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The latest MIDI news, product releases and event annoucements. 

MIDI History Chapter 7- MIDI Associations (1983-1985)

dave_smith_at_namm_show_1983 Roland Jupiter 6 and Sequential Prophet 600 at 1983 Winter NAMM

MIDI in 1983 - It seems to work, but what's next? In Chapter 6 of the History of MIDI, we left off with the demonstration of MIDI at the 1983 NAMM show.   John Bowen, head of sound design for Sequential had recounted that he had been busy finishing the presets for the Prophet 600 and that although Sequential had tested the Prophet 60...

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Tom Oberheim and Oberheim Electronics

Oberheim-System-2 The Oberheim System (a precursor to MIDI)

 Tom Oberheim was born in Manhattan, Kansas in 1936.  In junior high school, he started building HiFi amplifiers for friends probably based on the same articles in Popular Mechanics that his contemporaries Bob Moog (1934) and Don Buchla (1937) were reading.   He was also listening to a lot of Jazz music ...

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956 Hits

Roger Linn and Roger Linn Design

Dave-and-Roger Dave Smith and Roger Linn

Roger Linn was born in Whittier, California in 1955.  Roger learn to play guitar growing up in the 1960s and when he was in high school, he started messing around with electronics.  While in high school I modified a fuzz tone product called the Foxx Tone Machine with some simple filters to make it s...

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Dave Rossum, EMU, and Rossum Electro

Screenshot-2022-12-24-at-2.01.06-PM Dave Rossum at Synthplex 2022

Dave Rossum is another one of the founders of the modern music production ecosystem and had a unique relationship with several other key synth figures including Dave Smith and Tom Oberheim.   In fact, it was core technologies that Dave developed that allowed Oberheim and Sequential Circuits polyphonic synthesizers to be develope...

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MIDI History Chapter 6-MIDI Begins 1981-1983

MIDI History Chapter 6-MIDI Begins 1981-1983 Sequential Circuits Universal Synthesizer Interface Proposal

Acknowledgement of the people who made these articles possible Before we dive into the history of the creation of MIDI,  we wanted to acknowledge the key people who made this official history of the birth of MIDI possible.  These are people who were directly involved with the creation of MIDI in its early days.  Some of these pe...

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1946 Hits

AudioCipher V3: The Word-to-MIDI Melody and Chord Progression Generator

AudioCipher V3 interface

MIDI Association partner AudioCipher Technologies has just published Version 3.0 of their melody and chord progression generator plugin. Type in a word or phrase and AudioCipher will automatically generate MIDI files for any virtual instrument in your DAW. AudioCipher helps you overcome creative block with the first ever text-to-MIDI VST for music ...

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Bob Moog- The Father of Modern Synthesis

1986-1-Bob-MIDI-article Bob Moog's Article for AES about MIDI

If you were forced to pick one single person who is responsible for the creation of the modern music production environment, Bob Moog would be a good choice.    He spans the era from the early days of synths to the post MIDI world and is arguably the most influential figure in synth history.    In researching...

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In praise of MIDI, tech’s hidden gift to humanity

Screenshot-2022-12-19-at-1.54.59-PM

The Register posted an article today about Firefox supporting Web MIDI.  MIDI was created by a small group of American and Japanese synthesiser makers. Before it, you could hook synths, drum machines and sequences together, but only through analogue voltages and pulses. Making, recording and especially touring electronic music was messy, ...

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2023 MIDI Innovation Awards Now Open for Entries

4281851957_Musical_Instrument_Digital_Interface_connects_video_artists_and_musicians_together_to_create_new_realities AI Generated Image from the text "Musical_Instrument_Digital_Interface_connects_video_artists_and_musicians_together_to_create_new_realities"

Are you exploring new ways for musicians to interact with digital musical instruments? Have an idea for an original electronic instrument or controller? Trying to raise investment or attract attention for a new product? If you're looking to make waves in music technology, you need to know about The MIDI Innovation Awards. In 2023, MIDI celebrates i...

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1560 Hits

Tapis Magique: A Choreomusical Interactive Carpet

TapisMagique6

Tapis Magique is a pressure-sensitive, knitted electronic textile carpet that generates three-dimensional sensor data based on body postures and gestures and drives an immersive sonic environment in real-time. Demonstrating an organic and expressive relationship between choreography and music has been a never-ending feat in the performance arts, as...

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