MIDI ON THE MOVE
Aug 1, 2004 12:00 PM, By Doug Eisengrein
MIDI, short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, is a common interface protocol originally developed to allow two or more synthesizers to “talk” to each other. The brilliance behind MIDI was originally driven not by pure geekdom, but by a real musical desire. It started with keyboard players who were hooked on the futuristic sound possibilities of early synths and wanted to layer those sounds in unique ways. What those pioneering cats of the 1970s craved was the ability to play more than one sound simultaneously, without the need to have each hand on a different keyboard while playing the same parts in perfect sync. The development of MIDI provided those means.
In 1983, the music industry took a cross-platform compatibility lesson from the computer industry, marked by Sequential Circuits' release of the Prophet 600, the first keyboard equipped with the newly forged MIDI standard. Sequential was quickly mirrored by Roland, and during the next couple of years, just about every other synth manufacturer joined the game. And the rest is history.
21 AND ALL GROWN UP
MIDI has certainly grown up, especially in the physical devices themselves. Once upon a time, musicians just wanted to play an ARP along with an Oberheim; later, they could control a room full of gear from a single keyboard. Now, you have all manner of MIDI devices that are not even instruments in their own right, but units built specifically for the purpose of remote-controlling other devices or sound sources such as soft synths, DAWs and even lighting systems. Hip new MIDI controllers are becoming extremely task-specific. Native Instruments just released a MIDI drawbar controller for the B4, its software emulation of the legendary Hammond B-3 organ. Tascam recently rolled out the US-2400, the first dedicated full 24-channel DAW remote controller, and Korg unveiled the microKontrol, a miniature keyboard that encapsulates the most coveted touchy-feely controls of electronic musicians: sliders, rotary potentiometers and assignable drum pads. The latter two of these MIDI devices connect via USB cable, yet they still use MIDI messages as their common protocol.
MISSION: CONTROLLER
It's clear that MIDI is now used for many things beyond just playing one keyboard from another, so how does it fit in with the virtual studio? MIDI keyboards for years have been, and for many continue to be, the master controller. I use a USB MIDI control keyboard to play notes and chords; trigger drums and assorted samples; and control plug-ins and entire applications, such as Native Instruments Reaktor. Although my personal preference for electronic sound sources is mainly software-based, I still use my keyboard to control the hardware synths and effects devices in my rack.
If you use a MIDI keyboard as a master controller and work with a DAW such as Emagic Logic, Steinberg Cubase or Digidesign Pro Tools, the chain of command typically goes something like this: The keyboard is connected to the computer either directly via USB or a MIDI interface that is fitted to the computer. MIDI interfaces come in many sizes, from a simple 1-by-1 (one port in, one port out) to full-blown, rackmountable 8-by-8s. They connect to the computer in a variety of ways, including via serial ports, PCI soundcards and (most common now) USB ports. The keyboard may send MIDI channel, note, velocity, aftertouch, program (patch and bank) and continuous-controller (such as pitch bend) information through the interface to the DAW, where the information is received and passed on to the appropriate MIDI destination. This destination could be back to the keyboard itself (if it is a sound source), a soft synth or sampler, a hardware sound module or other hardware such as an effects processor.
Here, using either multiple MIDI channels or a multiport interface is vital. If you have more hardware devices than available ports on your interface, you need to use the MIDI Thru ports on your devices to create a chain and configure each device with its own unique MIDI channel to respond (or not respond) accordingly to incoming MIDI messages. With a multiple port interface, if none of your devices are sharing the same physical connection and your system is configured correctly, your DAW should be able to route incoming MIDI information from the controller to a specified port, eliminating the need to assign discrete MIDI channels to your devices.
PLUG OR PLAY?
When you are dealing only with MIDI-controllable software — whether it is a plug-in, a soft synth or an entire self-contained program such as Propellerhead Reason — things are a lot simpler. In this instance, a USB keyboard controller is ideal because it is generally a plug-and-play affair. The beauty of a lot of software is that whatever is currently selected will be affected by the keyboard. For instance, in Reason, you set a global MIDI channel in your Preferences. As long as your keyboard controller is set to the global channel, whichever module is selected in the “rack” is what will automatically be played or controlled. DAWs provide separate tracks with different MIDI-channel assignments, but, again, whatever track is selected is usually what your keyboard will control, as long as the MIDI channel corresponds. In most workstations, you can create MIDI tracks that will respond to all MIDI channels (known as omni mode) so that you don't have to fuss with your keyboard's MIDI settings — your keyboard will always be “armed.”
This miniature tour around MIDI in the computer studio is certainly just a primer — one could write novels about this fascinating subject. For now, this bird's-eye view of MIDI's functionality is a good starting point. For more information, check out the MIDI Manufacturer's Association Website at www.midi.org.
Thanks to Doug Mitchell, associate professor at the MTSU Department of Recording Industry, for his history of MIDI, online at www.mtsu.edu/dsmitche/rim419/midi/HTMLs/MIDHIS1.HTM.
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