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Making the Most of Midi
by Paul Overaa

All rights reserved
Copyright (c) 1996 by Paul Overaa

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Bookmark Publishing
The Old School, Greenfield
Bedford MK45 5DE England
Voice +44 1525 713671
Fax +44 1525 713716

ISBN 1-85550-006-X

Table of Contents

    Introduction
Making a Start
    Setting the Scene
    Some Midi Preliminaries
    Making Your Own Midi Cables
    Midi Communications
    Status versus Data
    Midi Channels
Basic Equipment
    Voices, Sounds and the Midi Connection
    The Multi-timbral Equivalent
    Extra Notes on Synthesizer Controls
    The Sequencer
    Choosing Computer Hardware
    Choosing The Software
    Computers and Live Bands
Making the Right Connections
    When Your Midi System Starts To Grow
    Merge Units
    Talking Personally
    Midi Switchers
    Midi Patchbays
    Last Words
How Your Sequencer Works
    Sequence Editing
    Quantization
    Transposition
    Automated Voice Selection
    Re-Channelling
Drums and Percussion
    Recording and Playback
    Block Style Drum Notation
    Boring or What?
    Track Shifting
    Randomisation
    Using Midi clocks when recording
Additional Software and Hardware
    Guitarists
    Effects Unit Control
    Foot Controller Boards
    Midi Filters
    SMPTE/TimeCode Applications
    Wireless Midi
    Specialist Midi Cables
    Lighting and Other Midi Control Applications
    Midi to DIN Sync Conversion
    Still Only Scratching the Surface
Midi Implementation Charts
Midi Fault Finding
    The StudioMaster MA36 Midi Analyser
    Hand-held Midi Message Transmitter Units
General Midi and Roland GS
    The Roland GS Standard
    Moving Towards A Goal
Tips and Tricks
    Midi and Sequencing
    Midi Files
    Percussion Units
    Miscellaneous
Messages and their Meanings
    Real-Time Messages
    System Common Messages
    Channel Messages
    Voice Messages
    Note-Off Messages
    Program Change
    Polyphonic Aftertouch (Polyphonic Key Pressure)
    Channel Aftertouch (Channel Key Pressure)
    Pitchbend (Pitchwheel) Messages
    Midi's Controller Messages
    Switch Controllers
    Continuous Controllers
    Mode Messages
    Midi Clogging
    Status Byte Structure
Sysex Messages
    Using Sysex Control
    Last Words
Standard Midi Files
    Making a Start
    Enter the Midi File Proper
    Overall Chunk Arrangements
    Header Chunks
Track Chunks
    Midi Events
    Sysex Events
    Meta Events
    Last Words
Some Parting Advice
Appendix 1 Hexadecimal Numbers
Appendix 2 Notes For Hackers
Appendix 3 Even Basic Can Do
Collecting Midi Messages
And There's More...
Glossary

Introduction Chapter 1 Bookmark

This page Copyright (c) 1996 Bookmark Publishing. All Rights Reserved.