mager@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Rainer V Mager) (02/11/91)
Hi, I would greatly appreciate it if some one could send me a summary on what midi is, what it can do for you, what does a midi keyboard do, and how much one would be. I'm into writing music and such on my Amiga 500, but up till now I've just used programs like SOnix and DMCS and I reached their limitations, please reply and you might want to make it public here since others may be interested, thanx Rainer mager@unix.cis.pitt.edu
nichomax@cattell.psych.upenn.edu (Nicholas Maxwell) (02/11/91)
I'm no expert, but here goes: MIDI is a language or code for specifying what musical instruments should do. All of the communication in MIDI is acheived with numbers from 0 to 128. A simple request for the commencement of a note is denoted with three numbers: one indicates that the set of three is a note-on request, a second determines which note (i.e. C, C# etc.) should be played, and a third indicates the initial velocity of the note-on. The initial velocity is akin to how hard you hit the keys on a piano. Clearly some computer-like controller must take the midi information and use it to actually play the instrument. Thus the usual midi-receiving instruments are synthsizers and sample-players. Some manufacturers have made MIDI player pianos, and MIDI has been used to control other mechanical events such as stage lights and moving sculptures. In your situation, I think you'd find that buying a MIDI interface and a keyboard such as a Casio CZ101 or Yamaha DX100 (either of which you ought to be able to buy used for roughly $100) will be most useful. These keyboards both send and receive MIDI. You could use them to enter music into your sequencer (although different sequencers differ in how easily they allow this), and you could play your music back both through the keyboard and through your Amiga. This will increase the number if kinds of sounds you can make, and the number of voices which can be playing at one time. Hope that's helpful. nichomax@cattell.psych.upenn.edu
whinery@hale.ifa.hawaii.edu (Alan Whinery) (02/12/91)
In article <89933@unix.cis.pitt.edu> mager@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Rainer V Mager) writes: >Hi, I would greatly appreciate it if some one could send me a summary on >what midi is, what it can do for you, what does a midi keyboard do, and >how much one would be. I'm into writing music and such on my Amiga 500, >but up till now I've just used programs like SOnix and DMCS and I >reached their limitations, please reply and you might want to make it >public here since others may be interested, thanx > >Rainer >mager@unix.cis.pitt.edu MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is a standard that was settled upon by the collected manufacturers of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments to describe the protocol used when a controlling device (such as a computer) controls one or more instruments. You can control any MIDI instrument with your Amiga, given a simple interface and the correct software. DMCS, for instance, will do passable MIDI OUT, (the computer controlling the synth), but can't handle MIDI IN (electronic recording of what you play) in real time. (DMCS WILL do MIDI in, but only note by note, as sort of a mouse substitute). Any synth, keyboard, or drum machine that has MIDI ports will work with your Amiga (given the interface and the software) and there are gobs of 'em. MIDI interfaces are readily available through your Amiga dealer or through mail order, and a simple partial function (no SYNC port for timekeeping done by drum machines and stand-alone controllers) interface to build yourself is available (the instructions anyway) from ab20.larc.nasa.gov. If you've never been a hardware hacker, the risks involved would justify the expense of a commercial interface. There is a MIDI ftp site at ucsd.ucsd.edu, with some Amiga stuff, as well as helpful explanatory docs. Alan whinery@hale.ifa.hawaii.edu
antonello@promind.UUCP (Antonello Biancalana) (02/13/91)
In article <89933@unix.cis.pitt.edu> mager@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Rainer V Mager) writes: > Hi, I would greatly appreciate it if some one could send me a summary on > what midi is, what it can do for you, what does a midi keyboard do, and > how much one would be. I'm into writing music and such on my Amiga 500, > but up till now I've just used programs like SOnix and DMCS and I > reached their limitations, please reply and you might want to make it > public here since others may be interested, thanx MIDI, that stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, was designed as a Hardware and Software standards to make possible the informations exchange between different musical instruments (musical notes, program changes, etc.) or other devices such as sequencers, mixers, computers, etc. The MIDI Hardware operates at 31250 bauds (+/- 1%), asynchronous, a start bit, 8 data bits and a stop bit. The connectors used in MIDI are the DIN 5 pin, but, at the present time, not all the pins are used. There are three connectors used in MIDI works and they're labeled: MIDI IN, MIDI OUT and MIDI THRU. All the MIDI informations are sent and received thru the connectors "MIDI OUT" and "MIDI IN". The "MIDI THRU" connector is used to re-send the signal of the "MIDI IN" connector to another MIDI device. Not all of the MIDI devices contain all the MIDI connectors, some have only MIDI IN, some lack of the MIDI THRU connector. MIDI messages are sent in one of the 16 channels. There are five types of MIDI messages that are divided in two categories: Channel messages and System messages. The Channel messages are: - Channel Voice - Channel Mode The System messages are: - System Common - System Real-Time - System Exclusive CHANNEL VOICE is used to control instrument's voices. Voice messages are sent over the Voice channels. these messages include the events: Note on, Note off, program change, pitch wheel change, after touch and controller change. CHANNEL MODE is used to define the instrument's response to voice messages. These messages are sent over an instrument's Basic channel. These messages include the events: Reset all controllers, local control, all notes off, omni off, omni on, mono on, poly on. SYSTEM COMMON are the system messages for all the receivers connected to the MIDI system regardless of channel. These messages include the events: MTCQF (Midi time code quarter frame), Song position pointer, Song select, Tune request, EOX (End of exclusive). SYSTEM REAL-TIME is used to synchronize all the devices in the system and are intended for all clock-based units. These messages include the events: Timing clock, Start, Continue, Stop, Active sensing, System reset. SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE is used to send data such as patch parameters, sampler datas or sequencer memory bulk dump. Every device (i.e. every manufacturer) has its system exclusive messages, that is, if you send a system exclusive message on a synthesizer of the manufacturer "X" will does not work on the synthesizer of the manufacturer "Y", except for the "universal system exclusive codes". The computer in MIDI is usually used as a sequencer and sometime as editor librarian to program synthesizers. I hope this will be useful to you. Best regards - Antonello -- -- ___________________________________ _____________________________________ | | | | Antonello Biancalana | Music composition, Sound Synthesis, | | ProMIND - Perugia, ITALY | DSP and computer music: these are | | Software analysis and development | my favourite wonders. | |___________________________________|_____________________________________| UUCP: {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!cbmehq!cbmita!promind!antonello