Synthesizer Basics
What is a Midi?
These days most film songs and
popular recorded music is written and performed using electronic
keyboards and other MIDI-equipped musical instruments.
MIDI is also easy to find in the
world of personal computing. If your computer has a sound card, it most
likely also has the ability to play MIDI files (using a built-in
hardware or software synthesizer that responds to MIDI messages).
Recently MIDI has begun to be
used to generate ring tones in mobile phones. MIDI ring tones sound far
better because they are polyphonic (play more than one note at one time)
and because they use music synthesizers which produce a wider variety of
sounds than possible before.
MIDI is all around you
Most film and TV songs, as well
as popular recorded music is written and performed using electronic
keyboards and other MIDI musical instruments. (Thanks to advances in
digital sampling and synthesis technologies, the orchestra playing
behind that big-screen block buster is more likely to be the product of
MIDI than a real orchestra with dozens of acoustic instruments and
musicians)
MIDI is also easy to find in the
world of personal computing. If your computer has a sound card, it most
likely also has the ability to play MIDI files (using a built-in
hardware or software synthesizer that responds to MIDI messages), and
with an adapter can also be connected directly to other MIDI-equipped
products, allowing you to take advantage of various computer
programs (eg. cakewalk) that can help you learn, play, create and enjoy
music.
Recently MIDI has begun to be
used to generate ring tones in mobile phones. Individual music notes
cannot be heard in MP3 ring tones and mixed sound of music is heard with
poor quality. MIDI ring tones sound far better because they are
polyphonic (play more than one note at one time) and because they use
music synthesizers which produce a wider variety of sounds than possible
before. There are over 300 companies around the world making products
that support MIDI. Well known companies such as Apple and Microsoft,
Roland and Yamaha, Nokia and Sony Ericsson are among others.
Benefits of MIDI
MIDI is a technology that
represents music in digital form. Unlike other digital music
technologies such as MP3 and CDs, MIDI messages contain individual
instructions for playing each individual note of each individual
instrument. So with MIDI it is actually possible to change just one note
in a song, or to orchestrate and entire song with entirely different
instruments. And since each instrument in a MIDI performance is separate
from the rest, its easy to "solo" (listen to just one) individual
instruments and study them for educational purposes, or to mute
individual instruments in a song so that you can play that part
yourself.
Record and edit your performance
A MIDI Sequencer can
record your performances for listening at a later time, and even save
your performance in Standard MIDI File format for playback on other MIDI
systems. A MIDI Sequencer is a great way to evaluate your own progress,
or even to study how someone else plays.
Better yet, because all MIDI data
is editable, you can edit out any imperfections! If you play a wrong
note, you can just change it using the Sequencer's editing tools. And if
you find you just can't play fast enough to keep up with the tempo, you
can slow it down for recording and speed it back up for playback --
without the "Mickey Mouse" effect that normally comes from speeding up a
song.
General MIDI Level 1 Sound Set
General MIDI's most recognized
feature is the defined list of sounds or "patches". However, General
MIDI does not actually define the way the sound will be reproduced, only
the name of that sound.
Though this can obviously result
in wide variations in performance from the same song data on different
GM sound sources, the authors of General MIDI felt it important to allow
each manufacturer to have their own ideas and express their personal
aesthetics when it comes to picking the exact timbres for each sound.
Each manufacturer must insure
that their sounds provide an acceptable representation of song data
written for General MIDI. Guidelines for developing GM compatible sound
sets and song data are available through the MMA.
General MIDI Level 1 Instrument Patch Map
The names of the
instruments indicate what sort of sound will be heard when that
instrument number (MIDI Program Change or "PC#") is selected on the GM1
synthesizer.
These sounds are the same
for all MIDI Channels except Channel 10, which has only percussion
sounds and some sound "effects".
GM1 Instrument Families
The General MIDI Level 1
instrument sounds are grouped by instruments. In each instrument there
are 8 specific instruments.
PC# Instruments
1-8 Piano
9-16 Chromatic Percussion
17-24 Organ
25-32 Guitar
33-40 Bass
41-48 Strings
49-56 Ensemble
57-64 Brass
65-72 Reed
GM1 Instrument Patch Map
Note: While GM1 does not
define the actual characteristics of any sounds, the names in
parentheses after each of the synth leads, pads, and sound effects are,
in particular, intended only as guides).
Instruments And Its Numbers
1. Acoustic Grand Piano 65. Soprano Sax
2. Bright Acoustic Piano 66. Alto Sax
3. Electric Grand Piano 67. Tenor Sax
4. Honky-tonk Piano 68. Baritone Sax
5. Electric Piano 1 69. Oboe
6. Electric Piano 2 70. English Horn
7. Harpsichord 71. Bassoon
8. Clavi 72. Clarinet
9. Celesta 73. Piccolo
10. Glockenspiel 74. Flute
11. Music Box 75. Recorder
12. Vibraphone 76. Pan Flute
13. Marimba 77. Blown Bottle
14. Xylophone 78. Shakuhachi
15. Tubular Bells 79. Whistle
16. Dulcimer 80. Ocarina
17. Drawbar Organ 81. Lead 1 (square)
18. Percussive Organ 82. Lead 2 (sawtooth)
19. Rock Organ 83. Lead 3 (calliope)
20. Church Organ 84. Lead 4 (chiff)
21. Reed Organ 85. Lead 5 (charang)
22. Accordion 86. Lead 6 (voice)
23. Harmonica 87. Lead 7 (fifths)
24. Tango Accordion 88. Lead 8 (bass + lead)
25. Acoustic Guitar (nylon) 89. Pad 1 (new age)
26. Acoustic Guitar (steel) 90. Pad 2 (warm)
27. Electric Guitar (jazz) 91. Pad 3 (polysynth)
28. Electric Guitar (clean) 92. Pad 4 (choir)
29. Electric Guitar (muted) 93. Pad 5 (bowed)
30. Overdriven Guitar 94. Pad 6 (metallic)
31. Distortion Guitar 95. Pad 7 (halo)
32. Guitar harmonics 96. Pad 8 (sweep)
33. Acoustic Bass 97. FX 1 (rain)
34. Electric Bass (finger) 98. FX 2 (soundtrack)
35. Electric Bass (pick) 99. FX 3 (crystal)
36. Fretless Bass 100. FX 4 (atmosphere)
37. Slap Bass 1 101. FX 5 (brightness)
38. Slap Bass 2 102. FX 6 (goblins)
39. Synth Bass 1 103. FX 7 (echoes)
40. Synth Bass 2 104. FX 8 (sci-fi)
41. Violin 105. Sitar
42. Viola 106. Banjo
43. Cello 107. Shamisen
44. Contrabass 108. Koto
45. Tremolo Strings 109. Kalimba
46. Pizzicato Strings 110. Bag pipe
47. Orchestral Harp 111. Fiddle
48. Timpani 112. Shanai
49. String Ensemble 1 113. Tinkle Bell
50. String Ensemble 2 114. Agogo
51. SynthStrings 1 115. Steel Drums
52. SynthStrings 2 116. Woodblock
53. Choir Aahs 117. Taiko Drum
54. Voice Oohs 118. Melodic Tom
55. Synth Voice 119. Synth Drum
56. Orchestra Hit 120. Reverse Cymbal
57. Trumpet 121. Guitar Fret Noise
58. Trombone 122. Breath Noise
59. Tuba 123. Seashore
60. Muted Trumpet 124. Bird Tweet
61. French Horn 125. Telephone Ring
62. Brass Section 126. Helicopter
63. SynthBrass 1 127. Applause
64. SynthBrass 2 128. Gunshot
General MIDI Level 1 Percussion Key Map
On MIDI Channel 10,
each MIDI Note number ("Key#") corresponds to a different drum sound, as
shown below. GM-compatible instruments must have the sounds on the keys
shown here. While many current instruments also have additional sounds
above or below the range show here, and may even have additional "kits"
with variations of these sounds, only these sounds are supported by
General MIDI Level 1 devices.
Key# |
Drum
Sound |
Key# |
Drum
Sound |
35 |
Acoustic
Bass Drum |
59 |
Ride Cymbal
2 |
36 |
Bass Drum 1 |
60 |
Hi Bongo |
37 |
Side Stick |
61 |
Low Bongo |
38 |
Acoustic
Snare |
62 |
Mute Hi
Conga |
39 |
Hand Clap |
63 |
Open Hi
Conga |
40 |
Electric
Snare |
64 |
Low Conga |
41 |
Low Floor
Tom |
65 |
High Timbale |
42 |
Closed Hi
Hat |
66 |
Low Timbale |
43 |
High Floor
Tom |
67 |
High Agogo |
44 |
Pedal Hi-Hat |
68 |
Low Agogo |
45 |
Low Tom |
69 |
Cabasa |
46 |
Open Hi-Hat |
70 |
Maracas |
47 |
Low-Mid Tom |
71 |
Short
Whistle |
48 |
Hi-Mid Tom |
72 |
Long Whistle |
49 |
Crash Cymbal
1 |
73 |
Short Guiro |
50 |
High Tom |
74 |
Long Guiro |
51 |
Ride Cymbal
1 |
75 |
Claves |
52 |
Chinese
Cymbal |
76 |
Hi Wood
Block |
53 |
Ride Bell |
77 |
Low Wood
Block |
54 |
Tambourine |
78 |
Mute Cuica |
55 |
Splash
Cymbal |
79 |
Open Cuica |
56 |
Cowbell |
80 |
Mute
Triangle |
57 |
Crash Cymbal
2 |
81 |
Open
Triangle |
82 |
Vibraslap |
- |
- |
General MIDI 2 Specification
General MIDI 1 made
great strides in the music industry by providing a platform for
compatibility between device manufacturers and content providers. Still,
many manufacturers felt there needed to be additional functionality.
General MIDI 2 (GM2) is a group of extensions made to General MIDI
1, which increases both the number of available sounds and the amount of
control available for sound editing and musical performance. All GM2
devices are also fully compatible with General MIDI 1.
Polyphony
The polyphony of a sound
generator refers to its ability to play more than one note at a time.
Polyphony is generally measured or specified as a number of notes or
voices. Most of the early music synthesizers were monophonic, meaning
that they could only play one note at a time. If you pressed five keys
simultaneously on the keyboard of a monophonic synthesizer, you would
only hear one note. Pressing five keys on the keyboard of a synthesizer
which was polyphonic with four voices of polyphony would, in general,
produce four notes. If the keyboard had more voices (many modern sound
modules have 16, 24, or 32, 64 note polyphony), then you would hear all
five of the notes. Yamaha PSR 1000 is 32 note polyphony and Yamaha
PSR 2000 is 64 note polyphony. More polyphonic keyboard sounds
better.
Midi Connections
The visible MIDI connectors
on an instrument are female 5-pin DIN jacks. There are separate
jacks for incoming MIDI signals (received from another instrument that
is sending MIDI signals), and outgoing MIDI signals (ie, MIDI signals
that the instrument creates and sends to another device). The jacks look
like these:
|
|
|
|
|
Midi In |
|
Midi Out |
You use MIDI cables (with
male DIN connectors) to connect the MIDI jacks of various
instruments together, so that those instruments can pass
MIDI signals to each other. You connect the MIDI OUT of one
instrument to the MIDI IN of another instrument, and vice
versa. For example, the following diagram shows the
connection between a computer's MIDI interface and a MIDI
keyboard that has built-in sounds.
Midi for Learning Desi Keyboard Lessons
MIDI is a technology
that represents music in digital form. Unlike other digital music
technologies such as MP3 and CDs, MIDI messages contain individual
instructions for playing each individual note of each individual
instrument. So with MIDI it is actually possible to change just one note
in a song, or to orchestrate and entire song with entirely different
instruments. And since each instrument in a MIDI performance is separate
from the rest, its easy to "solo" (listen to just one) individual
instruments and study them for educational purposes, or to mute
individual instruments in a song so that you can play that part
yourself.
Play in a function or in your computer
Learning to
play a musical instrument is one of the most rewarding things people can
do. But why play by yourself when you can play along with a band?
MIDI Files are availablewww.ragatracks.com for many
popular songs, and when used with a personal computer or digital piano
make it possible to have an entire backing band play along with you at
whatever speed (tempo) and in any pitch (key) you desire. You can use
Yamaha XG Player for your midi listening. While listening you can change
each instrument voice, rhythm/style in your computer with XG Player.
MIDI files are perfect for practicing with, as well as for performing
when additional musicians are not available.
Record and edit your performance
A MIDI Sequencer
can record your performances for listening at a later time, and even
save your performance in Standard MIDI File format for playback on other
MIDI systems. A MIDI Sequencer is a great way to evaluate your own
progress, or even to study how someone else plays.
Better yet, because
all MIDI data is editable, you can edit out any imperfections! If you
play a wrong note, you can just change it using the Sequencer's editing
tools. And if you find you just can't play fast enough to keep up with
the tempo, you can slow it down for recording and speed it back up for
playback. Cakewalk is a sequencer software and you can edit midi with
it.
Arrange and Orchestrate
Many people enjoy
arranging and orchestrating music as much as performing it. There are
MIDI files available in our website along with many Indian Styles/Rhythm
- that you can use to create your own arrangements and orchestrations.
Many people download MIDI files from the Internet and rearrange them to
fit their own needs.
Karaoke
Karaoke originated in Japan, and the term means "empty orchestra" in
Japanese. Today, almost everybody knows that karaoke refers to a system
of playing music and displaying lyrics, so that anyone can become a
singer.
You can spend a lot of money on a
special karaoke system, but you don't have to. Any computer can play
MIDI files and can also play MIDI karaoke files, with the lyrics
displayed on the screen as the music plays.
Most MIDI Karaoke files end with
.kar, and in order to play them properly you will need a special player.
Mac owners can use QuickTime, and Windows karaoke players can be
downloaded from the Net. Most are free!
One of the best is
available in CD if you purchase Keyboard in Desi Style. This player play
both MIDI and .kar files. It correctly interprets MIDI controller
messages, so karaoke files sound better.
Useful Tips
First of all, of
course, these midi files are not meant to replace the original songs
sold on CD or cassettes. A midi file can only be an imitation of an
audio music recorded in a professional studio (and, what's more, without
any vocals) ! It's just an interesting challenge to try to get as close
as you can to the original song by creating a midi file.
I use a
Creative Audigy 2NX sound card which include sound fonts. The
files won't sound exactly the same when played on a different sound
card. For that reason, if you feel like the drums play too loud, or the
guitar plays too low, you can open any file with a sequencing software,
and edit levels.
Anyway, the
midi-files will always sound bad if you use a bad sound card - cards
without a wave table, for instance. A wave-table sound card uses
its own quality samples, instead of cheap computer-generated sounds.
If you'd like to
sing karaoke then open the file and disable the lead vocal track in the
midi player or in keyboard or simply use the karaoke midi file and
record your own CD in your computer with the help of audio-midi recorder
like jet audio. I recommend Creative Audigy sound card which cost
Rs.7500/- in Pakistan. You can prepare your own CD with vocal and music
now.
PROBLEMS
The MIDI file may not play.
The program you use to play
the MIDI file may stop responding (hang).
Your computer
may become unstable after you use the End Task feature to quit the
program you used to play the MIDI file.
WORK AROUND
To work around this problem:
Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then
double-click Multimedia.
Click the MIDI tab.
Under Single Instrument, click a device other than the Microsoft GS
Synthesizer, and then click OK
Yahama XG Driver (or your sound card driver) will also appear here and
you have to click it for listening midi. If you will install
Yamaha XG Player then the Yahama SXG Driver will appear in
multimedia.
With Yamaha SXG Driver you will listen midi music in your computer like
real keyboard. So, try now. Or purchase Yamaha XG sound card.
How do I
convert MIDI to Audio?
You obtain the best sounding
synthesizer you can find, perform the MIDI file via a sequencer or MIDI
player, and record the output in a sound recording application.
You can then save the result as a .WAV file. In addition, there
are software synthesizers available that will generate a .WAV file
directly from a MIDI file. Check the midi to wav software as
an example.
What Equipment Works Best With Raga Tracks Midi Files?
Raga Tracks midis are very sophisticated sequences and
require professional quality equipment to play. We strongly
recommend a sound module with a minimum of 64 notes of polyphony.
Raga Tracks feature GS programming code (an advanced GM).. so a module
that also contains GS will be a bonus. With improper equipment,
you may not always get good results.
Additionally, equipment that plays less than 16 channels won't do.
If you have an older keyboard, for example, that can only play 8
channels.. what will happen to the rest of the channels on the backing
track? The results will not be nice...!
Some equipment claims to be General Midi, but actually does not include
the "Full GM" specs. For example, the GM specs call for 8 drum
kits. Some "so-called" GM keyboards only include 1 to 3 Drum
Kits. Read specifications before purchasing music equipments and only
purchase 64 polyphony keyboard which will deliver full sound.
Note:- The above article is extracted from different
resources and rearranged to our local requirements of Indian and
Pakistani instruments and music.
What is midi and raga or raaga with
midi music and free keyboard lessons.
