An introduction to MIDI by Roland.pdf

®ÂØÒÅˆÎ ®

InFocus

An Introduction to MIDI

written permission of Roland Corporation U.S.

INFOCUS01

About Roland InFocus Booklets

Understanding the Symbols in This Booklet

Roland’s InFocus booklets provide important basic background information

that can help you get the most out of your Roland/BOSS/Edirol products.

Throughout this booklet, you’ll come across information that deserves

special attention—that’s the reason it’s labeled with one of the following

symbols.

While there’s always plenty to say about any one instrument, there are some

topics that apply to a wide range of instruments. Each InFocus booklet

discusses one of these larger topics.

A note is something that adds information about the topic at hand.

For information about a specific product, check out the Roland U.S. Web site

at www.RolandUS.com .

A tip offers suggestions for using the feature being discussed.

About This Booklet

Warnings contain important information that can help you avoid

possible damage to your equipment, your data, or yourself.

Electronic musical instruments offer an incredible array of sounds to

professional and amateur musicians. They place at a musician’s fingertips

everything from traditional, real-world sounds to noises that have never

been heard before.

Hot Links

Each InFocus booklet is designed to be read in order from beginning

to end. However, when you see this arrow symbol to the right of

an upcoming section we’ve mentioned, you can click the arrow to

jump to the section immediately.

They come in all shapes and sizes, too, from solid, physical instruments such

as keyboards, beat boxes, and electronic drum kits, to computer-based

“virtual” instruments, or “soft synths.”

Understanding MIDI

What MIDI Isn’t

All of these devices rely on something called “MIDI.” You really can’t get too

far with an electronic instrument without bumping into MIDI. This is actually

a good thing, though, since MIDI allows you to do all sorts of exciting

musical things.

Yes, it’s an odd place to start, but one of the things that confuses people new

to MIDI is that they assume MIDI is some type of sound, or audio, that travels

through MIDI cables. It’s not.

What MIDI Is

MIDI, which stands for “Musical Instrument Digital Interface,” is a system that

allows electronic musical instruments and computers to send instructions

to each other. It sounds simple, but MIDI provides some profound creative

opportunities.

Of course, it helps to know what MIDI is—that’s what this booklet’s for. Once

you understand the basics, you can consult the documentation for your

device to learn more about how it uses MIDI.

Why MIDI Matters

When you hold down the Middle C on the keyboard, the keyboard sends

out a Middle C “key down” MIDI message to the module. The module says to

itself, “Ah, right, Middle C,” and plays Middle C.

Here are just some of the things MIDI makes possible:

You can use a MIDI instrument with which you’re comfortable to play

the sounds belonging to any other MIDI device, including soft synths.

Create rich musical textures by layering sounds from multiple MIDI

devices, or assign different sounds to play in different pitch ranges.

When you play a MIDI instrument, it produces data that can be captured

by a MIDI “sequencer.” When the sequencer plays back the data,

your original performance is recreated. Sequencers aren’t just MIDI

recorders, though—they let you fix mistakes, change the pitches of

your notes, fix their timing, the way they play, the sounds they use, and

more. In addition, most sequencers can capture multiple performances

on separate “tracks,” allowing you to build up full musical arrangements,

one track at a time.

You can create spellbinding video performances onstage using MIDI

devices such as Roland’s motion dive .tokyo.

The General MIDI sound set allows you to instantly play back pre-

recorded music on many MIDI instruments, or on a computer.

One MIDI device can control another, letting you use the most convenient

tool for any job. Edit MIDI instrument sounds on your computer, operate

an audio recorder from a MIDI beat box, and on and on.

•

Middle C

•

When you let go of Middle C, the keyboard sends a Middle C “note off”

message to the module, and the module stops playing its Middle C note.

•

Note-on and note-off messages are just the beginning, though. Most MIDI

controllers can also sense how hard you play a note, transmitting a MIDI

“velocity” value to the receiving device so the volume or brightness of its

note responds to your touch.

•

And, of course, you’ll usually play more than one note at a time.

We’ll discuss other types of MIDI messages a bit later, and explain how

they’re put together.

We’ll discuss all of these things later in this booklet.

A World of MIDI Controllers

What MIDI Does

When one MIDI device communicates with another, it’s all about instructions:

It’s just one MIDI device telling another one what to do. Here’s how playing

a note—the most common MIDI activity—happens.

Suppose you’ve got a MIDI keyboard connected to a MIDI synthesizer box, or

“module,” and you want to play the module from the keyboard.

A MIDI device that controls another is referred to as a MIDI “controller.”

Though most people think of MIDI as being just for keyboard players, a wide

range of MIDI controllers and control surfaces make it easy for all sorts of

players and engineers to harness the power of MIDI.

Let’s talk about some of the available controllers just to give you some idea

of the range of possibilities.

Guitar Controllers

Accordion Controllers

A steel-stringed guitar, a Roland GK-3 divided pickup, and a Roland guitar

synthesizer such as the GR-20 turn the guitar into a full-fledged MIDI

controller of exceptional expressiveness.

Whether you’re playing the guitar synth’s own sounds or external MIDI

sounds, standard guitar techniques can make MIDI sounds come alive.

Skilled accordion players known there’s nothing quite like the dynamic

control of an accordion. Roland’s V-Accordions open up the world of MIDI

to accordion players. Built-in accordion sounds—and more—provide an

unprecedented variety of timbres, and a V-Accordion offers a great way to

control any MIDI device you like.

Drum Controllers

The Power of MIDI Sequencers

Instruments such as Roland’s V-Drum sets offer a totally natural playing

experience along with incredible sounds, all without the hassles of a

traditional kit. Practice on headphones all night if you want, or record drum

tracks straight into a MIDI sequencer from a V-Drum kit’s pad and cymbal

controllers.

A MIDI sequencer can provide a tremendous amount of fun for the amateur

musician, and it’s a powerful tool in the hands of a professional. In fact,

sequencers play an important role in many modern commercial recordings.

During recording, the sequencer captures and plays back live MIDI

performances. Performances can also be constructed slowly, note-by-note,

using a variety of methods that may include “step sequencing” and onscreen

pencil tools that let you “draw” the notes you want.

There are also smaller drum controllers you can play

with sticks, or even with your hands, such as Roland’s

HPD-10.

Each recorded performance is typically stored on its own track, and a

sequencer may offer anywhere from 16 tracks to over a hundred.

You can even control MIDI devices from traditional acoustic drums by

installing MIDI drum triggers such as Roland’s RT-series Acoustic Drum

Triggers.

Remember, too, that a captured MIDI performance is just a set of

instructions for recreating the performance. Since it doesn’t contain

any actual sound, you can choose the best sound for a performance

even after it’s been recorded.

A sequencer may let you view notes in an variety of ways, from a list of MIDI

events, to a piano-roll-type view, to onscreen notation. (Many sequencers

also allow you to print the notation you see onscreen.)

products’ features, resulting in files that only their sequencers can play. This

throws up roadblock for musicians who want to collaborate or otherwise

share sequencer files.

The capturing of MIDI notes is just the beginning, since a sequencer allows

you to do all sorts of things to perfect your music. Some of the most

commonly used sequencer tools are:

quantization —that corrects the timing of notes.

transposition —that moves notes to new musical keys.

scaling —that changes the feel of recorded musical phrases by adjusting

recorded velocity values, note lengths, and more.

The solution is the Standard MIDI File, or “SMF,” format.

This standardized sequence file format allows music to

travel from one sequencer to another, since most modern

sequencers can play SMFs, and store songs as SMFs. An

SMF may not contain all of the bells and whistles that

make any one sequencer unique, but it supports the

features that are common to all sequencers, and this

makes them extremely handy.

All SMF files have

“.mid” at the end of

their name.

•

Two Types of SMFs

SMFs come in two flavors:

Type 0 SMFs —contain a single sequencer track that holds recorded

performances for up to 16 different sounds.

Type 1 SMFs —can contain multiple sequencer tracks.

Some instruments—such as Roland’s Fantom-X, Fantom-Xa, MC-series groove

boxes and the MV-8000—contain a built-in sequencer, giving you sounds

and sequencing in a single “workstation.” There are also numerous computer-

based sequencing programs and standalone hardware sequencers.

•

MIDI and Video

Some sequencers can record audio in addition to MIDI, allowing you to work

on all of the elements of a song at the same time. The Fantom-X offers this

capability, as do computer-based sequencing programs called “DAWs,” an

acronym for “Digital Audio Workstations.”

Since MIDI doesn’t have to be simply about music, MIDI devices such as

Roland’s motion dive.tokyo allow performers—called “VJs”—to manipulate

video images onstage, creating exciting visuals. Special software on a laptop

computer along with DJ-style physical controls open up a world of video

possibilities, allowing VJs to remotely select clips and control how they

behave.

Standard MIDI Files, or “SMFs”

Whether a sequencer’s in a workstation, on a computer, or a standalone

device, each song’s data has to be stored as a file somewhere, somehow.

Each manufacturer has their own type of sequencer file that works for their

•

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: