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1542 Beginner’s guide to Cakewalk software
MIDI
“MIDI drivers” on page 1544
“MIDI files, projects, tracks, and clips” on page 1545
“Controlling which sounds you hear” on page 1547
“MIDI” on page 1541
“Audio” on page 1549
“Audio hardware (sound cards) and drivers” on page 1564
MIDI channels, interfaces, inputs, and outputs
Most MIDI instruments can play at least 16 different sounds at the same time—instruments that can
play more than one sound at a time are called multi-timbral (pronounced multi-tambral). In order to
control which sounds respond to which commands, MIDI messages are marked with a channel
number from 1 to 16. That way a MIDI sound module, such as a drum machine, can tell which
messages are meant for which of the sounds it is capable of playing. Each instrument has a limit to
the number of notes it can play at one time, counting all the notes it is playing on all the sounds it is
using combined. That number is usually between 32 and 128, and is called polyphony.
You need some way to get MIDI messages into and out of your computer, so a MIDI system needs a
piece of hardware called a MIDI interface, which can be a stand-alone module connected to your
computer’s parallel, serial, or USB port; an internal module installed in a slot inside your computer;
or can be part of your sound card (the sound cards that come with most computers frequently use
the joystick port as an input and output for MIDI data). Your computer sends MIDI messages to your
MIDI interface, which then sends them on to your MIDI instruments. That’s how MIDI software plays
MIDI instruments. A MIDI interface contains inputs and outputs, labeled MIDI IN and MIDI OUT,
which you connect MIDI cables to so you can send MIDI messages to and from MIDI instruments.
MIDI instruments can be stand-alone synthesizers or can be built into your sound card. Most
inexpensive sound cards have internal synthesizers that can make at least 128 different sounds (if
you’re using a synthesizer that’s built into your sound card, you don’t have to connect that to the
sound card, since the connections are internal to the sound card).
Figure 454. Joystick connector—use this if your MIDI interface is the joystick port on your sound card.
A. Insert this MIIDI IN plug into the MIDI OUT port on your MIDI instrument B. Insert this MIIDI OUT plug into the
MIDI IN port on your MIDI instrument C. Insert this plug into the joystick port on your sound card
A
B
C