incompatible control standards. With the arrival of early drum machines and sequencing devices, standardization became even more of a dilemma.

Synchronization between these early devices was also problematic, as manufacturers would often standardize on different sync-pulse clock rates. Synchronizing incompatible systems could be ext...