Roland ep-95 Owner's Manual page 14

MIDI is short for Musical Instrument Digital Inter-
face. The concept refers to many things, the most
obvious being a connector type that is used by
musical instruments and effects devices to
exchange messages relating to the act of making
music. Every time you play on the ep-95/ep-
85/ep-75's keyboard or start the Pianist, your
instrument will send MIDI data to its MIDI OUT
port. If you connect that port to the MIDI IN port
of another instrument, that instrument may play
the same notes as the ep-95/ep-85/ep-75.
MIDI is a language that translates every action
relating to music into binary digits that can be
transferred via a MIDI cable. It is a universal
standard, which means that musical data can be
sent to and received by instruments of different
types and manufacturers. Furthermore, MIDI
allows you to connect your ep-95/ep-85/ep-75 to
a computer or hardware sequencer.
Requirements for receiving and
transmitting MIDI data
MIDI messages are transmitted and received
using two (sometimes three) connectors and spe-
cial MIDI cables:
ep-95/85/75 External MIDI device
This connector receives mes-
sages from other MIDI
devices.
This connector transmits MIDI
messages generated on your
ep-95/ep-85 /ep-75.
This connector "echoes back"
ali MIDI messages received
via MIDI IN (not available on
the ep-95/ep-85/ep-75).
MIDI THRU:
Explaining MIDI in great detail lies beyond the
scope of this manual. There is a booklet called
MIDI Guide available from your Roland dealer
that tells you the ins and outs of MIDI.
Here is what MIDI allows you to do:
You can play on the ep-95/ep-85/ep-75's key-
board and have another instrument play exactly
the same notes (usually with a different sound).
That is the same as layering two sound on the
ep-95 /ep-85/ep-75 itself, except that the external
sound doesn't use your ep-95/ep-85/ep-75's
voices (it is 28-voice polyphonic).
You can connect the ep-95/ep-85/ep-75 to a com-
puter with sequencer software or a hardware
sequencer and have it play back the notes trans-
mitted by the sequencer (software).
If you play back GM/GS compatible Standard
MIDI Files, the ep-95/ep-85/ep-75 will function
as 16-part multitimbral sound module (like a
Roland Sound Canvas).
Your ep-95/ep-85/ep-75 receives on all 16 MIDI
channels and can play back as many as 16 paris
using different sounds (a feature referred to as
multitimbral).
To be able to transmit MIDI data to a receiving
device, connect the ep-95/ep-85/ep-75's MIDI
OUT port to the external module's/sequencer's
MIDI IN port.
External MIDI device
ep-95/85/75
In the case of a sequencer, you may also want to
connect the external device's MIDI OUT port to
the ep-95/ep-85/ep-75's MIDI IN port. (When
recording sequences, you need to switch off the
sequencer's MIDI Thru function.)