MIDI

MIDI (/ˈmɪdi/; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard. It describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors. It connect a large variety of electronic musical instruments, digital devices for playing, editing, and recording music.^[1]

Using MIDI, a single controller (often a musical keyboard, as pictured here) can play multiple electronic instruments, which increases the portability and flexibility of stage setups.

A MIDI recording is not an audio signal. It is more like a piano roll, identifying the pitch, start and stop time and other properties of each individual note.^[2]

The personal computer market stabilized at the same time,^[3][4] popularizing the MIDI format, and helped computers become a viable option for music production.^[5]

Logo of MIDI (from the MIDI Manufacturers Association)

Sources

1. Swift, Andrew. (May 1997), "A brief Introduction to MIDI", SURPRISE, Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine, archived from the original on 30 August 2012, retrieved 22 August 2012
2. Russ, Martin (2012). Sound Synthesis and Sampling. CRC Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-1136122149. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
3. Helen Casabona; David Frederick. Advanced MIDI Applications. Alfred Music. p. 15. ISBN 9781457438936.
4. MIDI INTERFACES FOR THE IBM PC Archived 21 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Electronic Musician, September 1990
5. Manning, Peter. Electronic and Computer Music. 1985. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. Print.

Other websites

• The MIDI Association