ENSONIQ MR Rack, Musician'S Manual

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Chapter 9 —Supplemental Information
4 ENSONIQ MR-Rack Musician’s Manual
What I s M IDI
M usical inst r ument and compute r manu f actu r e r s have ag r eed upon a set o f standa r ds
which allows thei r p r oducts to communicate with each othe r . I t ’ s called “ M I D I . ” T he r e a r e
two basic aspects to the M I D I standa r ds : what kind o f wi r ing will be used to connect M I D I
devices, and what kind o f messages will be sent th r ough those wi r es. T he wo r d “ M I D I , ” by
the way, is an ac r onym f o r “ M usical I nst r ument Digital I nte r f ace. ”
Life In The MIDI World
M I D I has opened up inc r edible possibilities f o r musicians and music love r s alike. He r e a r e
some o f the things M I D I has made possible :
• Home enthusiasts can en j oy p r e- r eco r ded M I D I p r og r ams, pe r f o r med by thei r pe r sonal
compute r s in con j unction with tabletop boxes ( such as the M R - R ack ) . I n doing so, they
can take advantage o f Gene r al M I D I , a sepa r ate-but- r elated standa r d which we ’ ll get
into a bit late r on.
• K eyboa r dists can connect thei r inst r uments to a my r iad o f boxes which p r oduce sounds
( such as the M R - R ack ) . M I D I allows a conventional-looking keyboa r d to cont r ol a
numbe r o f such devices at the same time, p r oviding f o r the c r eation o f new, complex
timb r es. K eyboa r dists can also set up speci f ic a r eas on thei r keyboa r ds to cont r ol
individual boxes. T hese same capabilities a r e available to compute r use r s. A ctually,
p r etty much any musical inst r ument can be out f itted to cont r ol M I D I devices.
• M usicians can r eco r d thei r pe r f o r mances into M I D I r eco r de r s — called
s
e q
u
e
n
c er
s — which a r e f ound in keyboa r d wo r kstations and compute r s. Once r eco r ded,
M I D I - r eco r ded pe r f o r mances can be tweaked and nudged to pe r f ection. M usical
a rr angements can be r e-o r chest r ated even a f te r they ’ ve been r eco r ded. A nd musicians
can f ix mistakes they ’ ve made du r ing thei r M I D I - r eco r ded pe r f o r mances.
• M usicians can p r og r am thei r M I D I devices to suit thei r own needs r ight f r om thei r
pe r sonal compute r s, taking advantage o f compute r s ’ la r ge g r aphic displays, f amilia r
keyboa r ds and com f o r table mice.
• M I D I inst r uments can send what ’ s sto r ed in thei r inte r nal memo r ies out to exte r nal
sto r age devices, such as ha r d disks and f loppy d r ives.
• R eco r ding enginee r s can cont r ol mixing consoles and e ff ects devices with M I D I .
• Stage lights in conce r t halls can be automated to r espond to musical cues.
U nde r st anding MID I
MIDI Hardware
T he a r chitects o f M I D I had to settle, f i r st o f all, on the M I D I ha r dwa r e : the wi r es. A ll M I D I
cables have the same kind o f plug on eithe r end :
T he r e a r e th r ee M I D I sockets, o r j a c k s , on the back o f most M I D I inst r uments. T he MI D I I n
j ack is f o r M I D I in f o r mation coming into the inst r ument. T he inst r ument sends out its own
M I D I in f o r mation th r ough the MI D I O u t j ack. T he MI D I T h r u j ack is f o r M I D I data that passes