Do It Yourself MIDI ​With the boom in open-source electronics platform like Arduino and the growth of 3-D printers, it's become easier and easier to create your own MIDI controller. We wanted to introduce you to some of the people and companies who helped create the DIY MIDI revolution. Moldover- The Godfather of Controllerism M...

One of the biggest recent developments in MIDI is MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE). MPE is  a method of using MIDI which enables multidimensional controllers to control multiple parameters of every note within MPE-compatible software.  In normal MIDI, Channel-wide messages (such as Pitch Bend) are applied to all notes ...

Pens and stylus' have been employed as computer interaction devices for quite some time now. Most commonly they were used along with peripheral graphics tablets to give a more natural flow to the artist or designer than a mouse could muster. With the release of the Surface Pro hybrid laptop by Microsoft in 2012 they brought a digital pen along to p...

This is an article that was originally posted on the Cakewalk blog and they kindly gave us permission to excerpt it here on MIDI.org and link to the full article. The cover photo is courtesy of Pete Brown from Microsoft.  There are dozens of wireless data standards today. So why is Bluetooth so popular? Wireless standards may be grouped into a...

This is an article that was originally posted on the Cakewalk blog  and they kindly gave us permission to excerpt it here on MIDI.org.  Greetings! My name is Mike Green, Music Product Specialist at Zivix, we make the jamstik+ portable SmartGuitar & PUC+ wireless MIDI link. I'm primarily a guitar player, and in my 15+ years of musical ...

There has recently been a surge in robotic MIDI devices as Arduinos and low cost CPUs make it easier and easier to develop MIDI-controlled robotic components.  At Super Booth 2017, there were a number of significant MIDI robot introductions.  Felix Thorn From a very early age Felix was inspired by both visual and sound arts. He studi...

MIDI gets used for so many different things and one interesting MIDI application is plant music.  The story of MIDI and plants starts quite naturally with the CIA.  Yes, that's right "that" CIA,  the Central Intelligence Agency. Grover Cleveland "Cleve" Backster (which you must admit is a great name for an interrogatio...

LET'S is a team of Seattle multi media artists (Andy Arkley, Courtney Barnebey and Peter Lynch) who create interactive sculptures that combine art and sound using MIDI.  In their latest installation , We , now on at MadArt gallery in Seattle, the LET's team uses DIY controllers and an in-depth knowledge of MIDI to allow&nbs...

Ikutaro Kakehashi, founder of Roland and co-inventor of MIDI passes away Ikutaro Kakehashi was certainly one of the most influential figures in electronic music in the 20th century.  He influenced music and technology throughout his lifetime.  He overcame  many challenges in his early life to become the head of one of the most i...

​P aul Prudence is an audio-visual performer who uses MIDI to create  live-cinematic visual-music experiences. His weblog Dataisnature explores the relationships between natural processes, computational systems and procedural-based art practices. He also writes for Neural and HOLO magazines. The screen-shot below shows the complete Ableto...

Music is a visual language, too. Composer Andrew Huang used the piano roll editor in his MIDI sequencer to create sound from a picture of a unicorn. Each dot and line outlining the mythical creature triggers a MIDi note. To make the notes harmonize, Huang had to think both visually and musically. Se...

Controllerism In 2005 , Matt Moldover and Dj Shakey (Julie Covello) coined the term "Controllerism"  to describe   Moldover's performance style.   Ean Golden from Remix Magazine (now running djtechtools ) wrote an article "Music Maneuvers: Discover the Digital Turntablism Concept, Controllerism, Compliments of Mol...

We recently sent out our first MIDI Message newsletter and our goal was to do a survey to find out more about who MIDI Association members are, what their level of MIDI experience is and what kind of content and service they want The MIDI Association to provide.   We sent the survey to over 8000 members. We wanted to share all o...

Google's Duet AI (with Web MIDI)   Google Creative Lab  recently released A.I. Duet , an interactive AI Music experiment that lets you use your laptop keyboard or a MIDI keyboard (using Chrome's Web MIDI feature) to make music and experiment with artificial intelligence .  Duet was built by Yotam Mann and&nbs...

Make quantization work for you, not against you  Quantization is the process of moving MIDI data (usually notes, but also potentially other data) that's out of time to a rhythmic "grid." For example, if a kick drum is slightly behind the beat, quantization can move it right on the beat. Quantization was controversial enough when it was limited...

 Brockett Parsons is a keyboard player from Summit, New Jersey.  Brockett studied at Bucknell University and played both piano and trumpet. He went on to study further at Berkelee College of Music in Boston.  In 2009 Brockett then became a winner of the MTV reality show "Making His Band" featuring P Diddy. The show was an intens...

Whizdom Music and Moforte announced the release of Geoshred 2 this week with tons of new MIDI features including Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression.   GeoShred, Winner of a 2017 Electronic Musician Editor's Choice Award as "one of the most innovative, groundbreaking products to emerge in the past twelve months", has bee...

Here is a summary of our social media activities for the past  month.  RT @midiassociation : https://t.co/ueZlqf2w10 Great article by @Synthtopia on Geert Bevin and his work on MPE. We're almost there! pic.twitter.com/nwztQfK8Kx — midi (@midiassociation) December 5, 2016 RT @midiassociation : https://t.co/FunmNnkXX3 Gig Performer looks pr...

What do you think of when you first hear the word MIDI? In a few weeks, MIDI will have been around for 34 years.  For the first 10 years after MIDI was developed it was on the cutting edge of technology. If you look at a Keyboard Magazine from 1989, you'll see tons of ads for MIDI software and hardware. Remember at that&nbs...

Two months ago, I was tasked with presenting a talk on the Web MIDI API to an amazing crowd of music-loving web developers. Obviously, I wanted the presentation to be exciting, so my first idea was to find a cool MIDI controller that I could use to demo the API with. What kind of controller could fit the bill? What about an old... keytar?...

​In our history of MIDI, we covered the very earliest mechanical music machines.  MIDI History:Chapter 1- 850 AD to 1850 AD - To really understand the origins of MIDI, you need to go all the way back to before there were digitally controlled synthesizers and computers, In fact you need to go back before there was even electricity to the very f...

Recently Pete Brown from Microsoft posted a very informative blog post about  MIDI Enhancements in Windows 10.  The blog post covers a number of topics including  UWP MIDI Basics – using MIDI in Windows Store apps New Bluetooth LE MIDI support in Windows 10 Anniversary Update The Win32 wrapper for UWP MIDI (making the API accessible ...

If you have never run across Claude Woodward, The Sonic Manipulator while searching the web then you really have to start with his own description of his origins.  Greetings Earthlings, I have had many interesting adventures on my way to becoming a spaceman, such is the nature of the convolutions of life. After taking a spin out from...

There have been fan-created Daft Punk helmets before the Love Props' GM01.  You could buy a Halloween mask/prop for around $200 like this one pictured below.   In 2010, Volpin Props did a YouTube video  about "How to make a Daft Punk helmet in 17 months" that got over 4 million views.  But Love Props has take...