The DijonStock Digital Home Recording Support Forum

Just stumbled across this today.............

In 1981 three engineers, each from a different synthesiser company, were chatting at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) trade show and hit upon the idea of solving this problem and allowing musicians more control. These engineers were: Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits, I Kakehashi of Roland and Tom Oberheim of Oberheim Electronics.

The next few years saw engineers from all of the companies working heavily on producing this new standard that would work with instruments from any company.

The system they came up with was based on the already existing local area network (LAN) protocol being used by networked computers.

In 1983 this was formally published as MIDI 1.0. MIDI has never been updated since its first release - MIDI 1.0 is still the standard that is used today.



The mind of Dave Smith simply blows me away.

msg

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THE MUSIC IS DOWN IN HERE
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Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

My mum and dad even better engineers. I was concieved in 1961 and brought into the world as Dirk 1.0. Never upgraded since then ! (could do with a major tune up dough)

No, just joking. That is actually amazing. Nowadays its very hard to find anyone who takes his time to do something right straightaway. Honestly i was under the impression that midi was older. So it was not present on the old analog synths and keyboards ?

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In a minute it might be gone. Life is a bear in a bubble.

http://www.soundclick.com/bearinabubble

i remember the old Poly 61 synth had an aftermarket MIDI kit available for it (Poly 61 was digitally controlled but still analogue)

the fact that 1.0 is still in use is a clue to how forward-thinking those guys were - sheer genius. you can bet your bottom dollar that if it had any serious flaws, it would have been either updated or superceded by now. i'd be lost without MIDI and MTC...

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Wanted to buy: one Right Word Clock, in good condition.

I still have my Univox Maxi Korg . It was ahead if it's time in 1975 as it was TWO note polyphonic. And it was only that because it had a shocking two oscillators that allowed it. Thirds and fifths were commonly played on it. It did have a strange sub oscillator which most synth people would recognise as a crude LFO. What was impressive for it's day was the fact the sub oscillator could cycle between the two main osc to have an actual stereo sound through it's two output jacks.
Midi had yet to be even thought of at the time. There were no patch presets so sounds had to be hand crafted. Very hard to use on stage because of this. At the time the Univox was a third of the price of a single polyphonic Mini Moog. Seems like I paid around $600 for the MaxiKorg when I bought it new. Quite pricey in mid '70s dollars.

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THE MUSIC IS DOWN IN HERE
____________________________________________________

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

talking about midi could be really interesting. Ever looked here ? http://www.midi.org/aboutmidi/index.php

it has some great stuf like : (for the pictures look at the site)

Fun with MIDI

MIDI-Driven Animation
Source: www.animusic.com

Animusic produces innovative music animation by leveraging MIDI data in creating "virtual concerts". The animation of graphical instrument elements is generated using proprietary software called MIDImotionTM. The technique is analytical, note-based, and involves a pre-process (as opposed to being reactive, sound-based, and real-time). Read our interview with Animusic developer Wayne Lytle.


Free MIDI Game
Source: Synthesia

Synthesia is a game that teaches you to play the piano using falling notes. No sheet music reading is required. With it, you can: Learn to play songs using a musical keyboard connected to your computer; Keep track of your progress in every song with per-song scoreboards; Slow, fast-forward, and rewind songs while learning new parts; Practice left and right hand parts together or separately. Try out any MIDI file you can find on the Internet. Use it on either your PC or Mac.


MIDI Sequencing with Hamster Control
Source: Cornell University

This project was initially fueled by the desire to explore the MIDI protocol. It was decided that this would be accomplished by building a MIDI device. An intelligent MIDI sequencer was designed with hamster control. The MIDI sequencer intelligently produced melodies by manipulating the musical elements of rhythm and note-choice. Guided by inputs based on hamster movements...

Motion Capture MIDI Controller
Source: www.sonalog.com

The GypsyMIDI is a unique performance instrument for motion-capture midi control... The suit is modeled on the human skeletal form using rotational sensors placed on the joints. The GypsyMIDI simply plugs into a MIDI interface and arm movements are converted into a real-time stream of MIDI data. The mapping interface eXo-software allows the user to define how the movements are translated into MIDI control, including the ability to trigger notes, generate continuous control commands or even play scales.

Sofa as MIDI controller
Source: Music Thing Blog Spot

A German designer calling himself Seppoman has built a MIDI control system into a sofa. If two people are sitting down, they can output three control values each - left and right buttock weight and how far the person is leaning back.

Peter Jackson's $100,000 Ragtime MIDI Band
Source: Music Thing Blog Spot

The $99,975 LB-BGJ from Ragtime Automated Music is a cabinet containing a robotically controlled acoustic band. A touch-screen interface controls the whole works, sending MIDI signals to the mechanical elements that play the full drum kit, piano, accordion, guitar, banjo, electric bass, and 24 organ pipes.

MIDI Gamma Ray Spectrometer
Source: www.kosmophone.com

The Kosmophone is a gamma-ray spectrometer operating in the range of about 3 to 7 million electron-volts (MeV) controlling a MIDI music synthesizer. This octave of the electromagnetic spectrum, about a million times higher frequency than the octave our eyes respond to, contains very little energy that originates in our solar system. Almost all of the energy in this band is a result of unbelievably energetic radiation coming from the far reaches of the universe, 'Cosmic Rays'.

MIDI Van de Graaff Generator
Source: www.boston.com

The towering Van de Graaff electric generator in the Theatre of Electricity of the Museum of Science throws off some serious sparks -- about 1.5 million volts' worth, we're told. Little did we know that it also can be manipulated to make music. In ''Zap!," composer Christine Southworth and robotics engineer Leila Hasan, alumnae of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, use the Van de Graaff to add sparks and static to an hour-long concert with eight other musicians. Southworth composed the music; Hasan controls the generator with a laser-theremin MIDI controller. More info at web.mit.edu.

MIDI Ladder
Source: www.tonleiter.com

The ToneLadder. If a household ladder is extended with a melodic function, it will develop into a real musical instrument. The ordinary ladder transforms into a soundladder. Stepping on a bar of the ladder creates a sound or tone which is different from rung to rung. So you can create a piece of music by stepping up and down on the ladder. Together with a partner you can even play a duet.


All materials, graphics, and text copyright © 1995-2008 MIDI Manufacturers Association Incorporated.
Use is prohibited without written permission.

_________________
In a minute it might be gone. Life is a bear in a bubble.

http://www.soundclick.com/bearinabubble