1 00:00:01,060 --> 00:00:03,160 - This lecture is an introduction to MIDI. 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:05,993 MIDI is an acronym. 3 00:00:07,260 --> 00:00:11,470 It stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. 4 00:00:11,470 --> 00:00:14,920 And the first important thing to understand about MIDI 5 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:17,230 is what it is not. 6 00:00:17,230 --> 00:00:19,753 MIDI is not audio. 7 00:00:21,210 --> 00:00:23,870 A MIDI signal is not an audio signal. 8 00:00:23,870 --> 00:00:26,810 A MIDI cable is not an audio cable. 9 00:00:26,810 --> 00:00:30,400 A MIDI file is not an audio file. 10 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:31,810 In fact, a MIDI file 11 00:00:31,810 --> 00:00:36,810 will be many, many times smaller than a typical audio file. 12 00:00:38,750 --> 00:00:41,130 And that's because what MIDI is, 13 00:00:41,130 --> 00:00:43,763 is performance information. 14 00:00:45,570 --> 00:00:49,510 MIDI doesn't make sounds, rather MIDI instructs 15 00:00:49,510 --> 00:00:52,887 a sound producing-device, "Do your thing." 16 00:00:53,970 --> 00:00:57,640 So for instance, audio is like 17 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:00,080 I put a CD in my CD player 18 00:01:01,110 --> 00:01:05,620 and the CD instructs the CD player's 19 00:01:05,620 --> 00:01:08,220 digital to analog converter, 20 00:01:08,220 --> 00:01:12,640 how to make a sound, an audio signal, 21 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:16,430 from scratch sample by sample 22 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:22,460 using, as we've seen, 11 megabytes of information 23 00:01:22,460 --> 00:01:26,593 for every minute of audio the CD player generates. 24 00:01:28,020 --> 00:01:29,397 MIDI is more like telling somebody, 25 00:01:29,397 --> 00:01:33,137 "Hey, go over there to that CD player and hit play." 26 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:35,980 And these performance instructions 27 00:01:35,980 --> 00:01:39,010 can be sent to any sound producing device 28 00:01:39,010 --> 00:01:42,343 that is MIDI-compatible, that has implemented MIDI. 29 00:01:43,490 --> 00:01:45,930 So MIDI instructions, a MIDI file, 30 00:01:45,930 --> 00:01:49,520 could be sent to an analog synthesizer. 31 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:53,290 It could be sent to a digital synthesizer or to a sampler. 32 00:01:53,290 --> 00:01:55,440 It could be sent to a software synthesizer 33 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:59,003 like the synthesizer that's on your computer or in your DAW. 34 00:02:00,010 --> 00:02:02,410 It could even be sent to an acoustic instrument. 35 00:02:02,410 --> 00:02:04,640 So people have built MIDI pianos 36 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:06,150 and even other instruments 37 00:02:06,150 --> 00:02:09,433 that respond to MIDI information, to MIDI signals. 38 00:02:10,340 --> 00:02:13,220 It's not even necessarily a sound producing device. 39 00:02:13,220 --> 00:02:15,920 So although it was invented for music, 40 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:17,570 it's been adopted in other areas, 41 00:02:17,570 --> 00:02:21,020 particularly in the area of stage lighting. 42 00:02:21,020 --> 00:02:23,730 A lot of stage lighting people use something 43 00:02:23,730 --> 00:02:28,730 called MIDI Machine Control, MMC, to run their light boards. 44 00:02:28,990 --> 00:02:31,430 So even though it's a digital, 45 00:02:31,430 --> 00:02:33,440 MIDI actually has more in common 46 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:35,760 with the mechanical precursors 47 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,720 to acoustical and digital recording, 48 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:43,720 than it does to an audio file or an audio signal. 49 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:48,460 So if we think of the playing mechanism of this music box 50 00:02:48,460 --> 00:02:50,160 like a synthesizer, 51 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:52,490 or like the built-in synthesizer 52 00:02:52,490 --> 00:02:54,163 in your computer's sound card, 53 00:02:55,350 --> 00:02:57,610 then the barrel of the music box 54 00:02:57,610 --> 00:03:02,450 with the little protuberances that pluck the tines 55 00:03:02,450 --> 00:03:05,330 is like the MIDI signal or the MIDI file 56 00:03:05,330 --> 00:03:07,693 that drives the playback of the machine. 57 00:03:08,689 --> 00:03:12,106 (gentle music box music) 58 00:03:18,750 --> 00:03:22,360 So the tines are making the actual sound 59 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:24,750 but this is the information, the performance information, 60 00:03:24,750 --> 00:03:26,510 that tells them what to do. 61 00:03:26,510 --> 00:03:29,160 Another well-known mechanical music device 62 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:30,290 is the player piano, 63 00:03:30,290 --> 00:03:32,303 which works on a very similar principle. 64 00:03:33,190 --> 00:03:36,857 (upbeat ragtime jazz music) 65 00:03:49,270 --> 00:03:52,800 So the piano has a very sophisticated mechanical mechanism, 66 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:57,800 but what drives it is the piano role, the player piano role. 67 00:03:59,020 --> 00:04:03,040 And it's literally just a roll of strong paper. 68 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:07,910 And there are perforations, holes, cut in the paper, 69 00:04:07,910 --> 00:04:09,320 which correspond to notes 70 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:11,830 that are being played on the piano. 71 00:04:11,830 --> 00:04:16,830 So from here to here, represents the 88 keys of the piano. 72 00:04:17,330 --> 00:04:19,080 Then somebody on a special piano 73 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,450 called a reproducing piano, 74 00:04:22,450 --> 00:04:24,850 plays the piece, performs the piece, 75 00:04:24,850 --> 00:04:28,750 and this piano cuts holes in the roles 76 00:04:28,750 --> 00:04:30,803 as the role streams by, 77 00:04:31,830 --> 00:04:34,243 corresponding to the keys that have been pushed down, 78 00:04:34,243 --> 00:04:38,030 then on playback, there's a bellows mechanism 79 00:04:38,030 --> 00:04:42,300 that blows air through the paper 80 00:04:42,300 --> 00:04:45,250 and where there's a hole, the air goes through 81 00:04:45,250 --> 00:04:49,870 and that signals, that pushes on a little mechanical device 82 00:04:49,870 --> 00:04:51,910 that's hooked up and amplified 83 00:04:51,910 --> 00:04:55,340 so that it's strong enough to push the keys themselves. 84 00:04:55,340 --> 00:05:00,340 This is easier to see if we look at a modern visualization 85 00:05:01,250 --> 00:05:03,810 in what's called piano roll notation, 86 00:05:03,810 --> 00:05:05,890 because it's based on this. 87 00:05:05,890 --> 00:05:09,370 Here, the keys are actually visible, 88 00:05:09,370 --> 00:05:12,030 the keys of the keyboard down here, 89 00:05:12,030 --> 00:05:14,293 so that you can see what's happening. 90 00:05:18,900 --> 00:05:22,150 (dramatic piano music) 91 00:05:38,340 --> 00:05:39,493 So, as you can see, 92 00:05:40,990 --> 00:05:44,670 each little area along the left to right axis 93 00:05:44,670 --> 00:05:47,149 corresponds to a note on the piano, 94 00:05:47,149 --> 00:05:51,173 and here the time element, the time axis is vertical. 95 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:54,430 This is called piano roll notation. 96 00:05:54,430 --> 00:05:58,710 And it's actually used in a lot of MIDI sequencers, 97 00:05:58,710 --> 00:06:01,650 maybe part of the MIDI component 98 00:06:01,650 --> 00:06:04,943 of your own DAW like Logic or Pro Tools. 99 00:06:05,930 --> 00:06:08,600 It's often tipped 90 degrees like this 100 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:13,100 so that the piano keyboard is on the vertical axis 101 00:06:13,100 --> 00:06:16,750 and then the time element goes left to right, 102 00:06:16,750 --> 00:06:18,300 horizontally, as we're used to. 103 00:06:19,290 --> 00:06:24,290 So MIDI is a digital format, but it's not an audio format. 104 00:06:24,290 --> 00:06:27,810 In fact, MIDI came into existence in the early 1980s. 105 00:06:27,810 --> 00:06:32,740 It was first mused or proposed about around 1980, 1981. 106 00:06:32,740 --> 00:06:35,940 And the actual MIDI standard or protocol as it's called, 107 00:06:35,940 --> 00:06:40,940 MIDI 1.0 was unveiled in 1985. 108 00:06:41,010 --> 00:06:42,160 And at that point, 109 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:46,710 PC-based digital audio was still in its very infancy. 110 00:06:46,710 --> 00:06:50,070 So for instance, the first Macintosh, the Apple Macintosh, 111 00:06:50,070 --> 00:06:53,110 released in 1984 had very limited 112 00:06:53,110 --> 00:06:54,920 sound producing capabilities. 113 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:56,860 It had an internal sound card, 114 00:06:56,860 --> 00:07:00,540 which is basically a digital to analog converter, 115 00:07:00,540 --> 00:07:04,030 that could produce sine tones and square waves. 116 00:07:04,030 --> 00:07:06,450 It could beep, essentially. 117 00:07:06,450 --> 00:07:07,823 And that was the Mac. 118 00:07:09,864 --> 00:07:12,000 Apple has always been at the forefront 119 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,760 of musical and graphical applications. 120 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:20,370 So the sound capabilities of the IBM-based machines, PCs, 121 00:07:20,370 --> 00:07:23,090 were even more limited than the Macs. 122 00:07:23,090 --> 00:07:25,080 So MIDI was not designed with the idea 123 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:29,600 of driving, of controlling computer-based audio, 124 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,210 as much as it was initially invented 125 00:07:33,210 --> 00:07:38,190 to drive standalone analog and digital synthesizers. 126 00:07:38,190 --> 00:07:39,023 If you're wondering, 127 00:07:39,023 --> 00:07:42,560 "Wait how could there be digital synthesizers if I just said 128 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,747 that computer-based audio was in its infancy?" 129 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:50,470 At that time, the personal computer 130 00:07:50,470 --> 00:07:53,060 did not have enormous audio capabilities 131 00:07:53,060 --> 00:07:55,920 but remember, a personal computer is a sort of 132 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:59,430 one-size-fits-all, do everything machine. 133 00:07:59,430 --> 00:08:04,120 A personal computer is to a Yamaha DX7 134 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:06,470 something like a Swiss Army knife 135 00:08:06,470 --> 00:08:08,830 is to an electric can opener. 136 00:08:08,830 --> 00:08:11,750 The Swiss Army knife tries to do a little bit of everything, 137 00:08:11,750 --> 00:08:13,940 but the electric can opener is doing just one thing 138 00:08:13,940 --> 00:08:16,180 and can do it a little bit more fancy. 139 00:08:16,180 --> 00:08:18,110 So the first personal computers, 140 00:08:18,110 --> 00:08:20,263 the Macintosh, the IBM PC, 141 00:08:21,180 --> 00:08:24,700 were basically designed to do desktop publishing, 142 00:08:24,700 --> 00:08:29,090 some word processing and simple graphics, spreadsheets, 143 00:08:29,090 --> 00:08:33,170 maybe some primitive computer games like Tetris. 144 00:08:33,170 --> 00:08:34,820 You know, you could set the alarm clock. 145 00:08:34,820 --> 00:08:35,930 That was like a big deal. 146 00:08:35,930 --> 00:08:38,080 I remember in the late '80s 147 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:39,210 when a friend of mine figured out 148 00:08:39,210 --> 00:08:41,960 how to get his Macintosh to act like an alarm clock. 149 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:45,070 And, woo-hoo, that was like the greatest thing. 150 00:08:45,070 --> 00:08:47,020 They did have internal sound cards, as I said, 151 00:08:47,020 --> 00:08:49,660 but their capabilities were pretty primitive. 152 00:08:49,660 --> 00:08:52,200 On the other hand, if you take 153 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:56,470 the 1980s level of computer technology 154 00:08:56,470 --> 00:08:59,140 and you put everything into, 155 00:08:59,140 --> 00:09:00,790 how can we make just sounds? 156 00:09:00,790 --> 00:09:05,630 So you take, instead of taking 1 or $2,000 of computer chips 157 00:09:05,630 --> 00:09:08,063 and putting them into a general-purpose machine, 158 00:09:08,950 --> 00:09:12,800 you take 1 or $2,000 of computer chips 159 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:16,200 and design them specifically to be really good 160 00:09:17,140 --> 00:09:18,610 digital to analog converters 161 00:09:18,610 --> 00:09:20,430 or analog to digital converters, 162 00:09:20,430 --> 00:09:22,200 then you can do a lot more. 163 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:26,530 So the first digital synthesizers 164 00:09:26,530 --> 00:09:30,340 were in these standalone devices like the Yamaha DX7. 165 00:09:30,340 --> 00:09:32,870 And there were also analog synthesizers 166 00:09:32,870 --> 00:09:34,673 still very much in the mix as well. 167 00:09:36,530 --> 00:09:38,010 So what would happen was, 168 00:09:38,010 --> 00:09:40,280 people would have all these synthesizers 169 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:41,670 and each synthesizer had 170 00:09:41,670 --> 00:09:43,070 its own sort of specialty, its thing 171 00:09:43,070 --> 00:09:44,880 that it maybe did a little differently 172 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:46,470 or better than the others. 173 00:09:46,470 --> 00:09:50,960 The Yamaha DX7 was famous for its digital FM synthesis 174 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:52,660 which was great at producing 175 00:09:52,660 --> 00:09:55,713 percussive and bell-like sounds, piano sounds, 176 00:09:56,680 --> 00:09:58,870 metal percussion and so on. 177 00:09:58,870 --> 00:10:00,570 People had drum machines 178 00:10:00,570 --> 00:10:03,970 whose specialty was making all sorts of drum sounds. 179 00:10:03,970 --> 00:10:07,340 There were machines like the Moog synthesizer, 180 00:10:07,340 --> 00:10:09,070 which was an analog synthesizer 181 00:10:09,070 --> 00:10:11,930 that was particularly good at sustained sounds, 182 00:10:11,930 --> 00:10:14,050 interesting sort of synth paths 183 00:10:14,050 --> 00:10:17,580 and brass-like or woodwind-like sounds. 184 00:10:17,580 --> 00:10:19,180 So people would have all these devices 185 00:10:19,180 --> 00:10:22,750 and they would be trying to control them all at once. 186 00:10:22,750 --> 00:10:23,720 And you would sometimes get 187 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:28,720 into some very sort of crazy Rube Goldberg-like situations. 188 00:10:29,540 --> 00:10:31,580 So maybe you've noticed this image 189 00:10:31,580 --> 00:10:34,333 in the side menu of my course website. 190 00:10:35,650 --> 00:10:38,280 This is the album cover to a 1978 album 191 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:41,763 by the jazz pianist and innovator Herbie Hancock. 192 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:47,420 And as you can see in the late '70s, early '80s, 193 00:10:47,420 --> 00:10:49,060 people have these wild setups. 194 00:10:49,060 --> 00:10:52,460 He's got like a dozen different machines here, 195 00:10:52,460 --> 00:10:56,390 right, synthesizers, all making different kinds of sounds. 196 00:10:56,390 --> 00:10:59,403 That's a Minimoog right there, Moog synthesizer. 197 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:04,460 and all of them, or at least most of them 198 00:11:04,460 --> 00:11:08,680 have their own keyboard controller, 199 00:11:08,680 --> 00:11:12,090 that is a keyboard that tells the synthesizer what to do. 200 00:11:12,090 --> 00:11:14,510 Like I just pushed down the middle C, 201 00:11:14,510 --> 00:11:17,310 do that thing that I want you to do when I hit middle C. 202 00:11:18,350 --> 00:11:22,340 Or I pushed down that middle C key really hard, 203 00:11:22,340 --> 00:11:24,710 that means I want you to play the sound loud 204 00:11:24,710 --> 00:11:26,720 or whatever it is you're programmed to do 205 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:28,070 when I push it down harder. 206 00:11:30,710 --> 00:11:32,660 And you can see crazy setups like this. 207 00:11:32,660 --> 00:11:35,490 If you go to YouTube and look up Keith Emerson, 208 00:11:35,490 --> 00:11:37,560 you'll see he's, you can see him performing live 209 00:11:37,560 --> 00:11:41,053 on these wild, you know, multi-rack things. 210 00:11:42,430 --> 00:11:44,930 So a bunch of music manufacturers got together 211 00:11:44,930 --> 00:11:47,067 and started thinking, and they're saying, 212 00:11:47,067 --> 00:11:48,740 "You know, all of these machines 213 00:11:48,740 --> 00:11:53,100 are sending pretty much the same kinds of message 214 00:11:53,100 --> 00:11:55,830 from their keyboard to their sound engine. 215 00:11:55,830 --> 00:11:58,330 They're saying things like, 'I push down this key, 216 00:11:58,330 --> 00:12:00,400 how hard did I push it down? 217 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:01,870 When did I push it down? 218 00:12:01,870 --> 00:12:03,600 And when did I let go of it?'" 219 00:12:04,940 --> 00:12:08,410 So they were saying, "Wouldn't it be nice 220 00:12:08,410 --> 00:12:13,410 if we could use just one controller, such as a keyboard, 221 00:12:13,650 --> 00:12:16,060 and send a message from that controller 222 00:12:16,060 --> 00:12:20,457 that could be understood by any musical synthesizer?" 223 00:12:21,430 --> 00:12:24,520 So I could be sitting at my Yamaha DX7, 224 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:26,870 that could be my master MIDI device, 225 00:12:26,870 --> 00:12:28,410 well, they didn't call it MIDI yet, 226 00:12:28,410 --> 00:12:31,080 but that could be my master controller. 227 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:33,370 And I play a note on my DX7 228 00:12:33,370 --> 00:12:36,900 and it can tell my DX7 what to do 229 00:12:36,900 --> 00:12:40,210 but it could also take that message 230 00:12:40,210 --> 00:12:45,050 and send it out from my DX7 in a cable 231 00:12:45,050 --> 00:12:48,570 and connect it to my Moog synthesizer, 232 00:12:48,570 --> 00:12:52,050 and then say, "Hey, Moog synthesizer, 233 00:12:52,050 --> 00:12:56,440 that guy over there on the DX7, just played a C, 234 00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:58,420 maybe you wanna do something with that? 235 00:12:58,420 --> 00:13:00,700 Maybe you should do something with that MIDI, 236 00:13:00,700 --> 00:13:02,430 that performance information 237 00:13:02,430 --> 00:13:05,390 and produce a sound on the Moog device." 238 00:13:05,390 --> 00:13:07,340 So that's how he came to be. 239 00:13:07,340 --> 00:13:08,490 Now we're gonna look a little bit 240 00:13:08,490 --> 00:13:12,560 at the actual content of MIDI data, MIDI information. 241 00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:15,883 What is conveyed in a MIDI message? 242 00:13:17,210 --> 00:13:18,910 Well, again, MIDI is not audio. 243 00:13:18,910 --> 00:13:21,150 What MIDI is, is a protocol, 244 00:13:21,150 --> 00:13:25,100 that is to say, a commonly understood code or language 245 00:13:25,100 --> 00:13:28,630 that standardizes performance information. 246 00:13:28,630 --> 00:13:30,780 What do we mean by performance information? 247 00:13:31,630 --> 00:13:35,810 Things like what note are you gonna play, what's the pitch? 248 00:13:35,810 --> 00:13:38,160 When is that going to start? 249 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:39,860 When is the note initiated? 250 00:13:39,860 --> 00:13:41,090 When is the note released? 251 00:13:41,090 --> 00:13:44,190 When does it stop? Basically the rhythm. 252 00:13:44,190 --> 00:13:45,920 How loud is the note? 253 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:48,250 What sort of sound should that note be? 254 00:13:48,250 --> 00:13:49,770 What patch are we going to assign it to? 255 00:13:49,770 --> 00:13:52,470 Is it going to sound like a flute 256 00:13:52,470 --> 00:13:55,560 or is it going to be assigned to the drum kit? 257 00:13:55,560 --> 00:13:56,603 What's the tempo? 258 00:13:58,390 --> 00:13:59,650 What's the expression, 259 00:13:59,650 --> 00:14:01,260 besides just how loud the note is? 260 00:14:01,260 --> 00:14:02,890 Is there vibrato? 261 00:14:02,890 --> 00:14:07,110 Is there some sort of portamento between pitches? 262 00:14:07,110 --> 00:14:10,830 Is there a change in the tone color 263 00:14:10,830 --> 00:14:12,730 in the course of the pitch, and so on? 264 00:14:14,100 --> 00:14:19,010 This is gonna result in far fewer messages per second 265 00:14:19,010 --> 00:14:20,210 than an audio file. 266 00:14:20,210 --> 00:14:23,470 Instead of having to send tens of thousands 267 00:14:23,470 --> 00:14:25,380 of bits of information per second 268 00:14:25,380 --> 00:14:27,410 just to describe the air pressure, 269 00:14:27,410 --> 00:14:29,870 the sound pressure, at every moment, 270 00:14:29,870 --> 00:14:32,647 I could send a Note On message saying, 271 00:14:32,647 --> 00:14:35,440 "I just started middle C," 272 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:37,830 and it could go on for 10 minutes, 273 00:14:37,830 --> 00:14:40,400 and then I could send a Note Off message 274 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:42,580 and that's literally two messages, 275 00:14:42,580 --> 00:14:45,253 instead of millions and millions of messages. 276 00:14:46,270 --> 00:14:48,580 And each message, each MIDI message, 277 00:14:48,580 --> 00:14:53,083 is typically much, much shorter in length, 278 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:55,580 in its depth, in its bit length, 279 00:14:55,580 --> 00:14:59,680 how many digits are required to convey that message, 280 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:01,800 typically much shorter messages 281 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:04,430 than in an audio file. 282 00:15:04,430 --> 00:15:08,010 So instead of needing 16-bit or 32-bit words 283 00:15:08,010 --> 00:15:11,870 as we do for good resolution in audio, 284 00:15:11,870 --> 00:15:13,660 it might be just a few bits, 285 00:15:13,660 --> 00:15:16,530 maybe just a single byte to convey the information 286 00:15:16,530 --> 00:15:21,010 note on, note off, and so on, okay? 287 00:15:21,010 --> 00:15:23,460 So MIDI, the MIDI protocol 288 00:15:23,460 --> 00:15:27,120 defines a number of different channels, okay? 289 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:28,840 MIDI works with channels. 290 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:31,550 So if I'm sending out MIDI information, for instance, 291 00:15:31,550 --> 00:15:34,340 I might send one MIDI message 292 00:15:34,340 --> 00:15:37,670 to go play a note on the Moog synthesizer. 293 00:15:37,670 --> 00:15:40,000 So I say, that's channel one. 294 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:41,170 And the Moog is assigned 295 00:15:41,170 --> 00:15:43,470 to respond to messages on channel one 296 00:15:43,470 --> 00:15:48,240 channel two might be assigned to my Fairlight Synclavier 297 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:52,300 and channel three is assigned to my Kawai keyboard. 298 00:15:52,300 --> 00:15:55,930 And maybe my Kawai keyboard is a polyphonic keyboard. 299 00:15:55,930 --> 00:15:59,860 That is this single keyboard synthesizer itself 300 00:15:59,860 --> 00:16:03,390 can play many different tone colors at the same time. 301 00:16:03,390 --> 00:16:08,390 So it could create a flute sound and a bass sound. 302 00:16:08,630 --> 00:16:13,630 So maybe channel four is the Kawai flute patch 303 00:16:13,980 --> 00:16:15,570 and channel five is 304 00:16:15,570 --> 00:16:19,440 to the same instrument, a Kawai bass patch, okay? 305 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:21,830 This is how MIDI works, in channels. 306 00:16:21,830 --> 00:16:24,320 If you use a modern 307 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:27,700 software-based digital audio workstation, 308 00:16:27,700 --> 00:16:31,190 or a MIDI sequencer like Logic or Pro Tools 309 00:16:31,190 --> 00:16:33,223 or Reason or Cubase or whatever, 310 00:16:34,260 --> 00:16:37,370 you probably won't see MIDI channels 311 00:16:37,370 --> 00:16:38,680 because they've been implemented 312 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:42,380 in the graphical user interface as tracks, 313 00:16:42,380 --> 00:16:44,160 as if you were looking at tracks 314 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:48,600 in a multi-track tape environment. 315 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:51,190 So you see tracks and you'll probably just think 316 00:16:51,190 --> 00:16:53,650 in terms of tracks, but in the background, 317 00:16:53,650 --> 00:16:55,330 so under the hood, 318 00:16:55,330 --> 00:16:57,790 when you say track one, track two, 319 00:16:57,790 --> 00:17:00,430 track three onto your MIDI tracks, 320 00:17:00,430 --> 00:17:03,250 but those are actually our different MIDI channels. 321 00:17:03,250 --> 00:17:05,010 So most of the messages, the bulk, 322 00:17:05,010 --> 00:17:06,690 the bread and butter of MIDI messages 323 00:17:06,690 --> 00:17:08,800 are gonna be Channel Messages. 324 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,100 There's also something called a System Message 325 00:17:11,100 --> 00:17:12,780 which is something that applies 326 00:17:12,780 --> 00:17:15,623 to all the MIDI messages on all the channels. 327 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:18,200 We'll talk about those in a little bit. 328 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:20,710 But the basic messages are Channel Messages. 329 00:17:20,710 --> 00:17:23,920 And most of those are Channel Note Messages. 330 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:25,970 And the most basic channel message 331 00:17:25,970 --> 00:17:30,720 is the Note On and Note Off message. 332 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:31,810 So in order for this to work, 333 00:17:31,810 --> 00:17:33,450 remember, MIDI is a protocol 334 00:17:33,450 --> 00:17:35,570 where all these different instruments, 335 00:17:35,570 --> 00:17:37,550 any MIDI-compatible instrument, 336 00:17:37,550 --> 00:17:40,660 has to understand the information in the same way, 337 00:17:40,660 --> 00:17:44,610 it has to speak the same language as every other instrument. 338 00:17:44,610 --> 00:17:46,320 So one thing that happened in the MIDI protocol 339 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:48,630 is that all the notes are numbered, 340 00:17:48,630 --> 00:17:51,393 numbered from zero to 127. 341 00:17:52,576 --> 00:17:55,870 And, as it happens, like a byte of information 342 00:17:55,870 --> 00:18:00,010 is assigned to the range of values 343 00:18:00,010 --> 00:18:02,250 so you get a total of 2 to the 1/8 344 00:18:03,914 --> 00:18:06,610 or 128 possible different values, 345 00:18:06,610 --> 00:18:10,270 which means you can have notes numbered from zero to 127, 346 00:18:10,270 --> 00:18:11,560 which is plenty, right? 347 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:16,440 That's far more than the 88 notes of the piano keyboard. 348 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:18,170 So every note is given a number, 349 00:18:18,170 --> 00:18:23,170 by agreement middle C or C4 is assigned the number 60. 350 00:18:23,630 --> 00:18:26,940 So then the C-sharp immediately above is note number 61. 351 00:18:26,940 --> 00:18:29,710 The D is note number 62. 352 00:18:29,710 --> 00:18:32,160 The B immediately below middle C 353 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:34,990 is note number 59, and so on. 354 00:18:34,990 --> 00:18:37,190 So every note, every pitch, 355 00:18:37,190 --> 00:18:39,963 every key on the keyboard has a number. 356 00:18:41,270 --> 00:18:45,170 Note messages are also assigned a velocity. 357 00:18:45,170 --> 00:18:46,460 Now that doesn't actually have anything to do 358 00:18:46,460 --> 00:18:48,580 with the speed or the tempo. 359 00:18:48,580 --> 00:18:50,780 The velocity means literally, 360 00:18:50,780 --> 00:18:54,913 how fast was that key moving down when I hit it? 361 00:18:56,250 --> 00:18:58,450 Which, more intuitively we think of 362 00:18:58,450 --> 00:19:01,330 how hard did I hit the key 363 00:19:01,330 --> 00:19:03,550 or how hard did I depress the key? 364 00:19:03,550 --> 00:19:04,970 That's the note velocity. 365 00:19:04,970 --> 00:19:07,860 It isn't necessarily determined by a keyboard. 366 00:19:07,860 --> 00:19:10,210 If you're playing a wind controller, 367 00:19:10,210 --> 00:19:11,710 maybe it's determined by 368 00:19:11,710 --> 00:19:14,650 how much air pressure there was at the time. 369 00:19:14,650 --> 00:19:17,300 If you're playing a MIDI guitar controller, 370 00:19:17,300 --> 00:19:18,610 maybe it's determined 371 00:19:18,610 --> 00:19:22,130 by the perceived volume, amplitude, 372 00:19:22,130 --> 00:19:23,610 of the guitar string vibration, 373 00:19:23,610 --> 00:19:26,610 which is then translated into a velocity message. 374 00:19:26,610 --> 00:19:27,640 One way or another though, 375 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:29,683 usually with a keyboard controller, 376 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,910 the Note On message is also associated with a velocity, 377 00:19:33,910 --> 00:19:37,170 and these are also a numbered from zero to 127. 378 00:19:37,170 --> 00:19:39,220 So if I sort of hit it right in the middle range, 379 00:19:39,220 --> 00:19:42,480 it'll be about velocity equals 63 or so. 380 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:44,050 If I hit it as hard as possible, 381 00:19:44,050 --> 00:19:48,050 it's velocity equals 128, and so on. 382 00:19:48,050 --> 00:19:51,500 Now that's just a number, how that number is interpreted 383 00:19:51,500 --> 00:19:53,750 by the receiving MIDI instrument 384 00:19:53,750 --> 00:19:56,440 that actually generates a sound 385 00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:58,920 in response to this MIDI message, 386 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:00,920 that's up to the instrument 387 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:02,940 or how the instrument has been programmed. 388 00:20:02,940 --> 00:20:05,770 So, normally, I would say 99 times out of 100, 389 00:20:05,770 --> 00:20:07,780 note velocity is programmed 390 00:20:07,780 --> 00:20:10,160 to correspond to loudness, right? 391 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:11,940 The harder I hit the note, 392 00:20:11,940 --> 00:20:14,510 the louder I expect the sound to be. 393 00:20:14,510 --> 00:20:16,150 It doesn't have to be programmed that way, 394 00:20:16,150 --> 00:20:18,230 but that's usually what people do, 395 00:20:18,230 --> 00:20:20,630 although it's a little bit more nuanced than that. 396 00:20:20,630 --> 00:20:21,790 Because, for instance, 397 00:20:21,790 --> 00:20:25,000 if you are using a sample-based instrument, 398 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:27,230 which is to say an instrument 399 00:20:27,230 --> 00:20:29,780 that produces sounds, generate sounds, 400 00:20:29,780 --> 00:20:32,970 based on a stored library of recorded samples, 401 00:20:32,970 --> 00:20:37,770 for instance of a piano, if I'm using a piano sound. 402 00:20:37,770 --> 00:20:42,280 So if I play a really loud note on the piano, 403 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:44,800 it actually has a different harmonic spectrum 404 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:47,540 than a really, really quiet note on the piano. 405 00:20:47,540 --> 00:20:48,810 That's why you can tell the difference, 406 00:20:48,810 --> 00:20:51,780 say, if you're listening to a recording of a piano 407 00:20:51,780 --> 00:20:53,930 even if somebody turns the volume way down, 408 00:20:53,930 --> 00:20:55,940 if somebody's pounding massive 409 00:20:55,940 --> 00:20:58,190 virtuoso cores on that piano, 410 00:20:58,190 --> 00:21:00,860 it still has that loud tone color, 411 00:21:00,860 --> 00:21:03,740 even though the actual volume 412 00:21:03,740 --> 00:21:06,190 of the playback may be quite low. 413 00:21:06,190 --> 00:21:07,233 So, in other words, 414 00:21:08,610 --> 00:21:10,600 instruments have a different tone color 415 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:12,120 at different volume levels. 416 00:21:12,120 --> 00:21:16,720 So a sophisticated, well programmed sample-based instrument 417 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:19,310 will have a different sample for 418 00:21:19,310 --> 00:21:22,320 I played a really soft note or I played a medium note 419 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:24,120 or I played a really loud note. 420 00:21:24,120 --> 00:21:28,400 So if I receive a high velocity number like 100, 421 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:30,070 velocity equals 100, 422 00:21:30,070 --> 00:21:32,650 not only will it play the sound back louder, 423 00:21:32,650 --> 00:21:35,830 but it will select a loud sample, 424 00:21:35,830 --> 00:21:37,930 a sample of a piano playing loud. 425 00:21:37,930 --> 00:21:40,693 If I play velocity equals 10, super quiet, 426 00:21:41,570 --> 00:21:43,890 it will not only play a lower volume, 427 00:21:43,890 --> 00:21:45,530 but it will base that 428 00:21:45,530 --> 00:21:48,940 on a sample of a piano being played quietly. 429 00:21:48,940 --> 00:21:51,430 Anyway, that's note velocity. 430 00:21:51,430 --> 00:21:53,670 Then there are a number of messages 431 00:21:53,670 --> 00:21:57,360 which are not note on or off messages, 432 00:21:57,360 --> 00:22:01,103 but are what's called control change or CC messages. 433 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:04,690 And these are also usually typically assigned 434 00:22:04,690 --> 00:22:06,440 a range of values from zero to 127. 435 00:22:07,700 --> 00:22:10,140 One of these is channel volume. 436 00:22:10,140 --> 00:22:12,470 Remembering that channels are usually implemented as tracks, 437 00:22:12,470 --> 00:22:14,870 you can think of this as the volume of a track. 438 00:22:14,870 --> 00:22:17,400 How loud is that track relative 439 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:20,070 to the other tracks in your mix? 440 00:22:20,070 --> 00:22:22,853 So it's assigned a MIDI volume, a channel volume. 441 00:22:24,010 --> 00:22:25,810 Then there's something called expression, 442 00:22:25,810 --> 00:22:29,810 which is also assigned to loudness, to volume. 443 00:22:29,810 --> 00:22:34,290 But this is within whatever the channel volume level is set. 444 00:22:34,290 --> 00:22:39,230 Then it can be temporarily louder or softer 445 00:22:39,230 --> 00:22:43,170 than the sort of base mid-level volume of that track. 446 00:22:43,170 --> 00:22:46,140 In other words, a track or the notes on a track, 447 00:22:46,140 --> 00:22:50,220 can get louder and can get softer across time. 448 00:22:50,220 --> 00:22:51,590 That's called expression 449 00:22:51,590 --> 00:22:53,713 and that's control change number 11. 450 00:22:55,410 --> 00:22:57,020 Modulation, this doesn't refer 451 00:22:57,020 --> 00:22:58,350 to changing key in that sense, 452 00:22:58,350 --> 00:23:02,240 but modulation meaning changing the tone color of the sound. 453 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:05,410 Most synthesizers, going back to the Moog synthesizer, 454 00:23:05,410 --> 00:23:07,460 have a mod wheel. 455 00:23:07,460 --> 00:23:08,650 Like the pitch bend wheel, 456 00:23:08,650 --> 00:23:11,460 there's also a mod or modulation wheel 457 00:23:11,460 --> 00:23:14,910 where if you push it up, usually intensifies the sound. 458 00:23:14,910 --> 00:23:16,570 Maybe it adds vibrato, 459 00:23:16,570 --> 00:23:19,410 maybe it's been programmed to increase the vibrato. 460 00:23:19,410 --> 00:23:21,960 Or, say it's a guitar, electric guitar sound, 461 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:26,173 maybe if you turn up the mod wheel you get more distortion. 462 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:28,970 It typically makes sounds brighter too. 463 00:23:28,970 --> 00:23:32,283 So maybe it gives them a brighter, higher harmonic spectrum. 464 00:23:33,860 --> 00:23:36,550 That's how modulation is typically programmed. 465 00:23:36,550 --> 00:23:38,060 That's continuous controller 01, 466 00:23:38,060 --> 00:23:41,810 and if I turn up the mod wheel on my keyboard controller, 467 00:23:41,810 --> 00:23:43,890 that will send a message to increase 468 00:23:43,890 --> 00:23:46,980 the modulation value on that channel. 469 00:23:46,980 --> 00:23:50,943 Pan, position left right, in the stereo field, 470 00:23:51,820 --> 00:23:55,510 control change number 10, from zero to 127. 471 00:23:55,510 --> 00:23:58,970 Pitch bend, so most synthesizers 472 00:23:58,970 --> 00:24:02,770 have a pitch bend wheel or a pitch ribbon 473 00:24:02,770 --> 00:24:04,810 so that you can increase 474 00:24:04,810 --> 00:24:07,230 or decrease the frequency of a note 475 00:24:07,230 --> 00:24:08,780 that's already being triggered. 476 00:24:10,490 --> 00:24:11,950 Pitch bend is special, 477 00:24:11,950 --> 00:24:14,690 because our ears are enormously sensitive 478 00:24:14,690 --> 00:24:17,310 to very small changes in pitch, 479 00:24:17,310 --> 00:24:20,830 128 possible values might not be enough. 480 00:24:20,830 --> 00:24:21,663 It might sound like 481 00:24:21,663 --> 00:24:24,550 there were sort of jumps, jerkiness, in the pitch. 482 00:24:24,550 --> 00:24:27,270 So that actually has more bytes assigned to it 483 00:24:27,270 --> 00:24:32,270 so that there are actually 65,536 possible values 484 00:24:34,130 --> 00:24:37,170 for the pitch bend parameter. 485 00:24:37,170 --> 00:24:38,030 The sustain pedal. 486 00:24:38,030 --> 00:24:40,600 You can depress the foot pedal, 487 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:43,610 say on your keyboard which normally sustains the note. 488 00:24:43,610 --> 00:24:45,240 This is also a little bit different 489 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:48,100 although it still has 128 possible values, 490 00:24:48,100 --> 00:24:51,860 it's an on/off, either the sustain pedal is down 491 00:24:51,860 --> 00:24:53,000 and the notes are sustaining, 492 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,563 or the sustain pedal is up and the notes are not sustained. 493 00:24:57,750 --> 00:24:59,310 It only has two states. 494 00:24:59,310 --> 00:25:03,750 So any value between like zero and 63 will be depressed, 495 00:25:03,750 --> 00:25:06,890 any value between 64 and 127 496 00:25:06,890 --> 00:25:09,793 will be undepressed or vice versa. 497 00:25:10,980 --> 00:25:13,990 That's control change number 64. 498 00:25:13,990 --> 00:25:15,010 And there are others, 499 00:25:15,010 --> 00:25:17,140 for instance, aftertouch. 500 00:25:17,140 --> 00:25:19,780 Many synthesizers and many sounds 501 00:25:19,780 --> 00:25:21,100 are programmed to respond 502 00:25:21,100 --> 00:25:24,903 to how hard you press the key after you've played the note. 503 00:25:25,780 --> 00:25:29,120 So you can make them respond to key pressure and so on. 504 00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:31,200 So all of these things are examples 505 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:34,210 of Channel Note Messages, 506 00:25:34,210 --> 00:25:37,520 and then Control Change Channel Messages 507 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:39,090 that will affect the sound 508 00:25:39,090 --> 00:25:42,180 of the information of the notes that you're playing. 509 00:25:42,180 --> 00:25:44,500 There are also, as I said, System Messages. 510 00:25:44,500 --> 00:25:47,980 These are messages that go to all channels, 511 00:25:47,980 --> 00:25:50,290 and the most basic of these, 512 00:25:50,290 --> 00:25:51,930 the one that's sort of essential for everything 513 00:25:51,930 --> 00:25:54,420 is the MIDI Time Code. 514 00:25:54,420 --> 00:25:55,530 Right, so I can say 515 00:25:55,530 --> 00:25:57,730 that there's going to be a Note On message 516 00:25:57,730 --> 00:26:01,210 and I can say that it occurs at a certain moment in time 517 00:26:01,210 --> 00:26:02,920 but somebody has to be keeping time. 518 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:05,860 Somebody has to be in charge of the clock. 519 00:26:05,860 --> 00:26:07,300 And that's what MIDI Time Code is doing. 520 00:26:07,300 --> 00:26:08,350 It's sending messages 521 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:12,200 steadily across all channels 522 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,660 to regulate the time 523 00:26:15,660 --> 00:26:17,460 between all these different devices. 524 00:26:18,462 --> 00:26:20,230 A MIDI clock, MIDI Time Code, 525 00:26:20,230 --> 00:26:23,220 measures in musical time that we're familiar with, 526 00:26:23,220 --> 00:26:25,210 it measures in measures. 527 00:26:25,210 --> 00:26:27,600 And then, depending on the time signature beats, 528 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:30,540 it's a certain number of beats per measure, 529 00:26:30,540 --> 00:26:33,050 and then a certain number of pulses. 530 00:26:33,050 --> 00:26:36,380 There are 24 pulses defined per quarter note. 531 00:26:36,380 --> 00:26:40,740 So, for example, 16th notes would be six pulses long, 532 00:26:40,740 --> 00:26:42,623 one quarter of, 533 00:26:44,690 --> 00:26:45,840 of a quarter note beat. 534 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:50,600 And then pulses are further divided into ticks. 535 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:55,330 And this depends now on the specific MIDI messages 536 00:26:55,330 --> 00:26:57,170 that you're using in the specific instrument 537 00:26:57,170 --> 00:26:58,980 or software that you're using, 538 00:26:58,980 --> 00:27:03,980 but there can be up to 960 ticks per quarter note, okay? 539 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:08,040 So MIDI events are recorded 540 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:11,700 in traditional musical time locations. 541 00:27:11,700 --> 00:27:12,980 Therefore there's also a tempo. 542 00:27:12,980 --> 00:27:14,780 And if you change the MIDI tempo 543 00:27:14,780 --> 00:27:16,410 everything will happen faster 544 00:27:16,410 --> 00:27:17,910 if you raise the tempo, 545 00:27:17,910 --> 00:27:19,533 slower if you lower the tempo. 546 00:27:20,390 --> 00:27:24,610 This is in contrast, for example, to SMPTE time code. 547 00:27:24,610 --> 00:27:25,600 SMPTE stands for 548 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:29,030 society of motion picture and television engineers. 549 00:27:29,030 --> 00:27:34,030 And SMPTE code is measured in more like a clock time, 550 00:27:34,060 --> 00:27:39,060 hours and minutes and seconds, and then frames. 551 00:27:39,210 --> 00:27:41,990 So after, like, if I'm in hour one, 552 00:27:41,990 --> 00:27:44,790 minute three, 12 seconds in, 553 00:27:44,790 --> 00:27:47,360 then how many frames into that second 554 00:27:47,360 --> 00:27:49,490 that is frames of film, right? 555 00:27:49,490 --> 00:27:52,100 So the typical frame rate 556 00:27:52,100 --> 00:27:57,100 for a cinema quality quality film is 24 frames per second. 557 00:27:57,490 --> 00:27:59,320 There are other frame rates, 558 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:04,320 48 frames per second, 29.97 frames per second. 559 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:08,310 But SMPTE time code is measuring things 560 00:28:08,310 --> 00:28:10,360 in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames. 561 00:28:10,360 --> 00:28:13,590 And in your DAW, you can, in the preferences, 562 00:28:13,590 --> 00:28:18,080 arrange to see the time as MIDI time, 563 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:20,160 musical time or as SMPTE time 564 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:22,840 or as straight clock time, hours, minutes 565 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:26,070 and then seconds in decimals. 566 00:28:26,070 --> 00:28:31,070 And then like 1.67 seconds measuring in 100ths of a second, 567 00:28:31,110 --> 00:28:33,270 and then eventually in samples. 568 00:28:33,270 --> 00:28:36,640 So when you get past, usually 100ths of a second, 569 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:40,510 most programs will then show you how many samples are you 570 00:28:40,510 --> 00:28:44,900 into that second there being, whatever the sample rate is, 571 00:28:44,900 --> 00:28:48,383 44,000 or whatever number of samples per second. 572 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:51,890 You may be wondering why, you know, 573 00:28:51,890 --> 00:28:56,150 you can have of course, over samplings on your DAW, 574 00:28:56,150 --> 00:28:59,200 so many DAWs will allow you to record at 575 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:03,423 much higher sample rates, 96,000 samples per second. 576 00:29:04,290 --> 00:29:07,350 They'll also allow 48,000 samples per second, 577 00:29:07,350 --> 00:29:08,183 which is very close 578 00:29:08,183 --> 00:29:13,160 to the standard CD rate of 44,100 samples per second. 579 00:29:14,490 --> 00:29:15,330 So like, why bother? 580 00:29:15,330 --> 00:29:18,800 Why have it 44.1 and then also 48,000? 581 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:22,700 The reason is because of scoring video. 582 00:29:22,700 --> 00:29:27,700 So since so much film is 24 frames per second, 583 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:30,750 if you are scoring a movie 584 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,540 or TV advertisement, whatever, 585 00:29:35,540 --> 00:29:38,257 and it's 24 frames per second 586 00:29:38,257 --> 00:29:43,257 and your audio is 48,000 frames per second, 587 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,920 those divide into each other very tidally, right? 588 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:50,930 So you have exactly 2,000 samples per frame. 589 00:29:50,930 --> 00:29:51,880 That's why that is. 590 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:55,700 Then finally, another kind of System Message 591 00:29:56,620 --> 00:29:59,810 is the System Exclusive Message. 592 00:29:59,810 --> 00:30:01,140 And it's called exclusive 593 00:30:01,140 --> 00:30:05,310 because it's specific to one device, 594 00:30:05,310 --> 00:30:09,020 one musical machine, 595 00:30:09,020 --> 00:30:11,330 it's addressed to a specific machine. 596 00:30:11,330 --> 00:30:12,700 So for instance, I could be sending 597 00:30:12,700 --> 00:30:14,480 out a System Exclusive message, 598 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:15,680 I say this is for 599 00:30:17,470 --> 00:30:18,810 machine number such and such 600 00:30:18,810 --> 00:30:23,810 which means the Moog synthesizer or the Yamaha DX7, 601 00:30:24,310 --> 00:30:29,160 I'm talking to a specific manufactured keyboard 602 00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:31,693 or other kind of synthesizer or musical device. 603 00:30:33,036 --> 00:30:34,510 And the main reason, 604 00:30:34,510 --> 00:30:37,840 the main use for SysEx message 605 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,710 is to address something that's specific to that instrument. 606 00:30:40,710 --> 00:30:45,640 Usually that means to edit the sound parameters 607 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:46,680 of that instrument. 608 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:50,580 So if you have a synthesizer where you can adjust, 609 00:30:50,580 --> 00:30:54,020 let's say, the FM synthesis algorithm 610 00:30:54,020 --> 00:30:55,630 to change the tone color, 611 00:30:55,630 --> 00:30:58,300 or if it works the way a Hammond organ does 612 00:30:58,300 --> 00:31:00,570 with additives synthesis and you can have 613 00:31:00,570 --> 00:31:02,400 different strengths of different harmonics. 614 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:04,900 And these are all things that you can program 615 00:31:04,900 --> 00:31:06,610 on the synthesizer itself. 616 00:31:06,610 --> 00:31:08,690 You can also, instead of programming 617 00:31:08,690 --> 00:31:10,690 them on the synthesizer itself, 618 00:31:10,690 --> 00:31:13,400 you can address those via MIDI 619 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,410 by using a System Exclusive message 620 00:31:16,410 --> 00:31:19,610 that's designed to talk only to that specific instrument. 621 00:31:19,610 --> 00:31:23,180 Now I've been describing everything as if you were running 622 00:31:23,180 --> 00:31:27,230 an old-fashioned MIDI electronic studio, 623 00:31:27,230 --> 00:31:29,630 where you had multiple different devices, 624 00:31:29,630 --> 00:31:32,250 all changed together and being controlled 625 00:31:32,250 --> 00:31:37,250 from your master keyboard controller or from your computer. 626 00:31:37,350 --> 00:31:39,660 Not many of you are likely to be working that way. 627 00:31:39,660 --> 00:31:42,980 Nowadays, people much more often are using, 628 00:31:42,980 --> 00:31:46,230 maybe they just have the one MIDI controller, 629 00:31:46,230 --> 00:31:49,860 say a master keyboard, which is plugged into their computer, 630 00:31:49,860 --> 00:31:54,390 and then, for many people, all of the MIDI music making 631 00:31:54,390 --> 00:31:56,670 that they're doing is inside the computer, 632 00:31:56,670 --> 00:32:00,350 inside Logic or Reason or Cubase, 633 00:32:00,350 --> 00:32:03,210 where there are these software synthesizers 634 00:32:03,210 --> 00:32:05,660 which are generating sounds in response 635 00:32:05,660 --> 00:32:08,460 to the MIDI data that they're receiving. 636 00:32:08,460 --> 00:32:10,320 So it actually works exactly the same way 637 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:11,270 as I've been describing, 638 00:32:11,270 --> 00:32:14,720 except that it's all internal, it's all Logic, 639 00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:17,200 say talking to itself. 640 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:19,950 So I play MIDI data or I draw in 641 00:32:19,950 --> 00:32:22,430 or enter MIDI information in some way. 642 00:32:22,430 --> 00:32:25,850 And then on track one, maybe that MIDI data 643 00:32:25,850 --> 00:32:30,300 gets sent to Logic's flute software instrument, 644 00:32:30,300 --> 00:32:32,560 and on track two, it gets sent 645 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:36,670 to the drum kit that I'm using in Logic. 646 00:32:36,670 --> 00:32:38,520 But it works on exactly the same principle. 647 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:41,370 It's sending MIDI information internally 648 00:32:41,370 --> 00:32:44,573 to generate sounds in response to those MIDI messages. 649 00:32:45,870 --> 00:32:48,700 Now, speaking of the old days versus now, 650 00:32:48,700 --> 00:32:49,980 I was gonna talk some 651 00:32:49,980 --> 00:32:52,853 about MIDI hardware and connections. 652 00:32:53,690 --> 00:32:55,980 I'm gonna just breeze over this really quickly, 653 00:32:55,980 --> 00:33:00,980 because for 99% of you, this will not be relevant. 654 00:33:01,730 --> 00:33:05,220 Nowadays, you simply take your MIDI device, 655 00:33:05,220 --> 00:33:07,450 your keyboard or whatever it might be, 656 00:33:07,450 --> 00:33:10,420 and it probably has a USB connector 657 00:33:10,420 --> 00:33:11,900 which you can plug directly 658 00:33:11,900 --> 00:33:15,320 into the USB port of your computer 659 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:19,010 and, magically, your keyboard is communicating 660 00:33:19,010 --> 00:33:23,513 with your notation software, your audio software, et cetera. 661 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:30,060 There is actually something called a MIDI interface 662 00:33:30,060 --> 00:33:33,150 which converts the MIDI data 663 00:33:33,150 --> 00:33:35,820 into a form that can be sent via USB. 664 00:33:35,820 --> 00:33:38,520 But that's all, again, under the hood nowadays, 665 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:41,890 it's happening inside the device. 666 00:33:41,890 --> 00:33:46,680 However, if you are using machines that are not that old, 667 00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:49,940 maybe 10, 15 years old, 668 00:33:49,940 --> 00:33:51,490 you will see often that they have 669 00:33:51,490 --> 00:33:54,630 actual MIDI ports on the back. 670 00:33:54,630 --> 00:33:58,090 They have what's called a MIDI in and a MIDI out 671 00:33:58,090 --> 00:34:00,840 and sometimes a MIDI through port, 672 00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:04,700 and these do not plug directly into your computer. 673 00:34:04,700 --> 00:34:06,130 In fact, if you go to our tech lab, 674 00:34:06,130 --> 00:34:08,290 you'll see that there are MIDI cables 675 00:34:08,290 --> 00:34:11,350 coming out of the Yamaha keyboards 676 00:34:11,350 --> 00:34:14,860 and going into a little standalone interface 677 00:34:14,860 --> 00:34:16,410 which is converting the information 678 00:34:16,410 --> 00:34:20,190 and then sending it via USB into the computer 679 00:34:20,190 --> 00:34:23,263 where you can deal with it in Logic or in Sibelius. 680 00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:26,740 So there's like a whole protocol 681 00:34:26,740 --> 00:34:28,410 and a whole knowledge you have to have 682 00:34:28,410 --> 00:34:30,430 if you're going to be hooking up these now 683 00:34:30,430 --> 00:34:33,170 somewhat old fashioned or vintage devices. 684 00:34:33,170 --> 00:34:34,700 And that still happens some. 685 00:34:34,700 --> 00:34:38,800 So I'm assigning some reading that will talk about that 686 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:42,780 but I will spare that for us now. 687 00:34:42,780 --> 00:34:44,130 And go on and to talk about 688 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:48,240 MIDI and sound quality. 689 00:34:48,240 --> 00:34:50,820 So a lot of, MIDI has this reputation 690 00:34:50,820 --> 00:34:53,680 of creating not very good sound. 691 00:34:53,680 --> 00:34:57,160 People are like, "Oh I don't want that lousy MIDI sound, 692 00:34:57,160 --> 00:34:59,110 give me real audio. 693 00:34:59,110 --> 00:35:03,050 I don't want this cheap, tinny MIDI sound." 694 00:35:03,050 --> 00:35:06,523 Well, the thing about MIDI sound quality is, 695 00:35:07,654 --> 00:35:11,270 there is no such thing as MIDI sound quality, 696 00:35:11,270 --> 00:35:13,580 because MIDI is not audio. 697 00:35:13,580 --> 00:35:14,970 Have I said that before? 698 00:35:14,970 --> 00:35:17,000 MIDI is not audio, it's performance data. 699 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,670 It tells other instruments 700 00:35:19,670 --> 00:35:21,960 to create audio, 701 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:25,960 to trigger their audio functions to create sound. 702 00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:28,010 So why does MIDI have this reputation 703 00:35:28,010 --> 00:35:31,303 of being tinny and cheap and inexpressive? 704 00:35:32,190 --> 00:35:33,220 Well, part of the reason 705 00:35:33,220 --> 00:35:35,070 is that back in the day, 706 00:35:35,070 --> 00:35:37,283 in the 1980s when MIDI was invented, 707 00:35:38,260 --> 00:35:41,810 remember that computers did not have 708 00:35:41,810 --> 00:35:46,440 very sophisticated digital audio capabilities, right? 709 00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:51,350 So as people became more familiar, 710 00:35:51,350 --> 00:35:54,140 as MIDI files sort of entered the general consciousness 711 00:35:54,140 --> 00:35:59,140 in the 1990s, people associated MIDI and MIDI files 712 00:35:59,410 --> 00:36:04,410 with the MIDI playback of those files on their computers. 713 00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:05,810 And their computers, 714 00:36:05,810 --> 00:36:07,920 you know, had these cheap, as I said, 715 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:11,300 sound cards that really couldn't do very much, right. 716 00:36:11,300 --> 00:36:13,030 They basically beeped. 717 00:36:13,030 --> 00:36:16,350 So you could have a MIDI sound file, 718 00:36:16,350 --> 00:36:19,610 or excuse me, a MIDI file that would sound fantastic 719 00:36:19,610 --> 00:36:23,580 if realized on high-quality synthesis equipment, 720 00:36:23,580 --> 00:36:25,170 but played back on people's computer, 721 00:36:25,170 --> 00:36:26,530 it sounded cheap and tinny 722 00:36:26,530 --> 00:36:28,140 like all of their computer sounds. 723 00:36:28,140 --> 00:36:30,410 And the same with early video games 724 00:36:30,410 --> 00:36:32,130 whether they were computer-based video games 725 00:36:32,130 --> 00:36:35,270 or standalone games, like in a game arcade, 726 00:36:35,270 --> 00:36:37,360 the sound quality was not very good. 727 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:40,660 And that's what people associated with MIDI. 728 00:36:40,660 --> 00:36:42,670 Also low-budget soundtracks 729 00:36:42,670 --> 00:36:44,930 when people couldn't afford real musicians 730 00:36:44,930 --> 00:36:47,300 and they would instead use these, 731 00:36:47,300 --> 00:36:52,300 not very sophisticated yet, 1980s, 1990s virtual instruments 732 00:36:53,850 --> 00:36:55,970 on synthesizers, it didn't sound great. 733 00:36:55,970 --> 00:36:57,840 So people thought that's what MIDI sounds like. 734 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:00,503 But, again, MIDI doesn't sound like anything. 735 00:37:01,870 --> 00:37:03,912 The other thing is that MIDI files, 736 00:37:03,912 --> 00:37:05,670 and we'll talk about MIDI file formats in a minute, 737 00:37:05,670 --> 00:37:09,510 but MIDI files are often hard quantized. 738 00:37:09,510 --> 00:37:12,420 They don't have to be, but they are often hard quantized 739 00:37:12,420 --> 00:37:16,090 which means that things happen exactly on the beat 740 00:37:16,090 --> 00:37:17,790 or on the eighth note of the 16, 741 00:37:17,790 --> 00:37:21,410 with no expressive variation. 742 00:37:21,410 --> 00:37:23,380 So people also associate MIDI 743 00:37:23,380 --> 00:37:26,880 with this very mechanical, very inexpressive 744 00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:29,430 sort of performance, 745 00:37:29,430 --> 00:37:33,110 which might sound great for certain kinds of hip hop, 746 00:37:33,110 --> 00:37:35,190 techno dance music. 747 00:37:35,190 --> 00:37:36,880 But for a lot of music, it's gonna sound just 748 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:39,470 really mechanical and robotic. 749 00:37:39,470 --> 00:37:40,400 But that's not MIDI, 750 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:43,060 that's just the nature of how people use MIDI 751 00:37:43,060 --> 00:37:45,880 and how people realize those MIDI files 752 00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:47,130 on their sound equipment. 753 00:37:48,860 --> 00:37:51,023 So let's talk about file formats. 754 00:37:52,020 --> 00:37:56,963 MIDI results in a standard MIDI file, 755 00:37:57,980 --> 00:38:02,417 has either the .smf or the .mid format. 756 00:38:05,550 --> 00:38:09,260 And these MIDI files, the intent of these MIDI files, 757 00:38:09,260 --> 00:38:10,770 right, is to generate sound. 758 00:38:10,770 --> 00:38:12,670 So that means that a synthesizer, 759 00:38:12,670 --> 00:38:16,010 whether it's the software synthesizer inside your computer 760 00:38:16,010 --> 00:38:18,340 or a standalone synthesizer, 761 00:38:18,340 --> 00:38:20,350 it takes this MIDI data, 762 00:38:20,350 --> 00:38:23,640 these smf or .mid files 763 00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:28,210 and creates from them digital audio, 764 00:38:28,210 --> 00:38:31,200 uses them to trigger the digital audio 765 00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:33,740 that those instruments produce. 766 00:38:33,740 --> 00:38:38,563 That's the normal direction from MIDI to digital audio. 767 00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:41,630 You can also, to some degree, 768 00:38:41,630 --> 00:38:42,960 can you go the other direction? 769 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:45,530 Can you go from audio to MIDI? 770 00:38:45,530 --> 00:38:47,450 Can you take an audio signal 771 00:38:47,450 --> 00:38:51,430 and generate MIDI data or a MIDI file from that? 772 00:38:51,430 --> 00:38:55,140 Well, in the 1980s, the short answer is no. 773 00:38:55,140 --> 00:38:56,070 When MIDI was invented, 774 00:38:56,070 --> 00:38:57,920 this was not something you could do. 775 00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:00,350 But more recently, this has become, 776 00:39:00,350 --> 00:39:02,270 with certain limitations, 777 00:39:02,270 --> 00:39:04,040 this has become possible. 778 00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:07,340 So nowadays, there is software 779 00:39:07,340 --> 00:39:09,960 that can do frequency analysis. 780 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:12,467 It can take an audio signal and say, 781 00:39:12,467 --> 00:39:16,120 "Hmm, that sounds like a middle C 782 00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:17,740 plus the G above it 783 00:39:17,740 --> 00:39:19,913 and the F sharp below it." right? 784 00:39:20,910 --> 00:39:22,480 This is all based on the same theory 785 00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:24,683 that, just as all sounds are, 786 00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:27,870 can be represented as a sum 787 00:39:27,870 --> 00:39:29,380 of various different sine waves, 788 00:39:29,380 --> 00:39:32,390 likewise even the most complex repeating sounds 789 00:39:32,390 --> 00:39:36,890 can be broken down into a series of component frequencies 790 00:39:36,890 --> 00:39:40,700 using something called Fast Fourier Transform. 791 00:39:40,700 --> 00:39:43,630 So algorithms exist 792 00:39:43,630 --> 00:39:48,030 that can take audio signals 793 00:39:48,030 --> 00:39:51,040 and deduce or analyze from them 794 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:53,110 what are the component frequencies. 795 00:39:53,110 --> 00:39:54,950 And then once you know the component frequencies 796 00:39:54,950 --> 00:39:56,840 and when they started and stopped, 797 00:39:56,840 --> 00:39:59,740 you can turn that into MIDI information. 798 00:39:59,740 --> 00:40:00,640 There are limitations. 799 00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:04,630 It depends how good your software is, how fast it is 800 00:40:04,630 --> 00:40:09,630 and also how complex or dirty the original audio is. 801 00:40:11,290 --> 00:40:13,780 So this might work very well for, 802 00:40:13,780 --> 00:40:17,790 say the recording of a slow piano piece 803 00:40:17,790 --> 00:40:20,520 with only one or two different parts. 804 00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:23,850 But if you put in a complex symphonic sound 805 00:40:23,850 --> 00:40:25,850 or something with lots of 806 00:40:25,850 --> 00:40:28,863 non-harmonic sounds, like percussion, 807 00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:31,653 then this won't work as well. 808 00:40:36,180 --> 00:40:39,960 So MIDI, once again, 809 00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:43,653 came into existence at a time when computers, 810 00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:48,140 personal computers, were barely able 811 00:40:48,140 --> 00:40:52,380 to do much in terms of generating and editing 812 00:40:52,380 --> 00:40:53,960 digital audio, right? 813 00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:56,220 There were standalone synthesizers 814 00:40:57,260 --> 00:40:58,550 that did a pretty good job of this 815 00:40:58,550 --> 00:41:01,930 and you could send the MIDI information to these things. 816 00:41:01,930 --> 00:41:03,730 But the computers themselves not so much. 817 00:41:03,730 --> 00:41:05,190 And hence MIDI was really important 818 00:41:05,190 --> 00:41:07,350 as a medium of communication 819 00:41:07,350 --> 00:41:12,350 between controllers or computer-based sequencers 820 00:41:13,500 --> 00:41:15,670 and the instruments that would be generating the sounds 821 00:41:15,670 --> 00:41:19,090 from the information, from the MIDI information. 822 00:41:19,090 --> 00:41:23,390 But nowadays, computers of course, much faster, 823 00:41:23,390 --> 00:41:25,460 much more sophisticated, 824 00:41:25,460 --> 00:41:28,420 and even your phone can record digital audio 825 00:41:28,420 --> 00:41:30,720 and process it and edit it. 826 00:41:30,720 --> 00:41:34,750 So is MIDI on the way out, do we still need to have MIDI? 827 00:41:34,750 --> 00:41:37,980 The answer is that MIDI is not going anywhere. 828 00:41:37,980 --> 00:41:41,310 It's still enormously important, enormously useful 829 00:41:41,310 --> 00:41:44,090 in any number of software applications 830 00:41:44,090 --> 00:41:46,530 that are basically speaking the language of MIDI 831 00:41:46,530 --> 00:41:50,680 that are entirely dependent on MIDI to do what they do. 832 00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:53,600 For example, notation programs, such as Sibelius, 833 00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:56,210 which we'll be learning in a little while. 834 00:41:56,210 --> 00:41:58,950 Notation programs, for one thing, 835 00:41:58,950 --> 00:42:00,610 you can enter information, 836 00:42:00,610 --> 00:42:03,260 you can say I'm playing these notes on my keyboard 837 00:42:03,260 --> 00:42:05,520 and that's usually the most efficient 838 00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:08,180 and best way to enter musical data 839 00:42:08,180 --> 00:42:11,120 into a score notation program. 840 00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:12,240 The score notation programs 841 00:42:12,240 --> 00:42:15,510 can also take the music that you've entered 842 00:42:15,510 --> 00:42:18,840 and play them back by taking the MIDI information, 843 00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:22,830 which is being represented as notes on a staff, 844 00:42:22,830 --> 00:42:24,330 notes on a score, 845 00:42:24,330 --> 00:42:27,880 but which exists behind the scenes as MIDI information, 846 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:31,110 so the notation program can play the score back 847 00:42:31,110 --> 00:42:32,410 which is enormously important 848 00:42:32,410 --> 00:42:34,790 in checking to see what you've written 849 00:42:34,790 --> 00:42:37,440 or making sure that you haven't got some typos 850 00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:40,363 or other errors in your notation, and so on. 851 00:42:41,747 --> 00:42:44,410 CAI, computer aided instruction, 852 00:42:44,410 --> 00:42:46,760 is often very MIDI intensive. 853 00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:50,080 So there may be musicianship and ear training programs, 854 00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:51,217 they play a sound and they say, 855 00:42:51,217 --> 00:42:53,870 "Now you play that sound on your keyboard." right? 856 00:42:53,870 --> 00:42:55,660 Or "You play the notes that you're hearing." 857 00:42:55,660 --> 00:42:58,280 or "The chord progression that has just been played." 858 00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:01,047 and so on, those are computer aided instruction 859 00:43:01,047 --> 00:43:03,300 that's often MIDI-based. 860 00:43:03,300 --> 00:43:04,940 Automated accompaniment 861 00:43:04,940 --> 00:43:07,250 which has become more and more sophisticated. 862 00:43:07,250 --> 00:43:10,650 So if I'm playing a violin concerto 863 00:43:10,650 --> 00:43:13,180 and I want the orchestral accompaniment, 864 00:43:13,180 --> 00:43:14,720 but I want it in a format 865 00:43:14,720 --> 00:43:19,150 that can lead and follow, can play with me, 866 00:43:19,150 --> 00:43:20,710 and that I can change the tempo 867 00:43:20,710 --> 00:43:22,100 and adjust and all these things, 868 00:43:22,100 --> 00:43:25,770 those are often MIDI-based accompaniments. 869 00:43:25,770 --> 00:43:29,470 Likewise, if you're familiar with the program Band-in-a-Box, 870 00:43:29,470 --> 00:43:32,380 which is the best of several similar programs. 871 00:43:32,380 --> 00:43:36,240 You can enter a lead sheet, like a jazz lead sheet, 872 00:43:36,240 --> 00:43:38,080 into Band-in-a-Box, 873 00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:41,690 and it will play the rhythm section, right? 874 00:43:41,690 --> 00:43:43,753 From the MIDI data, 875 00:43:45,620 --> 00:43:50,620 and using MIDI to create these realizations 876 00:43:50,690 --> 00:43:54,330 of the bass part and the drum part and the piano part. 877 00:43:54,330 --> 00:43:56,560 And it can even make solos, right? 878 00:43:56,560 --> 00:44:00,780 Generate it algorithmically, all of this is MIDI-based. 879 00:44:00,780 --> 00:44:02,150 And then of course sequencers. 880 00:44:02,150 --> 00:44:05,820 So when you're in your DAW workstation software, 881 00:44:05,820 --> 00:44:08,280 there's audio recording and editing, 882 00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:10,410 but there's also a MIDI layer 883 00:44:10,410 --> 00:44:13,330 in all these DAWs where you can use MIDI 884 00:44:13,330 --> 00:44:16,070 to control the software instruments 885 00:44:16,070 --> 00:44:19,270 or to control external instruments 886 00:44:19,270 --> 00:44:22,600 via your master file. 887 00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:25,050 All of this is communication, 888 00:44:25,050 --> 00:44:28,533 whether internal or external, via MIDI. 889 00:44:29,900 --> 00:44:31,210 So MIDI remains important, 890 00:44:31,210 --> 00:44:34,740 even as PC-based audio 891 00:44:34,740 --> 00:44:37,093 has become more and more sophisticated. 892 00:44:38,130 --> 00:44:40,060 But you often don't see the difference, right? 893 00:44:40,060 --> 00:44:41,220 So, I mean, in other words, again, 894 00:44:41,220 --> 00:44:42,660 a lot of this stuff is 895 00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:46,690 invisible to the user. 896 00:44:46,690 --> 00:44:49,100 You're just playing stuff and you're hearing sounds. 897 00:44:49,100 --> 00:44:50,080 So the question is, 898 00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:51,910 do you really need to understand much 899 00:44:51,910 --> 00:44:55,810 about how MIDI works and what MIDI is, 900 00:44:55,810 --> 00:44:59,870 how it is like an unlike audio files, 901 00:44:59,870 --> 00:45:01,020 or is that all just 902 00:45:01,020 --> 00:45:03,940 like insider information that's not necessary? 903 00:45:03,940 --> 00:45:05,350 And the answer is, yes, 904 00:45:05,350 --> 00:45:08,870 you definitely need to understand how MIDI works 905 00:45:08,870 --> 00:45:11,880 and how it is distinguished from audio. 906 00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:13,080 And to understand that, 907 00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:15,450 let's look at a couple of things in Logic. 908 00:45:15,450 --> 00:45:19,840 So here I am in Logic, I'm creating a new project. 909 00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:23,940 Immediately, I have to decide if my track is an audio track 910 00:45:23,940 --> 00:45:27,840 or a Software Instrument or an External MIDI instrument. 911 00:45:27,840 --> 00:45:30,500 An audio track is just what you think it is. 912 00:45:30,500 --> 00:45:33,230 I'm going to have a track where I can record 913 00:45:33,230 --> 00:45:36,800 and edit digital audio information. 914 00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:41,100 If I create a New External MIDI Track, 915 00:45:41,100 --> 00:45:44,240 I'm creating a track where I can record MIDI information 916 00:45:44,240 --> 00:45:46,540 and edit it in Logic, 917 00:45:46,540 --> 00:45:49,500 but that information is intended to be sent 918 00:45:49,500 --> 00:45:51,410 out from my computer 919 00:45:51,410 --> 00:45:54,713 to some external MIDI sound producing device. 920 00:45:56,820 --> 00:46:00,233 If I create a Software Instrument Track, 921 00:46:01,670 --> 00:46:02,670 what is that? 922 00:46:02,670 --> 00:46:06,440 Is that audio, is that MIDI? Yes. 923 00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:08,680 Okay, a software instrument, 924 00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:10,830 what that means in Logic, 925 00:46:10,830 --> 00:46:13,820 is that I'm going to be recording 926 00:46:14,740 --> 00:46:18,090 MIDI information into this track. 927 00:46:18,090 --> 00:46:22,020 But within Logic, again, sort of under the hood, seamless, 928 00:46:22,020 --> 00:46:25,520 within Logic, Logic is gonna take that MIDI information 929 00:46:25,520 --> 00:46:29,680 and assign it to a synthesized 930 00:46:29,680 --> 00:46:32,633 or sample instrument within Logic. 931 00:46:33,760 --> 00:46:38,760 But it's still a MIDI controlled synthesizer. 932 00:46:39,300 --> 00:46:42,250 It's just all happening inside your computer. 933 00:46:42,250 --> 00:46:45,850 So it's going to take my MIDI information 934 00:46:45,850 --> 00:46:47,530 and it's going to also interpret it. 935 00:46:47,530 --> 00:46:50,660 So I'll hear whatever I hear, right? 936 00:46:50,660 --> 00:46:52,300 But it's important to know which is which 937 00:46:52,300 --> 00:46:54,020 and what you can and can't do 938 00:46:54,020 --> 00:46:55,790 with different kinds of tracks, 939 00:46:55,790 --> 00:46:59,010 and also what you do and don't want to do 940 00:46:59,010 --> 00:47:00,830 with different kinds of tracks. 941 00:47:00,830 --> 00:47:05,830 So, for instance, if I record Classic Electric Piano 942 00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:08,350 in my Software Instrument Track, 943 00:47:08,350 --> 00:47:10,630 when I'm done, I have to know, 944 00:47:10,630 --> 00:47:14,210 do I want to, say send this to someone 945 00:47:14,210 --> 00:47:17,510 and be sure that they're hearing exactly what I'm hearing, 946 00:47:17,510 --> 00:47:22,510 in which case, I need to Bounce that file or that track, 947 00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:26,770 I need to Bounce it in some audio file format, 948 00:47:26,770 --> 00:47:30,523 whether it's an AIFF or a WAV file or an MP3. 949 00:47:31,630 --> 00:47:32,840 On the other hand, 950 00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:35,210 if my intention is to upload this to the internet 951 00:47:35,210 --> 00:47:38,750 so that somebody could download it very quickly 952 00:47:38,750 --> 00:47:41,130 and play it back, and I don't care 953 00:47:41,130 --> 00:47:44,010 if they have exactly the right sound that I have, 954 00:47:44,010 --> 00:47:46,650 or maybe I'm putting it up on the internet 955 00:47:46,650 --> 00:47:49,750 because I want somebody to be able to import it 956 00:47:49,750 --> 00:47:52,960 into a notation program and notate it for me, 957 00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:55,220 or maybe I was recording it just as a dummy track 958 00:47:55,220 --> 00:47:58,040 and actually I wanna send this to my producer 959 00:47:58,040 --> 00:48:01,140 and have them play a really sick bass sound, 960 00:48:01,140 --> 00:48:03,900 and I'd rather have them have the MIDI information 961 00:48:03,900 --> 00:48:07,710 so that they can easily convert that into something else. 962 00:48:07,710 --> 00:48:12,710 So that's sort of my rough overview, introduction to MIDI. 963 00:48:14,840 --> 00:48:15,800 There are some things, again, 964 00:48:15,800 --> 00:48:17,550 that may be of historical interest, 965 00:48:17,550 --> 00:48:19,840 but you don't need to know, 966 00:48:19,840 --> 00:48:21,710 there are other things that you might need to know 967 00:48:21,710 --> 00:48:26,400 if you are a very MIDI-intensive electronic musician. 968 00:48:26,400 --> 00:48:27,610 But if you're mostly thinking 969 00:48:27,610 --> 00:48:31,320 about just recording and producing live audio sounds, 970 00:48:31,320 --> 00:48:33,120 maybe aren't so as important to you. 971 00:48:34,212 --> 00:48:36,460 And then there are things that everybody needs to know. 972 00:48:36,460 --> 00:48:38,650 So if you have any questions about any of this, 973 00:48:38,650 --> 00:48:40,430 you know what to do, right? 974 00:48:40,430 --> 00:48:42,240 Go jump over to Yellowdig 975 00:48:42,240 --> 00:48:44,123 and we can talk about things further there.