Cannot understand MIDI

RayJesus

New member
Hello. I am interested in EDM production and would like to take my first steps by buying a DJ controller and learning some basic functions and how to manipulate tracks before I get into the production aspect of things. I hear a lot about MIDI and have read many pages but cannot grasp it. I understand it is a protocol that tells the computer how to play a note and that the note will differ between sound cards and that it makes editing easier and the file itself is small and easy to work with. I get that. What I don't get it why you need say a MIDI guitar vs a regular guitar that you plug in, record to a software and then edit the notes. Why MIDI? Can't sounds be mp3? What is the purpose of a MIDI controller when you can have a MIDI synth instead? If you have a MIDI controller that doesn't produce sound does it just act as a vst and allow you to manipulate notes? I'm lost guys. Thanks!
 
To put it simply in relation to production, there is audio and there is MIDI. Audio is an mp3, wav, flacc etc that when you put the song into your DAW it makes a sound that is a "prerecorded" bit of data. A piece of audio can only be that one piece of audio and that's all it will ever be. MIDI however is a bit of data that can be edited. It's given a note name to make things easier since I assume it started from keyboard synthesizers. You can attach any piece of audio to a note of MIDI.

So say you have a kick drum tunes to C minor mp3 . That kick drum mp3 will always be a kick drum mp3 and nothing you can do will ever change that. Now if you have a midi note playing C minor, you can make it anything you want it to be. C minor is just the note being played to tell the computer to play whatever is attached to that note. It could be any piece of percussion, a whole song, that kick drum mp3, etc.

In choice of MIDI controllers, it's solely up to the user for whatever purpose. A guitar plugged in and playing notes, is not playing midi. You're recording each note to an audio sample by each single note and/or chord it can play. A MIDI guitar can be changed to say, playing a vst plugin like Massive by each note so it can be modulated as you play. What you choose is your own choice, some things are better for others. If you pick up a midi keyboard, it plays notes based on what is pre-saved into it usually, but you can change it if you'd like to play different notes. However it won't play anything until you tell it what it's going to play. Actual synthesizers play midi notes, but they have their own modulation equipment built into the actual keyboard.

There are things like Abletons Sampler, that you can put an audio sample into it and modulate it using MIDI, but it's the exact same concept.
 
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To put it simply in relation to production, there is audio and there is MIDI. Audio is an mp3, wav, flacc etc that when you put the song into your DAW it makes a sound that is a "prerecorded" bit of data. A piece of audio can only be that one piece of audio and that's all it will ever be. MIDI however is a bit of data that can be edited. It's given a note name to make things easier since I assume it started from keyboard synthesizers. You can attach any piece of audio to a note of MIDI.

So say you have a kick drum tunes to C minor mp3 . That kick drum mp3 will always be a kick drum mp3 and nothing you can do will ever change that. Now if you have a midi note playing C minor, you can make it anything you want it to be. C minor is just the note being played to tell the computer to play whatever is attached to that note. It could be any piece of percussion, a whole song, that kick drum mp3, etc.

In choice of MIDI controllers, it's solely up to the user for whatever purpose. A guitar plugged in and playing notes, is not playing midi. You're recording each note to an audio sample by each single note and/or chord it can play. A MIDI guitar can be changed to say, playing a vst plugin like Massive by each note so it can be modulated as you play. What you choose is your own choice, some things are better for others. If you pick up a midi keyboard, it plays notes based on what is pre-saved into it usually, but you can change it if you'd like to play different notes. However it won't play anything until you tell it what it's going to play. Actual synthesizers play midi notes, but they have their own modulation equipment built into the actual keyboard.

There are things like Abletons Sampler, that you can put an audio sample into it and modulate it using MIDI, but it's the exact same concept.

Still a little confused and this is probably die to the fact that I don't have equipment to mess around with but let's try this at a different angle if someone doesn't mind. I understand most of what you said. So if I have a regular keyboard plugged up and I play some notes, I can manipulate those notes via a DAW right? I can change add effects and change timing to my liking. So lets say I used a MIDI keyboard instead? What am I now able to do that I wasn't able to do with a regular keyboard?
 
a midi guitar and midi keyboard basically do the same thing except the way its played is whats different. you can play guitar riffs on keys if you wish and the recorded midi data controls whatever sound its assigned to. sure you can use a real guitar but if you need to make changes you probably need to record the riff again or edit the sample somehow in an audio editor whereas with a midi controller you can just change the notes in your piano roll.
 
But if I made the notes as audio notes, I can't use a MIDI controller on them right? Because they're not midi. So basically midi eliminates the need of 20 different instruments? And what changes can I make to a MIDI note that I can't with an audio note? Say I played to same note with a regular guitar and a MIDI guitar? What can I do and not do in the DAW?
 
MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is just a protocol for sending information; essentially on/off messages. You map a control (key on a keyboard, knob or fader) to a specific parameter and then when you use that control it sends an on/off message.

So the key on a keyboard or a drum pad triggers a sample and sends velocity information on how hard you hit it.
A knob or fader send on/off messages as well but they're interpreted as 'more' or 'less'...

For the most part you don't need to know how it works... You just need to make sure it's working...
Any DJ controller you're likely to buy will be mapped for the software you're likely to use...
Just make sure hardware and software can see each other and are communicating. This is usually a simple task in most software.
Eg. Settings > audio/midi settings > add hardware > probably a drop down menu with your hardware on it.
 
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Because they're not midi. So basically midi eliminates the need of 20 different instruments?

Yes. MIDI notes can essentially become any instrument. This is what you can do with MIDI that you cannot do with a regular instrument. A guitar will only be a guitar, a piano a piano etc. It's typically tied to synthesizers though so you have to find the right synth to fit your needs.

As for inside the DAW, you can edit both of them almost the same, but MIDI is a little more flexible with adding sounds directly into it, where as audio needs to be layered one on top of another and tuned appropriately. With MIDI you can just add a note, add an extra oscillator etc. Audio is also easier on CPU usage, where as MIDI requires a bit more power. When you get into mixing and mastering, it's best to "bounce to audio" so you use less CPU power. The cool thing about MIDI, is that you can take something like Sampler in Ableton; put in an audio sample that naturally is a C sharp when tuned, set your base note to be a C sharp and it plays the audio sample at it's normal sound. But you can play every other note, D, F, G, etc. and it will play that same audio sample, but at the new note.
 
So what can you do with MIDI that you can't do with a regular instrument?
What do you mean by regular instrument?

Basically, any function in software that supports midi can be externally controlled.
eg. This button on my controller turns the metronome on or off... MIDI
eg. This knob controls whether the selected sound is on the left or right (pan)... MIDI
eg. The keyboard/pads trigger the selected sounds... MIDI
eg. This knob selects which sounds are selected... MIDI
eg. This fader makes the selected sound louder... Or quieter... MIDI

So you might get a BCF2000 to control the mixer and write automations, a keyboard to set off samples/trigger/play instruments and a load of knobs to control fx/and pluggins.
Transport controls; play, stop, rewind, ff, scroll, add markers, start points everything can be controlled using MIDI because every function in the software is essentially at least a variant of 'on' or 'off'.
 
So what happens to a MIDI file when you "bounce to audio"? And so a DJ controller doesn't need MIDI capabilities since it just adds effects and changes sounds from an existing track right? And MIDI is not just for notes? It can control switches too?
 
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And so a DJ controller doesn't need MIDI capabilities since it just adds effects and changes sounds from an existing track right? And MIDI is not just for notes? It can control switches too?
A DJ controller is a MIDI controller!!
All those changes are made via MIDI.
So the platters (the turntable part) are an extension of transport control... When you touch or move them you're transmitting MIDI data.
The sample pads - no different to the key on a keyboard - on/off message - MIDI
Crossfader - on/off message - (see previous post on faders - 'more or less') MIDI is transmitted.

Every button, knob, fader and any other control on the thing sends data, via MIDI to the software - that message is then converted by the software.

I'm starting to think you're trolling now bruv so I'm out.
 
Midi is for controllers like pads and such to send input data and timestamps to the program that turns it into a trigger/control point in whatever's using it.
Xinput is xbox's midi.
Sony has some specialized linux crap going on with their controllers but beside the point.

MidiCC is control change input I think while midi note CV/N# is for timestamping inputs. If you hit a pad, it inputs the info as a timestamp which Is why I like it so much.
You can do this witha mouse too btw clicking in rhythm on the piano in the pianoroll with record on is pretty funny.
 
I think the easiest way to understand the basics of MIDI is to think of it like sheet music that the computer can "read" - and feed it to an instrument that understands MIDI (like a plugin or a hardware synth) for playback. It's like the roll of pins in a player piano or a music box, more or less.
 
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