If you’re about to become a bedroom songwriter and/or producer, one of the most useful tools you’ll be using is MIDI technology. With that said, if you’ve ever searched online to find out what MIDIaa is or how it works, you might find yourself overwhelmed by how complicated it seems. The ins and outs can get very technical and advanced but for the purposes of recording, you only really need to know the fundamentals, such as what MIDI is and how to use it to make your tracks sound great.
What Does MIDI Mean?
MIDI, which stands for “Musical Instrument Digital Interface,” is essentially a type of universal digital language in the realm of music recording. While audio recording captures actual sound, MIDI recording simply captures notes and other MIDI messages.
Examples of MIDI Messages
Note-On and Note-Off Messages
This is perhaps the most basic MIDI message and probably the easiest one to understand. Once you press a key on your keyboard controller, it creates a note-on message, which tells your digital audio workstation (DAW) which note to play and how forcefully to play it. And, of course, it also tells your software how long to play the note you have activated.
Control Change Messages
Control Change Messages are a way to manipulate your MIDI music. There are a vast number of them that you could potentially activate to adjust the character of a MIDI note but for the most part, you’ll be using these types of messages to control parameters like volume, modulation, sustain, pan, etc.
Aftertouch Messages
Some MIDI controllers support aftertouch messages, which communicate the amount of pressure applied to a key after you first press down on it. Or if you’re triggering a note on a virtual instrument, such as violin for example, it can activate a vibrato sound. Alternatively, if you’re playing a synth pad, an aftertouch message can add a certain characteristic to the sound.
But Don’t Get Overwhelmed
Generally, unless you’re a MIDI geek, you really don’t need to know the technical names of these messages. You’ll eventually get the hang of them intuitively using the plethora of tools at your disposal on your DAW. For example, you’ll know to apply a sustain pedal to your piano without having to remember, “Oh, now I’m activating a control change message.” Or you’ll figure out how to pan when you see the pan dial on the side of your track. The best way to learn this stuff is hands-on trial and error (although using your DAW manual is advisable). The message examples above are simply here to help you understand the fundamentals of how MIDI works.
Why Is MIDI Useful?
MIDI is useful for a vast number of reasons. For example, in a home studio it provides you access to a near-limitless number of sounds and virtual instruments. Let’s say the only instrument you know how to play is the keyboard—theoretically, using MIDI, you could potentially use that keyboard to become a virtual bass player or drummer. You could even create a brass or violin section in your track or bring in some guitar accompaniment, all with just some basic musical knowledge and your fingers (and sometimes with no musical theory knowledge at all). In fact, these days, you can potentially recreate instrument sounds with a level of accuracy and realism that is persuasively indistinguishable from the real thing. Using MIDI, you can become a one-person band or orchestra simply with the help of a controller and some virtual instrument software.
Apart from allowing you to play instruments you might have only once dreamed of mastering, MIDI also gives you the power to control how these instruments and synthesizers are played or executed. It also allows you to add and regulate effects and parameters that were once only possible with external hardware.
MIDI Controllers vs. MIDI Software
What Are MIDI Controllers?
In short, MIDI controllers are devices that send MIDI messages to your DAW. These controllers have no inherent sounds unless they have an onboard sound module. Fundamentally though, they’re mainly a tool for communicating with your software. In theory, anything that understands and can react to MIDI language can be used to work synergistically with your controller.
For more detailed information and recommendations on MIDI controllers, check out our MIDI Controller Buying Guide.
Common Types of MIDI Controllers
Keyboard Controllers
A keyboard controller communicates with your DAW through the simplicity of a piano key structure. For almost all home studio producers, a keyboard controller is an essential component in their studio setup. Even with rudimentary musical knowledge, anyone can use the map of piano keys to compose a melody, harmony, rhythm or bassline. Choose any virtual instrument you like on your DAW, and your keyboard can play it. You can also program specified keys to trigger other MIDI messages, and some virtual instrument software use key triggers to help better express the instrument you’re playing. For example, a guitar virtual instrument might allocate a key for an up-strum, and another key for a down-strum.
The great thing about keyboard controllers is that they come in about every size, ranging from 25 to 88 keys. So, you can have a full-scale piano with weighted keys for major piano performances, or a super-light mini keyboard for on-the-go use. You can also get keys with touch sensitive or aftertouch capability that give you more creative flexibility, such as controlling velocity or adding vibrato. These features also give you the option to play around with synth pads and other more complicated sounds that change in character depending on how they are triggered on the keyboard.
Most keyboard controllers also have a bunch of faders and knobs that you can assign jobs to, such as volume and velocity control or panning.
The Native Instruments Kontrol S61, is an example of a 61-key controller that is deigned to work seamlessly with all Native Instrument virtual instruments and effects.
Pad Controllers
Pad controllers are often used by producers and songwriters who take a less conventional approach to writing their music. These producers tend to use samples and clips to put together a track. They are also used by many “bottom-liner” producers, whose job is to focus on creating modern beats and basslines. They can be a fun tool to play with in the studio if you’re willing to spend some time assigning sounds to each pad. But if you’re a musician who takes a more traditional approach to their songwriting, dedicated pad controllers are usually unnecessary, especially if you have a bunch of pads already on your keyboard controller.
MIDI Control Surfaces
You’ll face a minefield of options with respect to MIDI control surfaces. MIDI controls surfaces are generally a set of faders, knobs, buttons and transport controls that send and receive MIDI information. And you can assign specific roles to some of these controls like the functions you utilize the most. The faders might send information such as velocity, delay and vibrato just to name a few. Knobs or dials are often used for panning and effects, while control buttons and dials might help you navigate through tracks, activating functions like play, rewind and record. Of course, the features and functionality of these devices can become infinitely more advanced, but a basic/beginner controller might look like the example shown below (designed to facilitate the navigation of Logic Pro’s DAW).
A MIDI control surface is not an essential external add-on to your home studio, since all these functions can generally be controlled from the DAW itself. In addition, a control surface can take up a lot of space in a small home studio setting. But for those who like a more tactile or intuitive experience, a control surface can be a fun and useful solution that’s customized to your specific needs.
What Is MIDI Software?
In a nutshell, MIDI software is what interprets and reacts to the messages activated by your MIDI controller.
Examples of MIDI Software
DAW
As mentioned, a DAW is the heart of your recording studio. It’s the central hub that allows you to record and edit your MIDI and audio tracks, access your sound library and virtual instruments, and mix your songs. The most common DAWs these days are systems like Pro Tools, Apple’s Logic Pro and Ableton. Personally, I find Logic Pro to be the most intuitive DAW on the market and most suitable for beginners. It’s easy to use, and it effectively facilitates one’s creative flow.
Virtual Instruments
Virtual instruments can be any type of instrument, from a guitar or piano to a saxophone or full brass section. These days, virtual instruments from companies like Native Instruments sound incredibly realistic, as the sounds are sampled from actual, real-life instruments.
Native Instruments makes one of the most popular and impressive line of virtual instruments and effects plugins. Komplete 14 ULTIMATE is a huge bundle of virtual instruments, sounds and effects that could act as your end-game instrument software solution.
Software Synths
In the same way, software synths can mimic classic synthesizers that were once only accessible to those with real-life synth hardware. You can also have a limitless number of synth pads, which tend to be integral to a lot of modern music. Most synth software gives you virtually endless ways to manipulate and shift the characteristics of the original sound preset.
MIDI Packs and Generators
MIDI packs and generators can be an invaluable tool for those of us who are too lazy to write our own bass or drum lines, or for those who need some creative inspiration. These MIDI collections or generators that you can purchase as plugins for your DAW, give you a plethora of flexible ways to lay down and edit your grooves, many of which are categorized by musical genre and preferred tempo. Given that these collections and generators are MIDI in nature, they have no sound. Rather, they are prewritten MIDI tracks and grooves that can be played back through your preferred virtual instrument. And you can easily tweak these midi notes in your DAW’s piano roll.
How Do MIDI Notes Look on Your DAW
Although it is possible to see your MIDI notes translated as conventional notes on a treble or bass clef, most people work with MIDI on a piano roll, which looks like a grid. Notes are recorded as horizontal bars in varying length, depending on how low long you’ve pressed on the key. On the left side of the piano roll, you will find a vertical axis displaying the pitch, like C5 and C6, while the horizontal axis represents the bars with respect to timing.
Make Use of MIDI Effects and Have Fun
MIDI effects are different from audio effects in that they control virtual instruments and synths in MIDI form. You can do a ton of neat stuff with MIDI effects which allow you to change, enhance or fix your tracks in ways you may not have thought possible.
Examples of MIDI Effects
Quantizers and Groove Quantizers
Even for seasoned musicians, it can be hard to record passages and grooves exactly on beat on a consistent level. Luckily, you don’t have to worry too much about any mistakes in timing, thanks to quantizing effects that bring your notes perfectly in line with the beat regardless of the time signature you’re recording in. Groove quantizers are especially fun since they can shift your beat just slightly to create a rhythmic groove in your recording.
Arpeggiators
Arpeggiators are particularly fun when recording synth instruments. If you can play a chord, an arpeggiator will make a rhythmic pattern using the keys that are contained in the chord. And often, you’ll be given a plethora of options with respect to how these rhythms and key progressions are delivered.
Chord Generators
If you’re not an experienced musician, you may be struggling to play or create chords that make sense. Or you might know how to play certain chords but are having trouble generating enough chord progressions to make a full song. Chord generators allow you to come up with chords (even complex ones) with a single press of a key and help you find progressions and harmonies that will become the inspiration for your melodies.
Editing Your MIDI
MIDI editing is too vast of a topic to truly go into detail about in this article. But to give you a small sampling from the large number of tools at your disposal, you might use pencil tools, for example, that not only draw notes, but also draw velocities and adjust parameters. You’ll also find trim and scissor tools, which allow you to split notes and modify note lengths. All of these tools are there to help you fine-tune your recording after you’ve already done the hard part of creating the track.
You can also use automation tools, which change various parameters of your notes and effects over the course of your tracks. For example, you could automate your volume to slowly increase until it reaches the middle of your tracks and then to gradually decrease again.
Transposing your songs can also be done in this phase. Say you’ve written a bunch of chord progressions that sound great and are comprehensive enough to make into a track. But once you decide to create a vocal melody based on these chords, you realize that your voice can’t reach certain pitch levels in the melody. All you have to do is transpose your tracks (shift the pitch of notes up or down) to a key that’s comfortable for you or your vocalist. In short, a transposer moves the key of your MIDI recordings for you without you having to manually edit each note on your DAW.
Turning Your MIDI into Audio
At some point, you will be transitioning your work into audio form. Why? MIDI tracks tend to take up a lot of resources (like CPU and RAM). And when you’re working with a number of tracks that involve virtual instruments, you DAW is likely to slow down or even freeze. So, once you bounce your tracks to audio form, it frees up your computer resources, allowing for more efficient playback and system stability.
Another situation that would warrant consolidation of MIDI tracks into audio would be if you plan on sharing your music with your writing/producing partners. If you just send them MIDI tracks, there’s the danger that they won’t have the same virtual instruments as you do. So, basically, they won’t be able to hear the intended sound. By converting your MIDI into audio, you allow others to work with the same audio files.
Finally, there are audio effects that you can apply to your tracks that you can’t do with MIDI. On you’re in audio format, you can play around with pitch shifting, time stretching and other audio processing tools.
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