Reference Guide
1547
MIDI
Beginner’s guide to Cakewalk software
Controlling which sounds you hear
Because each MIDI instrument can probably play many different sounds at the same time, you need
a way to tell each instrument which tracks are meant for which sounds. You do this by assigning a
MIDI channel to each track, and by assigning a specific sound, called a patch or program, to each
track.
Because there are only 16 MIDI channels, and each instrument can probably play 16 different
sounds at the same time, you need a way to create more MIDI channels to make sure that
instruments play only the notes that are specifically meant for them. The way a MIDI program gets
around this limitation is by assigning an output number to each group of 16 MIDI channels. For
example, if your MIDI interface has 8 outputs, you might set your first 16 tracks to use output 1, the
next 16 tracks to use output 2, and so on. The MIDI messages on the first 16 tracks would only be
sent out through the cable that comes out of the first output port, the messages from the next 16
tracks would only come out of output 2, and so on. So if your MIDI interface has 8 outputs, you
effectively have 128 MIDI channels to work with. Of course, the way you choose what output you
want to send a track’s data out of is determined by what instrument is connected to that output. So,
even if you only had a keyboard track and a drum track in your project, and your favorite keyboard
instrument was connected to output 1 of your MIDI interface and your drum machine was connected
to output 2, you would assign the keyboard track to use output 1 and the drum track to use output 2.
In the following figure, notice that the two tracks both use Channel 2. But these are not the same
channel! The tracks are assigned to different outputs, so the MIDI messages in these two tracks will
be sent to different instruments. The bass track will send its data out on Channel 2 of Output 2. The
piano track will send its data out on Channel 2 of Output 1.
A. MIDI channel B. Output
A
B
B
A