A Less on MIDI?

[bassdrummer2333]

I know absolutely nothing about MIDI.

What is it? How is it useful for the average musician? What do you use it on? What do MIDI interfaces do? How do I use it with my keyboard?

I have a Casio CTK-451 and it says MIDI on it so i'm assuming I can do it?

http://casio.us/products/archive/Musical_Instruments/Portable/CTK-451/

[Chigwinkle]

MIDI (music instrument digital interface) is just a set of digital data instructions that computers use to recreate sound. To use your keyboard with your computer you'll probably need to plug it into an external soundcard/interface via USB or whatever.

[Tristan Needler]

When you record MIDI, you're recording data, not sound. That's the key. MIDI is not audio. You can later that data to whatever sound you want, and even after you record it, you can assign it to different sounds. The sound could be from a synthesizer, a synth module (which is a synthesizer with no keys), or a software synthesizer. A MIDI interface simply acts as a "door" for MIDI to go in to and out of your computer. One cool thing about MIDI is that not only can you record sound, but you can also record various other controllers like velocity, volume, pan, and all sorts of filters and things for synths.

Check the back of your keyboard. If it has a port that says MIDI Out then you can record MIDI. If it has one that says MIDI In then the data can come back from your computer to the keyboard so you can play the sounds from your keyboard with the MIDI. If there's an Audio Out, then that would go back to your computer again. I'm assuming it has all of those, but maybe not. If it does, you can record the sound from it with MIDI or audio.

Here's what the two signal chains would look like:

Audio:
Keyboard >> Audio Interface >> Computer >> Monitors.

MIDI:
Keyboard > MIDI Interface > Computer > MIDI Interface* > Synth** >> Audio Interface* >> Computer >> Monitors.

Here's the legend haha:
> = MIDI Data
>> = Audio Data
*This is if your audio is coming from hardware, rather than a software synth.
**In your case, this would be your Casio. But you could of course download some free soft synths and use those instead, while still using your keyboard.


The benefit of using MIDI over audio to record your Casio would be that
a) it's less CPU intensive (but it would be more CPU intensive if you're using a soft synth)
b) once you record it, you can check out different sounds without having to go back and replay them
c) you can actually edit the data you recorded in your computer to make sure they're all hitting at the right time, and you can add/delete notes, fix it if you hit the wrong key, etc.

[bassdrummer2333]

Yeah my keyboard has a MIDI In/Out. So if I had a MIDI interface I could play sounds from off my computer onto my keyboard physically, and with the In I can record my music in data form? This sounds pretty cool I need a MIDI interface.

[Tristan Needler]

I'm not sure exactly what you're saying, but I don't know if your right.

Basically what happens is that your computer will record what buttons you press, and that is all. Then you can tell that data to either go back to your keyboard, where the data will cause the sound to play, instead of your fingers. Or you can tell the data to go to a soft synth, where the data will cause it to play its sounds. Then you can listen to those sounds, or if you want, you can record them to an audio track.

Read this: http://www.tweakheadz.com/how_to_get_started_with_midi.html

When you say it has a MIDI i/o do you mean it has one in jack and one out jack? Or just one jack total that says in/out? I was trying to read from the site you showed me and it seems to me like it just as the one jack.

[bassdrummer2333]

It has one in jack and one out jack.

[Tristan Needler]

Alright yeah, then you can do what I've been saying.

[bassdrummer2333]

So what will I need to do this?

[Tristan Needler]

A MIDI interface with one i/o (which can be pretty damn cheap), two MIDI cables, and a sequencer which can record MIDI.

Do you plan on using the sounds from your keyboard?

[bassdrummer2333]

http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOUNO

I don't really plan on it, but does it take extra cables? So is that bundle all I need there? And how do you record MIDI once you have it all connected, what types of programs let you record MIDI?

[billyboatkid]

I know this doesn't explain it really, but watch this video.

My dad's friend made these using MIDI. IT"S NUTS.

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[billyboatkid]

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Another sweet one.

[billyboatkid]

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And another one you should see.

[Tristan Needler]

http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOUNO

I don't really plan on it, but does it take extra cables? So is that bundle all I need there? And how do you record MIDI once you have it all connected, what types of programs let you record MIDI?
No, that has all you need. The cables are just attached, instead of having ports to plug cables in.

Then you just use a sequencer that works with MIDI (Cubase, Logic, Sonar, Protools, Reason, the list goes on...), create a MIDI track, assign the MIDI out to wherever you want it to go (either back out the port to your Casio, or to a softsynth or something), then just hit record and play. Depending on how your sequencer works, if you're using your Casio for the sounds, you might need to create another audio track to monitor the sound coming from it, and to record it if/when you want. You don't ever have to record the audio to an audio track if you don't want though. When you export your final mix it will "play" it again and record it in that way, just the same as if you record it to an audio track.

[Tristan Needler]

Those videos are all pretty awesome haha.

[billyboatkid]

Yeah.

My dad works with that guy and are pretty good buds. They both happen to play guitar and that guy is like smart as hell and can also rip at guitar.

I was amazed with the drum thing.

He has others that are pretty bad too. One where he makes drums out of pennies and stuff.

[bassdrummer2333]

Yeah i'm totally gonna try this out once I get my MIDI interface, thanks for the help.