The first electronic musical instruments As electricity became more widely available, the early 20th century saw the invention of electronic musical instruments including the Telharmonium, Trautonium, Ondes Martenot, the Theremin and the Hammond organ. What is interesting in looking at these early devices is how much they foreshadow the future...
From mechanical to digital to virtual....and back! The relationship between mechanical musical machines and MIDI gets even more intriguing with orchestrions and "fairground organs". Orchestrions have multiple mechanical instruments in them and are designed to sound like a complete orchestra (hence the name). Orchestrions a...
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 first mechanical music machines. The very first mechanical musical instruments were documented in the Book of Ingenious Devices...
The golden age of mechanical music machines really came in the late 19th century and early 20th century with player pianos and orchestrions. A player piano is defined as any actual acoustic piano that is played by a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism that operates the piano action via pre-programmed music. Between 1910 and 1...
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...
This 30 minute TV show from 1986 is a window into the state of the art in MIDI music technology back then. Guests: Chris French, Music Software; Bob Moore, Hybrid Arts; David Schwartz, Compusonics; Chris Potter, Mimetics; Curtis Sasaki, Apple; Gary Kildall, Digital Research; Gary Leuenberger, Midi RevolutionProducts/Demos: Casi...
MIDI Association announces global initiative by over 50 MIDI Association companies to prototype MIDI 2.0. The MIDI Association has released details of the ongoing, industry-wide initiative by over 50 MIDI Association companies to develop MIDI 2.0 products and services. Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, MIDI Associati...
November 1, 2022 - The Association of Musical Electronics Industries (AMEI), the organization that oversees the MIDI specification in Japan, has committed to funding the development of an open-source USB MIDI 2.0 Host Driver for Windows Operating Systems under a memorandum of understanding between AMEI, AmeNote Inc, and Microsoft. AMEI is underwrit...
A new French company EMBODME launched a KickStarter on October 14 for their new Polyphonic MIDI Controller, the Erae Touch. Here's what they have to say about it, Super Sensitive & Reactive 1000 nerves in a backlit muscle padwith blazing fast aquisition speed, grasping every nuances, every articulations with...
NAMM is all virtual this year! Every major event in the history of the MIDI Association has happened at Winter NAMM. Whether it was the first introduction of MIDI at the 1983 NAMM to the adoption of MIDI 2.0 at the NAMM 2020, the NAMM (the National Association of Music Merchants has always been a part and a partner in our shar...
