tweakheads 1 Flashcards
- a digital protocol originally designed in 1983 for use between electronic music synthesizers of various manufacture
- musical performance information is transferred as computer data commands, rather than transferring actual sound files
- with several instruments connected on the ____, a keyboard on one of the said instruments is allowed to control the generation of sounds on the other instruments. (This was the original purpose for this design)
- can also be used to interface certain computers to electronic musical instruments, and thus can be used to transmit voices and musical sequences stored in digital form
- can also be used to transcribe musical notation via the computer (like word processing)
MIDI [Musical Instrument Digital Interface]
- a MIDI-equipped instrument has a MIDI-in and a MIDI-out, each a 5-pin DIN connector
- this standard allows for the ‘control’ of 16 different devices and functions at the same time. (16 MIDI channels)
- the ‘control’ is not simultaneous; because MIDI is a serial port, it controls functions in rapid sequence. But it is fast enough that it sounds like simultaneous control
- the use of a MIDI-controlled synthesizer rather than sampled audio files from a computer has the advantage that far less data need to be processed, transmitted and stored
- a MIDI-controlled synthesizer usually needs less than 10.24 kilobytes of ‘code’ to generate each minute of resulting sound; the MIDI ‘code’ only needs to tell the synthesizer how to produce the wanted sounds
- a device that stores information about a series of keystrokes and saves it in memory… and much more to be added here
MIDI sequencer
- an electronic musical instrument without a human-playable interface such as a keyboard
- must to be “played” using an externally connected device; the external device may be a controller (a device that provides the human-playable interface and may or may not produce sounds of its own) or a sequencer (which is computer hardware or software designed to play electronic musical instruments)
- connections between _______, controllers, and sequencers are generally made with MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), which is a standardized protocol designed for this purpose
sound module (sometimes referred to as tone generator)
a set of rules governing the exchange of transmission of data between devices
protocol (computing)
a connector by which a device that sends data one bit at a time may be connected to a computer
serial port (computer)
a connector for a device that sends or receives bits of data simultaneously by using more than one wire
parallel port (computing)
a transfer of software from one system to another
port (computing)
an electronic musical instrument without a playable interface such as a keyboard
sound module (tone generator)
True or False: MIDI data is digital audio data
False
True or False: You need an external keyboard or module to hear the midi events
False: Your soundcard’s synth can play the midi events, so can a soft synth or soft sampler.
True or False: Once you record MIDI tracks, the tempo cannot be changed
False. Once you record as audio the tempo can’t be changed without adding artifacts and degrading the sound. MIDI can be changed with no loss of fidelity.
True or False: You can only have one synth on each MIDI port
False. Up to 16 is possible
True or False: You can use an audio plugin to add reverb to your midi track
False: Audio Plugins effect audio tracks, not MIDI tracks
True or False: All synths are GM compatible
False. Many are, look for the GM logo on the unit. Most “specialty synths” are not.
True or False: You can Connect and XLR Microphone to a Soundcard directly
False. You need a preamp or mixer with mic preamps to connect a mic to a soundcard
