7.3

Mbox 2 Academic Getting Started Guide50
Recording MIDI in a Pro Tools
Session
What is MIDI?
MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)
data is not audio, and has no sound. MIDI is a
way for musical devices to communicate. MIDI
is data that can trigger a MIDI device (such as a
keyboard or software synthesizer).
In order to create or play a MIDI recording, you
must have a MIDI controller or sound module
(real or virtual) connected to the computer
through a MIDI interface. Audio from your
MIDI instrument can be monitored through the
audio interface or sent to an external mixer.
Recording MIDI on an Instrument Track
Pro Tools Instrument tracks provide both MIDI
and audio capabilities, so you can record MIDI
and monitor audio from software and hardware
instruments.
To create an Instrument track and configure it for
recording:
1 Choose Setup > MIDI > Input Devices and
make sure your input device is selected in the
MIDI Input Enable window, and click OK.
2 Choose Track > New and specify 1 Mono In-
strument Track, then click Create.
3 Select View > Mix Window > Instruments to
display the MIDI controls for the Instrument
track.
Signal paths for MIDI instruments
MIDI
Audio
Mixer
MIDI keyboard (controller)
To amplifier
MIDI sound module
To record or playback tracks using MIDI
data, your Pro Tools system must be config-
ured for MIDI. See Appendix A, “Configuring
MIDI Studio Setup (Windows Only)” or
Appendix B, “Configuring AMS (Mac OS X
Only).”
Creating a new Mono Instrument track
Showing the Instrument View in the Mix window