Akai S950 Operator's Manual page 102

But why have 16 MIDI channels? Well, the real power of MIDI is in sequencing.
A sequencer can record MIDI information on all 16 MIDI channels and it is
possible for a sequencer to record a drum part on MIDI channel 1, a bass part
on MIDI channel 2, a piano part on MIDI channel 3, a string part on MIDI
channel 4, a brass part on MIDI channel 5 with maybe a leadline melody on
MIDI channel 6. All these parts could be sent down the MIDI lead to a variety
of synths and samplers and each instrument would play its own part with its
own sound on its own MIDI channel. As you can imagine, this can get quite
expensive having 5 or 6 or more synths or samplers lying around so a lot of
synth and sampling modules and keyboard synths can be MULTI-TIMBRAL - that
is, each of their voices can be set up to receive a different MIDI channel
and play a different sound. This can be as many as 8 whilst some allow the
maximum of 16. Of course, when sequencing tike this, none of the synths must
be set to OMNI ON otherwise they will play ALL the parts thrown at it!!
So now we know about the MIDI IN and the MIDI OUT and MIDI channels, what
about the MIDI THRU socket?
This socket is simply a parallel tap of anything coming in through the MIDI
IN and you can 'daisy chain' any number of synths by connecting them- to MIDI
THRU as in Fig. 2a. Having said that, connecting a whole pile of synths,
samplers or drum machines using only MIDI THRU could give rise to slight
delays so it is best to use a MIDI THRU box such as the Akai ME30P11
Programmable MIDI Patchbay and connect the equipment as shown in Fig. 2b.
This will stop any delays as well as allowing you to patch any instrument to
any instrument at any time.
FIG. 2a Connecting a MIDI sequencer to MIDI synths using MIDI THRU
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