banner

homepageintroductionmidi informationsurveytutorialconclusion

 

All About MIDI

 

Uses of MIDI

Midi sound can be used as mobile phone ringtones and some video games. Besides music, it is used as show control, theatre lighting, special effects, sound design VJ-ing etc.

Advantages of MIDI

  1. Convenient and easy to use
    1. Tempo control (If you alter the tempo of a tape recording, the pitch will also change. But for MIDI, the pitch remains the same.)
    2. Can record one part while listening to other parts
    3. Can be saved while composing
    4. Can edit your song anytime
    5. Can control every action that you made upon each instrument
    6. Can control hardware including recording devices and sound effects modules, as well as live performance equipment such as stage lights and effects pedals
  2. Small file size/Compact -- MIDI files (.mid) don¡¦t take more space than written documents, .wav (a format to store a sound) or mp3 files (a format to reduce the size of audio files)
  3. Versatile -- hundreds of MIDI gadgets to try out and change key, tempo, instrument etc.
  4. Intuitive -- just an electronic version of a player piano roll for various instruments
  5. Powerful -- you can control the whole orchestra
  6. An Industry Standard - Any MIDI instrument can talk to any other

 

Disadvantages of MIDI

  1. The sound may be different, depending on the listener¡¦s output device (keyboards, computer etc.)
  2. Lacks realism, compared to an audio CD -- sounds as if it were not played by real instruments/sounds like an electronic version of the song
  3. A bit more difficult than to use a CD player
  4. Equipment cost is slightly higher
  5. Wavetable cards only limit to a memory for sample data typically 4MBa the sound quality is not good

 

next -->

Back to MIDI Information main page -->