Type a word (or part of a word) in the box, click "OK", and study the explanation of the word.
You will find words related to music, MIDI, multimedia and computers.
We hope that you will find it useful.
Open glossary
Acoustic
Non-electric instruments like a violin, a grand piano or a flute
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Analogue
Representation of for instance sound with infinitely small steps.
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Attack
When you play a note on an instrument, similar to when the piano hammer hits the string, the violin bow touches the string etc.
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Bit
The smallest possible digital information: "0" or "1".
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Brass
Wind instruments like trumpet, trombone, french horn or tuba. Many of these instruments were originally made of brass.
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CD
Compact Disc. Storage medium for sound (Hi-fi CDÆs) or computer data. See also "CD-ROM".
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CD-ROM
Compact Disc Read Only Memory. Storage medium for computer data. Similar to a diskette only much bigger capacity: One CD-ROM can hold the equivalent of more than 400 1.44 Mb disks.
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Chorus
An effect that can make a single part sound similar to being played or sung by many musicians.
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Compatible
"Works with..." or "Suitable for.."
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Daughter Board
Print board to be attached to a host printboard, like the Roland SCD-10/15 Daughter Boards on a Sound Blaster(TM) compatible "mother board".
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Delay
A kind of single echo
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Display
The computer screen, or the small screen on a MIDI keyboard.
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Drums
Drumset or classical drum instruments like snare drum and bass drum.
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Emulate
Operates like
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EQ
Equalizer, electronic device which can alter the sounds in specific frequency bands.
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Equalizer
See "EQ".
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Expression Pedal
Foot pedal that can vary the amount of some effect, typically volume.
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Font
A typeface collection, like the Windows fonts Arial and Times
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GM
General MIDI, standard for sound modules and Music Discs. See also: GS.
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GS
GS is a Roland extension of GM. It is totally GM compatible but adds additional sounds and sound editing capabilities.
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Hard disk Recording
Recording musical phrases to hard disk, which can then be played back like on a tape recorder. Contrary to sampling which is to record (sample) ONE note, which is then used as an "instrument".
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Hardware
The actual instrument/Computer including connector boxes, sound cards, sound modules etc. See also Software.
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Herz
Number of sound vibrations per second. kHz (Kilo Herz) = 1000 Hz.
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Interface
Kind of interpreter, which translates one type of data to another in order to enable communication between two different units, like a MIDI interface between a PC and a MIDI instrument.
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Key
(MIDI) instrument keyboard keys or the keys on a PC keyboard. Also: The name of the key of a song (for instance C Major).
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Keyboard
A musical instrument with black and white keys like a piano, a synthesizer or an organ.
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Master Keyboard
See: Mother Keyboard
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Master Volume
Controls the overall (total) volume.
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MCA
A special kind of "bus" used in the IBM PS/2 series in the late 80s . In a MCA PC you cannot use ordinary circuit cards (like MIDI interfaces). For MIDI interface you have to use serial connection.
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Memory
(RAM) The non-disk data etc. temporary storage inside the computer. The contents will be erased after power down if you have not saved it onto a disk.
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MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface. The universal language for interchanging information between digital musical instruments.
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MIDI Interface
Usually a card (circuit board) to be inserted into the PC to take care of the communication between the PC and MIDI peripherals. The MIDI interface may be built into an instrument/sound module which in turn uses a serial connection to communicate with the PC.
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MIDI THRU
Function (connector) on a MIDI unit that will pass on any incoming MIDI signals from MIDI IN. Often MIDI THRU can be switched OFF to prevent this if you wish.
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Modulation
Vibrato.
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Mother Keyboard
The master (central) keyboard which controls connected MIDI units like keyboards, sound modules etc. Usually includes advanced controlling options.
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Multitimbral (sound module)
"Many sounds", i.e. the instrument is capable of playing several DIFFERENT instrumental timbres (sounds) at the same time.
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Non Real Time
As opposed to "Real time" (recording using a metronome). Non Real Time recording (also referred to as "Step Time") is done step-by-step (note-by-note) so it does not require the same instrumental skills as Real Time recordings.
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Off
Switched off.
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On
Switched on.
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Pattern
A phrase: A drum pattern for instance.
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PC
Personal Computer, usually an "IBM Compatible" (DOS/Windows) computer.
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PC Card
Another word for PCMCIA.
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PCMCIA
Credit card size expansion card for hard disk, modem, sound card etc.
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Percussion
Special drum sounds like tambourine, maracas, bongos etc.
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Phones
Headphones.
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Pitch
A word for how "high" or "low" a note is.
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Pitch Bender
A controller which can change the pitch in a sliding way (small, almost step-less intervals). Can be used to simulate bending of a guitar string or sliding of the trombone.
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Play Back
Play back of recorded music.
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Polyphony
Many voices. Indicates how many notes an instrument can sound at the same time.
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Polyphonic
Can play more than one note at the same time.
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Program
1. The software that does a special job like word processing, notation print etc. 2. A sound (Patch) in a synthesizer, sound module or sound card. Actually it is the data (Program Change), that makes the MIDI unit produce the sound in question.
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Program Change
Changing Program, switching sound on a synthesizer etc. Program change is a number ("Please change to sound number XX")
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PS/2
A special series of IBM computers. Many uses the special MCA bus.
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Quantize
Snap to a rhythmic grid, moving all notes to the nearest rhythmic value. This value can usually be changed to quantize from almost unnoticeable to very coarse.
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RAM
Random Access Memory, the temporary storage (memory) in an instrument or in a PC.
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Realtime
"While it happens", i.e. you record notes and rhythms "live" with or without a metronome.
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Rec(ord)
Record
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Reeds
Wind instruments with a reed: Clarinet, saxophone etc.
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Reverb
Adds reverberation to a sound, i.e. simulates the reflections from roof, walls etc. in a room.
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S-VGA
Super VGA monitor with a resolution of 800 x 600 dots.
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Sampler
Unit that records (samples) an acoustic sound (using a microphone etc.) and stores it in digital form. After processing, this sample can be used as a instrument timbre ("sound") that can then be triggered ("played") from a MIDI unit. Sampling is NOT the same as hard disk recording.
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Sampling
The process of "taking samples", i.e. recording acoustic sound waves and transforming them to digits.
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Score
(Notation). A setup of several (or all) staffs of the instruments of the orchestra. From this, you may print out individual PARTS for the members of the orchestra.
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Sequencer
Digital recorder of MIDI data (NOT sound). A sequencer can record MIDI information of what happened, when the player played the instrument: A key was pressed, the key was released, the sound was changed etc. This information can be used to play the exact same performance back on the instrument - or on another instrument. A sequencer stores information, that can make a MIDI instrument make music - but it does NOT contain the actual sound (this is situated in the instrument).
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Serial port
Communication port used for a mouse, modem etc. Can also be used for MIDI communication with certain instruments.
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Settings
Collection of adjustments of parameters like sound, rhythm etc. (in an musical instrument) or RAM size or hard disk size in a PC.
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SMF
Standard MIDI File, a standard for exchanging data (music) between music programs or instruments (usually on disk).
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Software
The program, that makes the PC (or musical instrument) perform certain tasks.
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Sound module
A MIDI synthesizer without keys. It must be triggered ("played") from a MIDI keyboard, a sequencer, PC software etc. via MIDI.
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Split
Splitting the keyboard into two or more sections, which can then be individually assigned to separate sounds etc.
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Splitpoint
The border between two sections (areas) on a keyboard.
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Step time
Recording of music one note at a time. First you choose length, and then input the pitch. Often used for Non Real Time recordings.
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Sustain pedal
Also: Damper pedal. Sustains the tones until the pedal is released.
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Synthesizer
Keyboard with many different (often editable) sounds.
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Tempo
The speed of the music, see also: BPM.
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To
On
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Transpose
To change the key, i.e. raising or lowering the pitch level of the music in semi tone steps.
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Tune
To change the pitch level of an instrument in micro steps, for instance, in hundredths of a semitone.
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Watt
A measure for sound pressure. Unfortunately there is no single standard for measuring sound pressure, so you have to listen and compare.
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Wave
A representation of data as waves. Can be stored digitally in a PC.
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Velocity
Actually "speed" but is used as a measurement for sound volume (how hard the key was hit).
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Velocity sensitive
The fact that a keyboard can reproduce different levels of velocities. As opposed to non velocity sensitive, where you will only get one, volume no matter how hard you hit the key.
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VGA
Color monitor for IBM PC with a resolution of 640 x 480 dots.