MIDI

for the

Desktop Musician

1876

1979

2003

A LittleDesktop

Musician History

2009

MusicInside the Computer

Hardware – Sound Card

- Generic: $20- Audiophile: $600

Files3 minutes of music =

.wav

.mp3 (64kbs)

.mid .01 floppy

Your Link to Desktop Music

Score Writer has two functions:

• Music Notation SoftwareFor Printing Scores

• MIDI SequencerFor Playing Music

What is MIDI? 

Musical Instrument Digital Interface Created in 1983 to standardize data exchange between electronic instruments.

Data sent on 16 Channels

Data can be:System Messages

Synchronization SignalsChannel Messages

Note onPitchAftertouchController InfoNote OffProgram (Voice) Changes

 General MIDI

Defines standard set of voicesAssigns percussion on Channel 10 – each note is a different percussion instrument

Putting Music into Score Writer

There are “musical alternatives” to the computer keyboard!

For example:

M-Audio KeyRig 25 (USB)$94

M-Audio KeyRig 49 (USB)$95

Yamaha MPC-3, $35,990

Midi Controllers:Keyboards

Yamaha YPG-235, $340

Midi Controllers:Strings

Zeta Violins,$1,300 - $5,000

Ztar Guitars,$2000

Zboard$3000

Yamaha, WX-5$549

Nyle EVI(maybe on eBay?)

Akai, EWI4000S$699

Midi Controllers:Wind

MIDI Playback Four Principal Systems: 1.Hardware Based Wave Tables

This is what you find in the $100-$400 keyboards.

2. Software Based WaveTablesThis is what you find in many computer sound cards.

 3. Frequency Modulated Synthesis

This is the technology pioneered by Yamaha and still used in their moderately priced hardware.

3. Sampled Sound Wave Tables These use samples of real sounds for very realistic playback. Can

be hardware or software based. Some computer sound cards use hardware based sampled sounds.  

Software Based Sampling

Available from Amazon.com for $200/each

Want to Learn More?

Using MIDI to capture music in Score Writer

Demonstration

 

Recording MIDI:

Metronome

Record Options

Quantize

Linking Staves to MIDI devices

Recording

Step Record

Using MIDI Data 

Midi files can be:

Converted to musical scores using programs such as Scorewriter

Modified using programs such as Cakewalk’s Home Studio or Music Creator

Converted to an MP3 file

Converted to a .WAV file and burned into a CD to be played on standard audio equipment

•e-mailed to a friend

Used for “live” performance through a “Tone Generator” or synthesizer

Manipulating MIDI data in Score Writer

•Edit/Midi Data

Velocity (=loudness)

Wheel (pitch change within a note)

Control – Pan (stereo – left to right)

Control – Expression (loudness change within a note)

Tempo

 

Cakewalk’s “Music Creator” contains greater capabilities for editing MIDI data and is a nice companion program to Score Writer.

Getting Sound Out

• MIDI doesn’t make sound

• MIDI tells a device when to make a sound andwhat sound to make

• There are many devices which make sound inresponse to MIDI instructions

 

         

                       Stradivarius

 

                                  

 

                               

Violins Stradivari, circa 1719Stradivari, circa 1716Guarneri, circa 1735Vuillaume, circa 1840Gagliano, circa 1750 Gagliano, circa 1772Gagliano, circa 1786Testore, circa 1758Pierray, circa 1714Pagani, circa 1882 Vaillant, circa 1741 Pagez, unknown vintage Klotz, circa early 1700's Unknown French Violin, circa 1825 Gemunder, circa 1805 Antoniazzi, circa 1910 Unknown Hungarian Gypsy violin Unknown German violin, circa 1800 Unkown Hungarian Violin, late 1800's Homelka, circa 1856 Farvolo, modern Gatano Gearta, circa 1921 Perisson, modern

 

        

                

Guarneri  

                                   

MIDI Sampled Sounds

Buy the Vienna SymphonyFor $1,890

(Legato and Staccato are $1,490 extra)

Manipulating MIDI data in Score Writer

•Edit/Midi Data

Velocity (=loudness)

Wheel (pitch change within a note)

Control – Pan (stereo – left to right)

Control – Expression (loudness change within a note)

Tempo

 

Cakewalk’s “Music Creator” contains greater capabilities for editing MIDI data and is a nice companion program to Score Writer.

Using MIDI to capture music in Score Writer

Demonstration

 

Recording MIDI:

Metronome

Record Options

Quantize

Linking Staves to MIDI devices

Recording

Step Record

From Sound to Music

The Real World:

Sound is AnalogBut

Computers are DigitalAnalog to Digital Conversion:

For a CD, samples are taken 44,000 times per secondFor DVD-Audio samples are taken 200,000 times per second