Midi; What Is Midi; Midifiles; The General Midi Standard - Korg microARRANGER Owner's Manual

8. MIDI

WHAT IS MIDI?

Here is a brief overview of MIDI, as related to the
microARRANGER. If interested, you may find more
information on the general use of MIDI in the various
specialized magazines and books.
In general
MIDI stands for Musical Instruments Digital Interface.
This interface lets you connect two musical instruments,
or a computer and various musical instruments.
Physically, MIDI is composed of three different connec‐
tors. The MIDI IN receives data from another device; the
MIDI OUT sends data to another device; the MIDI THRU
sends to another device exactly what was received on the
MIDI IN (this is useful to daisy‐chain more instruments).
Channels and messages
Basically, a MIDI cable transmits 16 channels of data.
Think to each MIDI channel as a TV channel: the
receiver must be set on the same channel of the trans‐
mitter. The same happens with MIDI messages: when
you send a Note On message on channel 1, it will be
received on channel 1 only. This allows for multitim‐
bricity: you can have more than one sound playing on
the same MIDI instrument.
There are various messages, but here are the most com‐
monly used:
Note On – This message instructs an instrument to
play a note on a specific channel. Notes have both a
name (C4 standing for the center C) and a number (60
being the equivalent for C4). A Note Off message is
often used to say the note has been released. In some
case, a Note On with value "0" is used instead.
Together with the Note On message, a Velocity value is
always sent. This value tells the instrument how loud
the note must play.
Pitch Bend (PB) – You can generate this message acting
on the joystick (X movement). The pitch is translated
up or down.
Program Change (PC)– When you select a Program, a
Program Change message is generated on the channel.
Use this message, together with Control Change 00 and
32, to remotely select microARRANGER data from a
sequencer or a master keyboard.
Control Change (CC) – This is a wide array of mes‐
sages, controlling most of the instrument parameters.
Some examples:
• CC00, or Bank Select MSB, and CC32, or Bank
Select LSB. This message pair is used, together with
the Program Change message, to select a Program.
• CC01, or Modulation. This is the equivalent of
pressing up the joystick. A vibrato effect is usually
triggered on.
• CC07, or Master Volume. Use this controller to set
the channel's volume.
• CC10, or Pan. This one sets the channel's position
on the stereo front.
• CC64, or Damper Pedal. Use this controller to sim‐
ulate the Damper pedal.
Tempo
Tempo is a global MIDI message, that is not tied to a
particular channel. Each Song includes Tempo data.
Lyrics
Lyrics are non‐standard MIDI events, made to display
text together with the music. microARRANGER can
read many of the available Lyrics format on the market.

MIDIFILES

Midifiles, or Standard MIDI Files (SMF), are a practical
way of exchanging songs between different instru‐
ments and computers. microARRANGER has the SMF
format as its default song format, so reading a song
from a computer, or saving a song that a computer soft‐
ware can read, is not a problem at all.
microARRANGER sequencers are compatible with the
SMF in format 0 (all data in one track; it is the most
common format) and 1 (multitrack). It can read the
SMF in Song Play mode and modify/save them in Song
mode. It can save a Song in SMF 0 format in the Back‐
ing Sequence or Song mode.
When in Song Play mode, the microARRANGER can
also display SMF lyrics in Solton, M‐Live (Midisoft),
Tune1000 and compatible (Edirol, GMX, HitBit, XF)
formats, and the chord abbreviations of SMF in Solton,
M‐live (Midisoft), GMX, and XF format.

THE GENERAL MIDI STANDARD

Some years ago, the musical instruments world felt a
need for some further standardization. Then, the Gen‐
eral MIDI Standard (GM) was born. This extension of
the basic MIDI sets new rules for compatibility
between instruments:
• A minimum of 16 MIDI channels was required.
• A basic set of 128 Programs, correctly ordered, was
mandatory.
• The Drum Kit had a standard order.
• Channel 10 had to be devoted to the Drum Kit.
A most recent extension is the GM2, that further
expands the Programs database. The microAR‐
RANGER is soundwise‐compatible with the GM2 stan‐
dard.

THE GLOBAL CHANNEL

Any channels with the Global option assigned (see
"Page 6 ‐ MIDI IN Channels" on page 127) can simulate
the microARRANGER integrated keyboard. When the
microARRANGER is connected to a master keyboard,
MIDI 35
What is MIDI?