MIDI - The Way Digital Instruments Talk To Each Other

I am sure you must have heard this word before...

For those of you who are wondering what M I D I actually means? I will try to give a brief explanation here.

In short, MIDI allows musical instruments, digital devices and Computers to communicate with each other by sending binary data. All kind of information like notes, effects, volume can be exchanged with each other.

It is the way digital instruments communicate with each other. Now that you know "what does MIDI stand for", let us see some of its uses.

What you need to do is designate one of the electronic keyboards as a Controller and set it to some sound, say piano. Connect the other Keyboard to the Controller keyboard and set it to some other sound, say strings.

Now, when you play some notes on the controller keyboard, it will send digital data to the other keyboard and you will actually hear both the sounds, piano as well as strings.

When you want to connect two instruments, you connect the MIDI OUT from one instrument to the MIDI IN of the other instrument. This way the first keyboard can send out MIDI messages to the other keyboard.

The MIDI THRU connection allows the incoming data to be passed to other external instruments.

Keyboard MIDI - OUT ==> Computer MIDI - IN
Computer MIDI - OUT ==> Keyboard MIDI - IN
Keyboard MIDI - Thru ==> same as the data coming in keyboard MIDI - IN

You can easily create and play, all by yourself, a very complex network of keyboards by using the MIDI THRU connection. You will need to use MIDI cables to do all this connections.

Note - Please note that most of the recent keyboards / digital pianos offer connectivity to computer using USB instead of this traditional MIDI IN / OUT method.

The MIDI songs are written in such a way that your electronic keyboard reads the data and plays it back using the sounds of the instruments mentioned in the MIDI data.

The MIDI songs also act as good teaching aid as you can follow the song note by note as it is being played on the keyboard.

The keyboard manufacturers keep on introducing new styles, sounds based on the current market trend and these can be used for a small charge.

Some keyboards can be connected directly to the internet without needing a Computer. This is the easiest way to download MIDI songs. Alternatively, you can download the songs on your computer and then copy the songs from your computer to the keyboard using a floppy disk or a CD.

You only need to connect your musical keyboard to your computer and you are ready to record. You will need a software sequencer like Sonar, Cubase, Reason, etc which records all your performances. Please go through the controller link below to know more.

A lot of software is available in the market which helps you to learn to play or helps you to sight-read. You just need to connect your keyboard to your computer through MIDI. You are then ready to explore and play the various exercises without needing your teacher around.

You also get software which translates whatever you play on your midi keyboard into musical notations.

So if you are not very good at writing notations, you can use one of the MIDI software which generates the notations for you. If you are a teacher, you can use it to generate exercises for your students.

There are different ways to connect them. You will need to have at least one in place to be able to bring the data into your computer.

Use a Keyboard Controller

Some electronic keyboards come with built-in USB MIDI interfaces. You can just connect the USB cable from the keyboard to the computer, install drivers (if required) and you will be set up. The software will be able to detect your keyboard.

Audio Interfaces/Soundcards

Most of the professional soundcards/audio interfaces nowadays have a built-in MIDI interface. You just need to connect your keyboard to the standard MIDI jacks on the interface using a midi-cable.

External USB MIDI Interfaces

If the above options are not available to you, you have to purchase a separate USB MIDI Interface.

A USB MIDI Interface is a piece of hardware which has ports for both MIDI as well as USB.

You need to connect the interface to the computer using USB, and connect your keyboard to the interface using the standard MIDI jacks on the interface.

Generally the connections using these interfaces are more reliable than connecting through joystick ports.

Though these tend to be less reliable than the other connections... you can try it out if you are just starting out in the computer music recording space.

Additional Reading
What is a M I D I - Controller?
M I D I - Keyboards
USB M I D I Cable - Connection made easy

Your MIDI Related Queries & Solutions

Have any queries about connecting your keyboards through MIDI? Were stuck but managed to get your MIDI connection working? Please write about it here!

Click on the link below to see some of the most commonly asked questions about MIDI, and some interesting solutions, posted by visitors to this page.