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Setting up MIDI is more straight forward than it might seem. There seems to be some air of mystery surrounding MIDI. The fact is, it’s very simple. After all, it’s just a messaging system! You tell it what you want to do, and it does it!
Setting Up MIDI
How To Connect Your MIDI Instruments To Your Computer
Nearly all electronic musical devices have MIDI inputs and outputs (I/O) All you need is an appropriate cable to connect them up. Some of the most up to date devices now have usb connections, so all you need is a usb lead plugged straight into the usb port of your computer.
MIDI Socket
This is the back of my own keyboard, which is a just a set of keys. It doesn’t actually make any sounds and is therefore, useless without some form of MIDI connection. As you can see it has just one MIDI socket. MIDI OUT. (This means I can only send information out from my keyboard, and not receive any information back.)
This is connected straight into my soundcard, which has a MIDI connection so the lead I use is a MIDI to MIDI lead. Looks like this.
Sound Card
I use an Audiophile 2496 soundcard. It has a 9 pin connector on the card with a breakout lead for the MIDI connections.
Some soundcards will have a Game Port or Joystick socket.
This is a 15 pin D socket looks like this.
If you have one of these, you will need a cable like this.
This plugs into the 15 pin socket and leaves an extention for a Joystick, plus it has the MIDI in & out sockets.
MIDI / USB Cable
The other option is to get a MIDI to USB cable. In it’s most basic form, it will look like this.
This plugs straight into an available USB socket on your computer.
Configure The MIDI - USB Connection
Now that you have made the connection, the next thing is to configure your recording software. Now because there are a lot of different applications out there! It would be impossible for me to describe the process for each one. I use Cakewalk SONAR, and in this picture, you can see I have selected the track properties, and in the ‘output’ I have three options of where to send my MIDI signal.
1/ Is the MIDI out on the soundcard. If my keyboard had it’s own sound capabilities, I could use this option to hear anything I had previously played.
2&3/ Are to DXI synths, loaded in at the start of the session. So in this example, whatever I play is going to sound through the ‘Cyclone 1’ DXI synth. Which will play through my speakers connected to my computer.
Testing MIDI Input / MIDI Output In Your DAW
Now the messaging service comes into play.
If I play an Am chord on the keyboard with quite a soft touch, (because my keyboard is touch sensitive,) the message will be sent into the computer. I can either record this event, in which case I will get a perfect replication of what I’ve just played. Or I can choose to just listen to what I’m playing! If I record this event, I can then manipulate what I’ve played in the software application. Here you can see the ‘Piano Roll’ view, and the ‘Staff’ view.
Within either of these windows, you can manipulate what you’ve played. You could add further notes, delete notes, extend or reduce the length of any notes, or even adjust the velocity of the notes. You could also go back and change the output to another source: such as a different keyboard, sound module or sampler. Or another Software synth!
Setting Up MIDI Conclusion
I hope you found setting up MIDI pretty straight forward and that this article has been useful in guiding you through the MIDI setup process. Please feel free to ask any questions in the forum. Especially if you have any problems with your particular software application.
(Note this article centers on older Windows Platforms (Win 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. It also focuses on the original MIDI Interface. It does cover MIDI to USB adapters, but does not cover MIDI over USB to USB connection)
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