About Midi - Yamaha Motif-Rack XS Owner's Manual

About MIDI

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a standard which allows electronic musical instruments to communicate with each other,
by sending and receiving compatible Note, Control Change, Program Change and various other types of MIDI data, or messages. This
instrument can control other MIDI devices by transmitting note related data and various types of controller data. It can also be
controlled by incoming MIDI messages which automatically determine the tone generator mode, select MIDI channels, voices and
effects, change parameter values, and of course play the voices specified for the various Parts.
Many MIDI messages are expressed in hexadecimal or binary numbers. Hexadecimal numbers may include the letter "H" as a suffix.
The letter "n" indicates a certain whole number.
MIDI channels
MIDI performance data is assigned to one of sixteen MIDI
channels. Using these channels, 1 – 16, the performance data
for sixteen different instrument parts can be simultaneously sent
over one MIDI cable. Think of the MIDI channels as TV channels.
Each TV station transmits its broadcasts over a specific channel.
Your home TV set receives many different programs
simultaneously from several TV stations and you select the
appropriate channel to watch the desired program.
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MIDI operates on the same basic principle.
The transmitting instrument sends MIDI data on a specific MIDI
channel (MIDI Transmit Channel) via a single MIDI cable to the
receiving instrument. If the receiving instrument's MIDI channel
(MIDI Receive Channel) matches the Transmit Channel, the
receiving instrument will sound according to the data sent by the
transmitting instrument. For information on how to set the MIDI
transmit channel and the MIDI receive channel, see page 21.
MIDI
cable
MIDI Transmit channel 2
MIDI channels and MIDI ports
MIDI data is assigned to one of sixteen channels. However, we
can overcome the sixteen-channel limit by using separate MIDI
"ports," each supporting sixteen channels. For details, see page
18.
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MIDI Receive channel 2
MIDI Messages Transmitted/
Recognized
MIDI messages can be divided into two groups: Channel
messages and System messages. Below is an explanation of
the various types of MIDI messages which this tone generator
can recognize/transmit. The messages transmitted/recognized
by this instrument are shown in the MIDI Data Format and MIDI
Implementation Chart of the separate Data List.
Channel Messages
Channel messages contain data related to the performance on
the keyboard for the specific channel.
■ Note On/Note Off (Key On/Key Off)
Messages which are generated when the keyboard is played.
Reception note range = C-2 (0) – G8 (127), C3 = 60 Velocity
range = 1 – 127 (Only the Note On velocity is received)
Note On: Generated when a key is pressed.
Note Off: Generated when a key is released.
Each message includes a specific note number which
corresponds to the key which is pressed, plus a velocity value
based on how hard the key is struck.
■ Control Change
Control Change messages let you select a Voice bank, control
volume, panning, modulation, portamento time, brightness and
various other controller parameters, through specific Control
Change numbers which correspond to each of the various
parameters.
Bank Select MSB (Control #0)
Bank Select LSB (Control #32)
Messages which select variation Voice bank numbers by
combining and sending the MSB and LSB from an external
device. The functions of MSB and LSB messages differ
depending on the tone generator mode. MSB numbers select
Voice type (Normal Voice or Drum Voice), and LSB numbers
select Voice banks. (For more information about Banks and
Programs, see Voice List in the separate Data List.) A new bank
selection will not become effective until the next Program
Change message is received.
Modulation Wheel (Control #1)
Messages which control vibrato depth using the Modulation
Wheel. Setting the value to 127 produces maximum vibrato and
0 results in vibrato off.
About MIDI
MOTIF-RACK XS Owner's Manual
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