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 Keyboards and modules:
Practically every musical keyboard sold today has MIDI connections...
everything from the $100 portables to $300,000 digital grand pianos.
Wind controllers, MIDI guitars & drums etc.:
You don't have to be a keyboard (piano) player to benefit from MIDI. There are specially
made MIDI wind controllers, MIDI guitars, MIDI drums, even MIDI accordions. Since MIDI
was primarily designed for ‘keyboard players', these devices are often referred to as
'alternate MIDI controllers.'
Non-traditional Controllers: Another category of "alternate
MIDI controllers"
are those that don't mirror traditional musical instruments. There are many people who feel that traditional
instruments are too hard to learn, or limit their expression to "traditional" forms.
If you would like to see some examples of non-traditional MIDI controllers, click
here.
 MIDI triggers:
These are simple switches and controls that can be used in items as various
as clothing (gloves, suits, mats), to objects that can be hit, strummed, blown, or even controlled
by light beam.
Control devices: These are quite separate from ‘alternate MIDI
controllers' because they are not used to trigger notes on a sound-engine, they control the
mechanics of a music product using knobs, sliders, buttons, wheels, and joysticks. Such MIDI
controllers can be used to control anything from music software to a lighting rig.
Lighting controllers: Many performing bands use MIDI to synchronize
lighting cues with their music.
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Computers & Interfaces: Practically every computer made today comes with the ability
to play MIDI files, and can connect to other MIDI gear with a PC-to-MIDI
interface (connector) available as an accessory. Professionals and amateurs alike can compose,
arrange, and record original music, or use the computer to learn about music or
how to play an instrument.
Software applications: There are hundreds if not thousands of
software applications that involve MIDI, either actively or passively. Included are MIDI
Sequencers (now commonly combined with audio recording into Digital Audio Workstations or
‘DAWs'.), auto accompaniment applications, notation programs, music teaching software, games,
DJ/remix environments, and more.
Software sounds: ‘Softsynths' or ‘software musical instruments' started
to appear in the late 1990s. With the development of plug-in architectures and virtual studio
technology (e.g. VST, AU, etc.) there has been an explosion of sound-generating software products
in both ‘new' and ‘vintage' styles.
Games: Computer and video game music, now generally referred to as game audio,
began in the early days of MIDI and to some extent, its history exemplifies both the creativity
and the limitations of ‘ MIDI music.'
Today, game music delivers startling levels of ‘reality'. Both recorded music and MIDI, are
at the heart of most game audio developers' systems.
Interactivity, however, is a current hot topic in the game industry and MIDI's inherent
flexibility coupled with microscopic file sizes, makes it a natural choice for a new
generation of both hardware and software that puts control of game music in the hands of
the players.
Mobile devices: limited storage and delivery bandwidth on cell phones dictated that
ring-tomes and audio alerts were almost always generated by MIDI.
Although the trend in recent years has been towards ‘real' (compressed) audio versions of
popular hits, MIDI ring-tones are still very popular for their ability to be changed in
any way imaginable, and more and more phones now support downloadable games that benefit
from the compact size of MIDI data.
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