Some of you may be aware that Don Lewis passed away the week of Nov 7, 2022. Don was a synthesis pioneer who created a hardware platform for controlling banks of Synthesizers (Oberheim, Arp 2600s) prior to MIDI, which he called LEO (Live Electronic Orchestra). Mr. Kakehashi of Roland worked with Don starting in 1969 and cr...
How MIDI helped create one of the most innovative albums in Venezuelan musical history by transcending epochs, distances, styles and production strategies By Bartolomé Díaz & Félix Carmona Caracas, Venezuela Venezuela was, and still is, and extremely musical land, a fact documented by such illustrious travelers as Alexander Von Humboldt upon hi...
At SXSW 2019, Moritz Simon Geist performed and presented several workshops on using robots and MIDI. His new EP is created completely with MIDI controllers controlling robots he created himself. A latency control concept for midi driven mechanic robotic instruments Geist is deeply into MIDI. His blog details a proposal for ho...
Ólafur Arnalds didn't start out playing keyboards. He started out as a drummer in hard rock bands. He is not alone. Yoshiki from the legendary Japanese hard rock band X Japan comes to mind. Many people forget that the piano is classified as a percussion instrument along with marimbas and vibraphones. He has ...
MIDI Creators and Innovators Panel Featuring: Dave Smith, George Duke, Tom Oberheim, Alan Parsons, Jordan Rudess, Craig Anderton. For 30 years, MIDI has been at the forefront of music technology even as musical trends change. Watch a star-studded panel of MIDI instrument designers and musicians talk about the past, present, and future of MIDI with ...
Updated with a new Youtube video We found this excellent Youtube interview by Orchestral Tools and thought it would be a great addition to this article with the first President of the MIDI Manufacturers Association, Jeff Rona. This post was contributed by the well known film composer, Jeff Rona. Jeff was the first president of the M...
Okay, I admit it. I'm a sucker for this sort of thing. First, I have been into MIDI my whole life. Second, I lived in Japan for 7 years and have climbed Mt Fuji (twice). Third, I love the combination of MIDI and art especially visual art. So when I saw this I was hooked even before I watched it. The Be...
We have a soft spot for robots....... People who tinker with robots, art installations and circuit bending are right in our wheelhouse . They seem to share a passion for pushing the limits of what MIDI can do. Here's a quick selection of some of our favorite MIDI robots curated from the web. Eric Singer and the Lea...
TMA: When were you first introduced to MIDI? Richard Devine: It was during high school when I was about 16 years old so maybe 1991. I had started buying a bunch of analog and digital keyboards at second hand shops. I had Jupiter 6 (one of the two first instruments to have MIDI), a Roland TR909, and I noticed that it had these jacks on the back...
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 fi...
