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002 - Understanding MIDI
Initially, the concept of MIDI can be confusing, but hopefully in this tutorial you will
realise that MIDI is pretty simple and has many uses.
What is MIDI?
Many people know that the MPC is a sampler capable of recording audio from a
variety of sources. But in reality, sampling is perhaps the weakest part of the MPC -
the main use of an MPC is its sequencer.
What is a sequencer? It's a device for recording data about musical events, rather
than audio. With a sequencer, you do not record the actual sounds from the
performing instrument, you simply record note data, which can consist of pitch,
volume, length etc as well as the timing of that note in relation to other notes. These
instructions can be used to play the sounds from any compatible sound source (such
as a sound module, another sampler, a keyboard synth, etc).
So, an example of sequencer information in plain English would be something like
this:
"At the start of Bar 2, play a low C note for exactly one bar, at a volume of 50"
This information is what your MPC will store in its sequencer (but in a different, more
mathematical format!). But as you can see, the above information is very generic
and is certainly not audio! So, to make a sound from this information, you have to
send this information to a piece of equipment that is capable of reading this data and
knowing that this data is an instruction to play a 'C note'.
A standard form of information transfer was developed that allows instruments and
sequencers to talk to each other - it's called MIDI . MIDI stands for Musical
Instrument Digital Interface. It's very important to understand one thing - Midi
does not carry audio, merely instructional data.
The MPC can transmit and receive MIDI signals. It can also record incoming MIDI
signals in its sequencer. Once that data is saved into the sequencer you can hook up
any MIDI instrument that is capable of emitting sound and get the MPC sequencer to
'command' it play the notes saved in its sequencer.
So why do we need MIDI? Well, let's look at synthesizers and sound modules. If you
have a synth, it will have a built in keyboard so when you hit a key, a sound will play
depending on the sound patch you have selected. But if you have a sound module,
you do not have a keyboard built in, you have to control the built in sounds using a
MIDI controller.
The most common MIDI controller will be a MIDI control keyboard. These keyboards
do not have sounds inside them, all they do is transmit MIDI signals. When hooked
up to a sound module, it's these MIDI control signals that tell the sound module
which note to play. So, press a C note on the control keyboard and it sends a MIDI
message to the sound module to play a C note and then the sound module outputs
an audio sound in the key of C.
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