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...

WHEN DID YOU FIRST GET INVOLVED WITH MIDI? That was so long ago. One of my first exposures to MIDI was the Hybrid Arts sequencer with an Atari computer, I have very fond memories of those days and somehow that older software seemed more stable then some software these days, maybe because today every program is trying to do so mu...

Introduction The Arduino UNO is a popular open-source microcontroller that, in many respects, is a perfect complement to the extensible nature of the Music Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) protocol. Microcontroller platforms such as Arduino, Teensy, and others, make it relatively easy to develop custom MIDI controllers that respond to light, pre...

#DigMyRig Photo Gear List Hi, Like most of us, my setup is always evolving, but this is its current state. I work mostly OOTB (Out of the Box), but once I've got something going I'll record into the computer for rearrangement and editing (esp. for length!). I have two main MIDI work stations, with a BeatStep Pro and a Squark Pyramid as the respecti...

#DigMyRig Photos Gear List My rig is focused on Modularity. In addition to the Eurorack Modular synthesizers, I employ a modular MIDI setup which consists of two Alyseum AL-88C MIDI>Ethernet interfaces. These MIDI Interfaces connect to a high-speed switch which is part of my larger home network. This means that any computer on my network can acc...

#DigMyRig Photo Gear List The Monolith The Moog Sub37, Moog Minitaur and Minimoog VoyagerXL all sync to the midi clock generated by Ableton Live. The two customized Arturia Beatstep Pro sequencers also sync to the clock, while sending their sequences back to Ableton, which distributes the midi to the synths as well as the Roland TR-8 Drum Machine. ...

#DigMyRig Photo Gear List ​ Dave Smith P6 and Pro2, Elektron Rytm and Analog 4, Kurzweil PC3x, Maschine, Push, Logic, Live... The MIDI Association Artist Interview ​ •Tell us about yourself briefly. My name is Hugo and I run Goldbaby, a studio in Auckland, New Zealand that focuses mainly on sound design. I sell my sample packs from my website:...

#DigMyRig Photo Gear List  This is my "Battery powered studio" currently unplugged since I'm missing the multi channel audio interface that could handle most of my synths at once for live play. I'm also hoping to record the new CD with all of them and make some live gigs in local clubs. I'm trying to limit my self only to battery powered hardw...

#DigMyRig Photo Gear List From left table around to right; Roland VT3, Scarlet 2i4 (1), Macbook Pro (1), Novation Launchkey 25, Akai MPK49, Ableton Push 2, Macbook Pro (2), Scarlet 2i4 (2), KRK Rokit 5 (x2), Pioneer receiver w/ 12" sub, Native Instruments Maschine, Pioneer CDJ800 (x2), Technics 1200 (x2), Behringer 12" PA monitor (x2). ​ The MIDI A...