Évaluations - 3, GPA: 4
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Facilité d'utilisation
Now, one instrument can say to another : “play middle C, with about 60% strength, then play E4, a little louder”. The second instrument “listens” to this dialogue, and plays the notes in turn, as long as it can understand the language used. The “language” that is now shared by all electronic musical instruments is called “MIDI”, and is featured in this booklet. Even though the instruments can now “converse”, they still have no will of their own. In fact, the only link in the chain with its own will is you, the musician. Then the instruments interpret your performance by “translating” it into MIDI. “MIDI” is considered to be “the language which is used to send ‘performance information’ from one instrument to another” Although MIDI is a relatively new concept, it has already became a household word in the musical instrument scene. It is one of the common features of today’s musical instruments. For your reference, MIDI stands for “Musical Instrument Digital Interface” (2) Applications of MIDI MIDI is widely known as a “language between musical instruments”. MIDI has expanded in such a short period of time, because it can be applied to many kinds of situations. MIDI is a universal term. Although there are 4 WHAT IS I many different languages in the world, such as English, French, and so on, MIDI has only one language, and can therefore provide communication between Japanese and American instruments, or German and Italian instruments. More importantly, MIDI can even be used to “talk” to instruments from different manufacturers. Furthermore, MIDI can be applied to many kinds of instruments. In this way it is possible for an electronic piano to “talk” to a synthesizer, or a drum machine (for details, please refer to page 11). Consequently, MIDI has an enormous potential for growth and development, as you shall see in this booklet. (3) What Makes MIDI Conversation Possible Just how is MIDI used to provide this “conversation”? To explain this, look at the back of your instrument. There are several connectors, including a MIDI IN, a MIDI OUT and often a MIDI THRU. These are the ears and mouth of the MIDI conversation, and are essential for any MIDI communication. The actual “MIDI conversation” travels from the MIDI OUT of one instrument, to the MIDI IN of another, by connecting only one MIDI cable between these two sockets. The cable used has five pins, matching perfectly the five holes in each of the sockets. NOTE : “DIN SYNC” sockets look very similar to MIDI sockets, but have an entirely different function, so please don’t connect a MIDI cable to a DIN SYNC socket. 5 So why do we need three sockets ? (MIDI IN, MIDI OUT, and MIDI THRU). MIDI IN is for “listening” to a MIDI conversation, that is, it is the entrance for MIDI information. MIDI OUT is for “speaking”, to send the conversation from an instrument, and is therefore the exit point for MIDI information. See FIG 1 for a simple MIDI OUT to MIDI IN connection. As you can see, MIDI IN and MIDI OUT are relatively easy to understand, and use, however, MIDI THRU is comparatively more difficult. MIDI THRU is similar to MIDI OUT, in that it does “speak” to the next instrument, however, it doesn’t provide it’s own conversation, it merely “repeats” anything that is heard by the MIDI IN. For example, FIG 2, shows the flow of information through a possible set-up of three keyboards. In this set-up, MIDI information is fed out of the MIDI OUT of keyboard number 1, and into the IN of keyboard number 2. It is also passed on to the IN of keyboard number 3, via the THRU of keyboard number 2. In this way, the information from keyboard number 1 can control both keyboards 2 and 3. Such a combination of more than 2 instruments is referred to as a “MIDI system”. Of course, without the MIDI THRU this set-up could not t MIDI cable FIG I MIDI MIDI OUT 1 1 IN MIDI ' MIDI instrument instrument FIG 2 • construction of MIDI Keyboard MIDI MIDI MIDI IN THRU OUT sou ger nd erator mmm keyboard 6 WHAT IS become a MIDI system, and therefore it is easy to understand the use of MIDI THRU in expanding a MIDI system. (4) One-Way MIDI Conversation MIDI information is sent from MIDI OUT to MIDI IN, or from MIDI THRU to MIDI IN. The information is always sent “one-way”, so that the “Speaker” and the “listener” in a MIDI conversation remain the same, always! For example, a MIDI “keyboard controller” which has no sound of its own, or a MIDI “sound module” which has no keyboard, and so on, have fixed roles. They are either the “master”, or the “slave”. In this situation, the “speaker” is called the master, and the “listener” is the slave. FIG 3a shows the information from an electronic piano being sent to a synthesizer. In this case the piano is the master, and the synth is the slave. However, in FIG 3b, the information is being sent from the synth to the piano, and so their roles are reversed. The synth is now the master, while the piano is t...