Have Gear, Have Mac, Have Software, Have No Clue Options

[Woodland Drive B...]

Hi there.

I am a musician trying to get into MIDI, sequencing, techno-y stuff. I've played sax since I was 10 and the piano since I was 8. I own gear, the mac, software and a digital audio workstation but I can not seem to figure out how to incorporate it all together to make some music. I've read <b> Basic Midi </b> by Paul White. I have tried to read posts in MIDI forums. I just don't get it.

Please help. I can post what my gear is and perhaps someone can tell me how I can get it to all work together and then I won't feel so frustrated.

[kaboombahchuck]

Ahh, the wonderful world of midi. The problem with midi starts when tecs try to explain to musicians the everythingness (yawn) of midi. Being a musician myself, I will attempt to put it in terms that may (or may not) subside some of you confusion. First off (and most importantly) midi, and midi files are not audio. Simply put, midi is just a command protocall (or remote controll) for all things midi. It allows the computer to tell a synth (or any midi device) what to do, like which note to play and for how long..ect.. It also tells the computer what the synth (or any midi device) is doing. Any more info than that will just bog you down, and take away time that can be better spent making music! As you go along experiance, and experimenting will teach you more than all the manuals available. Anyway, to bring it all together, you will need some sort of midi interface to go between the mac, and all of the midi gear you will be using. Midi interfaces can be a big pain, but are nessasary if your are going to be using midi sequencing. Remeber, midi is not audio in any way, so you do still have to make an audio connection between gear and the mac and or DAW.

This post has been edited by kaboombahchuck: Fri 27 Jun 2003, 06:56