The architects of the MIDI standard had to define all kinds of complex musical behaviour in a way that 1980s-era technology could work with-not an easy task. MIDI attempted to provide a way to communicate all the features of a musical performance digitally.

Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi proposed the idea of a standard instrument language to the other major manufacturers, including Oberheim, Sequential Circuits and Moog, in 1981. Manufacturers needed a simple way to make their products compatible with those of other brands. MIDI was first developed in the early 80s to standardize the growing amount of digital music hardware. It’s a protocol that allows computers, musical instruments and other hardware to communicate. MIDI is short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. MIDI is a communication standard that allows digital music gear to speak the same language. To help you navigate this guide here's everything you need to know about MIDI arranged by topic: If you’re already using MIDI, I’ll also cover some useful tips to help you get the most out of your current setup. This guide will give you everything you need to know for making MIDI a powerful part of your process-from basic MIDI connections to using MIDI effectively in your music production workflow. Using MIDI has so many benefits that learning how is worth the time it takes. MIDI is extremely powerful and using it can be confusing.īut it doesn’t have to be intimidating.

With such an important part of the recording and mixing process it's hard to know where to start. If you interact with any kind of digital music machine in your workflow, you’re probably using it already. MIDI is one of the most important tools for musicians and producers.

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