Kawai K4 Owner's Manual page 17

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mw Note Information
m= Note Number
w Velocity
m@ Aftertouch
m@ Program Change
= Control Change
m= Pitch Bend
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Of the different types of performance data which can be transmitted via MIDI, the
most basic is the note message. Note messages indicate such information as
which key has been pressed with how much force, and when it was released.
In order to enable the control instrument to differentiate between keys when they
are played, a number is assigned to each, called a note number. Middle C (C3) is
MIDI note number 60, and each note number corresponds to a half tone, or one key
on the keyboard (MIDI divides the half tones from C-2 to G8 into 128 steps,
numbering them in sequence from lowest to highest).
This is a message which tells with how much force a key on the keyboard was
pressed (velocity is detected not by the pressure on the key, but by the speed of its
movement at the time the note on message is sent).
Numerous kinds of effects may be obtained by pressing harder after a key has once
been pressed. Aftertouch is a message which transmits the amount of pressure
with which a key is being pressed.
Most MIDI instruments currently in use allow settings, tones, and other data to be
programmed. These programs can be switched by a message from the master
instrument. This type of message is called a program change. Since MIDI
standards say only that numbers from 0 to 127 can be used as program change
data, the items in the tone memory that correspond to the program change
numbers are different for every type of instrument.
Besides information regarding when a key has been pressed and released and so
on, volume, vibrato, hold, portamento on/off, damper and soft pedal on/off, pan
and aftertouch information, etc., are functions which may be handled in many
different ways as performance data. These are transmitted as control change
messages.
This is a message which tells just how far the pitch bend wheel has been turned.
The maximum amount of pitch bend is usually programmed in the synthesizer's
patch data. Therefore, pitch range depth may differ between instruments.
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