Part of making MIDI guitar feel "right" when triggering synths has nothing to do with the guitar and its tracking, but with editing the synth presets so that they're guitar-friendly instead of being optimized with keyboards in mind. Separate channels. The guitar will most likely send data from each string over a different channel. So, use synths in...
You can "humanize" sequences that have been quantized too rigidly by tweaking the start times for individual notes or phrases. Ignore any menu item called "humanization," because this usually just adds randomness—that's not what makes timing human (unless the human in question had too much to drink). Instead, alter note timings manually or use a "s...
There's more to life than audio echo—like MIDI echo. Although the concept of MIDI echo has been around for years, early virtual instruments often didn't have enough voices to play back new echoes without stealing voices from previous echoes. With today's powerful computers and instruments, this is less of a problem so let's re-visit MIDI echo. It's...
The way most keyboard players add vibrato is to turn up the mod wheel, and inject some LFO to change the oscillator pitch periodically. That's fine, but consider guitar players—they add vibrato by moving their fingers on strings, which gives a more human quality than using an LFO. So, try your hand (get it?) at doing vibrato with your fingers inste...
MIDI has lasted over 30 years, so the MIDI data you entered in a sequencer back in the 80s can still drive today's virtual instruments (which is pretty amazing, come to think about it). However virtual instruments, computers, and operating systems don't have, shall we say, quite the same kind of longevity. You'll be reminded of this when Steven Spi...
We hope you enjoyed these daily tips during MIDI Month—but that's not the end of it, because there will be plenty more tips to come when you join the The MIDI Association. TMA is an all-volunteer organization that believes in TMA's mission: to nurture an inclusive global community of people who create music and art with MIDI. Our strength is our co...
DAW software, like Ableton Live, Logic, Pro Tools, Studio One, etc. isn't just about audio. Virtual instruments that are driven by MIDI data produce sounds in real time, in sync with the rest of your tracks. It's as if you had a keyboard player in your studio who played along with your tracks, and could play the same part, over and over again, with...
Ask.Audio and Non Linear Educating Ask.Audio is one of our favorite technology websites and has been a great partner to The MIDI Association. We have worked with Ask.Audio's parent company, Non Linear Educating to provide extensive video training right here on the MIDI.org website in our courses section. Here's a brief des...
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...
USB MIDI 2.0 ADOPTED MIDI 2.0 Progress Continues with Updated USB Specification - As computers have become central components in many MIDI systems, USB has become the most widely used protocol for transporting MIDI data. With the introduction of MIDI 2.0, the USB Implementers Forum's USB MIDI 2.0 working group, headed by members o http...
