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7. MIDI Primer
SO WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?:
The big deal is that MIDI is new. It’s not only new for you, but it is new
to the music business. It’s only been around for 10 years - drumming
has been around since we lived in caves. It takes time for people to
get used to change - especially change that is powerful and
technical.
You don’t really need to understand how MIDI works - you just need to
understand what it does and how to use it.
Thinking back to our analogy to phones - you don’t need to understand
what actually happens between you talking into the receiver and
someone else hearing what you said miles away. You just use it. It
probably has never bothered you that you don’t understand it! You
are familiar with it and can get it to do what you want. Now it is
simply a part of your life that you use and take for granted.
MIDI is like your phone - just use it - don’t be scared if you don’t
understand it!
Continue to read the manual and experiment with your malletKAT
PRO. If you are trying to do something and get stuck, pick up that
mysterious phone and give us a call - we’ll be glad to help you.
ALL YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET GOING WITH MIDI:
1. Match the Channel your malletKAT PRO is sending on with the
Channel your sound source is set to receive on.
2. Select the Program Change values on your malletKAT PRO to match
the sounds or patch you want your sound source to call up.
MIDI FOR PERCUSSION:
The world of Percussion has some special needs that affect how MIDI is
generally used for Percussion and Drum Sounds. These special
differences include how Note Offs (Gate Time) are handled and
sensitivity to time delay.
Keyboardists, guitarists, string, and horn players are all used to
dynamically controlling the length of the Sounds they produce.
This is not generally true for drummers and percussionists.
Generally, once a mallet instrument or drum is struck, it plays its
sound out on its own.
Therefore, a percussionist needs a way to control the length of time a
sound plays for. “Gate Time” is the setting that does this. After
you strike a pad, the malletKAT PRO will wait to turn the sound
off for a selectable time - the Gate Time!
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