Midi; What Is Midi - Yamaha PSS-680 PortaSound Authorized Product Manual

What is MIDI?

MIDI stands for "Musical Instrument Digital Interface".
It is an international standard interface system that allows
musical instruments such as your PortaSound PSS-680,
synthesizers, drum machines, sequence recorders, computers
and other equipment to "communicate".
The most basic MIDI functions are something like a highly
advanced remote control — they let you play other instru-
ments from the PortaSound, using its keyboard, the Hand
Percussion drum pads and the SONG MEMORY, or control
the PSS-680 FM and PCM sound sources from external MIDI
equipment.
MIDI IN, OUT, THRU Connections
On the rear panel of the PSS-680, you will find three MIDI
DIN connectors labeled IN, THRU and OUT (27).
IN is for the reception of MIDI data, which are re-transmitted
as they are from THRU. This allows you to control both the
PortaSound and any equipment hooked up to THRU, such,
as a DX synthesizer or a TX tone generator, via MIDI signals
received at the IN terminal. These signals might be produced
"live" by you yourself playing another keyboard, or in re-
corded form by a sequencer for an automated performance.
This setup uses the DX7S synthesizer to program the QX5 sequence
recorder and play the PortaSound plus the TX81Z FM tone generator.
The PSS-880 and TX81Z can also be controlled by QX5 sequences.
Whenever MIDI data is received, the VOICE indicator
dot (in Style Select mode) or STYLE indicator dot (in
VOICE select mode) will blink. This allows you to confirm
visually whether MIDI reception is working properly.
30

MIDI

If too much MIDI data is received at once, the message
will appear, indicating that the "buffer is full".
The MIDI OUT terminal is for transmission of MIDI data
from the PortaSound itself. Again, this may be real-time
("live") information from, say, the keyboard, pitch bend
wheel or a VOICE SELECT button for program selection,
or data recorded in the SONG MEMORY.
In the above simple hook-up, the PSS-680 is used to play the TX81Z
FM tone generator.
Use special MIDI cables for the above type of connections.
Some more examples for practical MIDI hook-ups are
given at the end of this chapter.
16 Channel Control
MIDI is capable of handling up to 16 totally independent
channels simultaneously on a single cable. This is made
possible by coding each individual MIDI message (data
group) with a channel number from 1 to 16. Most MIDI
equipment can be set to transmit or receive data on channels
which can be freely specified by the user.