MIDI

Musical Instrument Digital Interface.  A useful tool developed some twenty years ago, was originally for musicians, but found it's way into lighting, computer games and recording consoles.  Over the last few years, it has also found it's way to video effects and editing.  So where id it begin?

You may remember the huge keyboard setups for Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman in the early to mid seventies.  No, it wasn't to make them look good, it was done that way because certain synthesizers produced certain sounds.  To get all the sounds you needed, you'd have one or more of each brand.  Then you'd have to play two keyboards at once to get a combination of brass and strings for example.  It took hours to set these things up and they weren't stable or easy to play. 

The musicians wanted more.  In the late seventies, some like Herbie Hancock, went to extreme lengths and cost to create their own system that would allow any synth to talk to another one.  There was also the new advances in the personal computer with the release of the IBM PC and the Commodore 64.  Synth makers saw the future of these as controllers for keyboards.  But it wasn't until 1982 that Dave Smith, CEO of Sequential Circuits, suggested all the major manufacturers meet to discuss the problem.  Roland (Japanese manufacturer) had already developed a system and suggested that as a starting point. In 1983, the first synth with MIDI was released, the Prophet 600 by Sequential Circuits.  Within three years, every synth in the world used the MIDI standard and that continues to this day.

So what is it?  The one thing it isn't, is an audio recorder.  MIDI is a way of recording musical information via data.  It's much like the old piano rolls for pianolas.  They had a series of holes in the paper roll, which made the piano play certain notes at certain times.  It would also contain volume information.  MIDI does the same thing.  MIDI not only records note  presses, but also aftertouch (how hard you hold a key down and the changes in that pressure), pitch bend, sustain, volume, panning, program changes and a whole lot more.  It has sixteen channels, which means you can record sixteen instruments.  A virtual band.

To use MIDI you need a keyboard and a sequencer.  The sequencer is a computer program that records the midi data and displays it in 'track' form.  Pro-Tools has a sequencer built in, but there are many more options.  Once recorded, you can manipulate the data however you wish.  For instance, if you play a drum part, but feel it's a bit sloppy, you can quantize (making the notes move to beats) the notes, to make it tight.  You can draw in notes, delete, lengthen etc.

MIDI changed the way we record music.  Today, there would be not a single dance song that is not recorded/sequenced using MIDI.  Just about very pop song will use it in some way.  Wherever a synth is used in a studio or on stage, you will find MIDI.  With the move to using more sampled loops and audio, there is even more use of MIDI.  Now we can sequence real sounds of drums, bass, guitar, voice, orchestras, just about anything using MIDI.

Other uses for MIDI include stage work.  Ever wondered how a guitarist changes his sounds so quickly?  Or how did they get that lighting cue so accurate?  MIDI.  MIDI has it's own timecode called MIDI Timecode (duh!).  When the big touring acts come on stage and hit that first chord, timecode starts and all the changes to the sounds from keyboards, guitar effects, extra drum sequencers, lighting and even part of the sound mix (reverb/delay effects) happen as rehearsed.

This timecode was also used years ago to sync your music with vision.  That's how we used to score programmes.  It worked well although early versions meant you had to go from the start of code, which was a pain.  Nowadays, MIDI is incorporated into Pro-Tools and works alongside the audio.

MIDI is also used for vision.  VJ's have been using it for a few years.  Twiddle a knob here, move a fader there and you get different visual effects on screen.  Now some product amnufacturers have seen the possibilities.  Apple's Motion 2 has a MIDI function whereby you can assigna keyboard note (or knob, whatever) to a function.  It could be a visual effect or an animation effect.  By assigning these keys to parts of an animation, you can 'play' the animation.  It results in more human feel and can save a bunch of time as you're moving several things all at once.  Pretty good.

MIDI is here to stay.  There haven't been any major modifications to the protocol for the past five years or so, and it is due for some.  Synthesizers have come a long way and sixteen channels is a doddle for the current multi-timbral models.  That needs to be increased.  Also, the speed at which MIDI is sent needs to increase.  The world is much faster these days.

So there you have MIDI.  It's going on all around you.