{"id":14537,"date":"2021-01-25T19:10:12","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T00:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=14537"},"modified":"2023-05-23T16:37:47","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T20:37:47","slug":"midi-things-you-didnt-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/midi-things-you-didnt-know\/","title":{"rendered":"5 things you didn\u2019t know about MIDI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Illustration:<\/strong> Ellie Suh<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

…Okay, we\u2019ve got that one out of the way!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MIDI is an essential element of the digital music producer\u2019s repertoire. Technically speaking, it’s a language that’s used to relay instructions from humans to devices. Colloquially speaking, producers use the protocol in a variety of contexts: MIDI controllers, messages, files, and channels are just a small selection of example use cases. Rather than breaking down every single production term that includes \u201cMIDI,\u201d in this article we highlight five fun facts that you might not have already known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. You can understand, read, and write your own MIDI bytes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

MIDI messages come in combinations of status bytes<\/strong> and data bytes<\/strong>. A status byte describes the type of information that will be contained in the data byte. For example, when you press a key on a MIDI keyboard, it triggers a message called Note On<\/strong>. A Note On has one status byte and two data bytes, which contain information about the pitch of the key you pressed and the velocity at which you pressed it (for a byte-by-byte look, check out this excellent tutorial<\/a> by Dominique Vandenneucker of Arpege Music).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although it\u2019s way too cumbersome to code your own MIDI arrangements this way, understanding the way that MIDI is coded and parsed by your computer can help you write better parts or troubleshoot issues you\u2019re experiencing. For example, I recently had an issue where playing a MIDI clip would change the synth preset I had selected. I would change the preset back, but the problem persisted and it reset back to the unwanted preset every time I played the clip. Eventually, I was able to figure out that the clips I was using contained program change messages which were changing the preset on me! Essentially, I realized the hard way that MIDI messages can control a variety of tools and functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. MIDI won a Technical GRAMMY<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s taken for granted across most DAWs and devices now, but creating the technical standard took a historic effort led by the founders of two blue-chip musical instrument manufacturers: Ikutaro Kakehashi of Roland and Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits. Their collaboration enabled our present, where we can use one type of connection instead of many different proprietary connections. Imagine the scenario where you have an Android phone, but your friend only has an iPhone charger. Then, imagine if every instrument in your studio had a different cable that connected it to your interface \u2013 that\u2019s how bad it could have been. Kakehashi and Smith were honored by the Recording Academy with a Technical GRAMMY for their innovative work in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Your idols probably use it for their live shows (but not necessarily to generate sound)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although newer and more robust protocols such as Dante have cropped up since the days of Kakehashi and Smith, MIDI is still frequently used for show control functions such as coordinating lights and pyrotechnics displays. For an interesting and in-depth look at one example, check out AJ Pen discussing Linkin Park\u2019s live rig in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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