MIDI

MIDI carries musical performance and control information such as note events, timing, duration, velocity and controller changes. MIDI itself is not a recording of the instrument’s sound. A MIDI region sent to a virtual instrument can produce audio; changing the instrument can change that sound while the note events remain the same. Audio is the rendered or recorded sound signal.

Some DAWs use different names for regions, clips and tracks. The transferable question is: am I editing event instructions, or editing/listening to sound?

A note as an event

Conceptual specimen: horizontal position represents time, vertical rows represent pitch, note length represents duration, and example velocity values are listed separately.

Start: horizontal position
Pitch: vertical row
Duration: note width
Velocity: earlier: 72 · later: 48 (illustrative)

This is a teaching specimen, not a DAW interface or a prescribed phrase. The velocity values are illustrative event data; their sound depends on the instrument.

Text equivalent

The specimen has one short note on a lower pitch row and one longer note on a higher pitch row. Their horizontal positions indicate start times, their widths indicate durations. The earlier event has illustrative velocity 72 and the later event 48; these values do not prescribe loudness.

LISTEN

Play one short MIDI phrase through two different included sounds if available. The performance can stay the same while the timbre changes. If you do not have MIDI instruments, compare the written event plan with a rendered/recorded sound and use the distinction in words; the lesson does not depend on a particular plugin.

TRY

Create or open a short MIDI region. Change one note’s pitch, timing, length or velocity, then play it again. Notice that editing the event changes what the instrument receives; it does not turn the MIDI region into an audio recording.

Optional BandLab reference: BandLab’s MIDI Editor guide documents creating/editing MIDI notes and adjusting timing, pitch, length and velocity in the editor. The same exercise can use another DAW’s event editor or a written note plan.

APPLY

Add a short MIDI motif to your eight-bar idea, or use audio if that better fits your project. State which part is the performance data and which part is the sound output. A learner with an unfinished project may identify one MIDI region and its instrument; otherwise create the same small example in the running project.

Source: The MIDI Association, MIDI 1.0 describes MIDI as an information-exchange specification, including musical note and control messages.

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