AMPT User's Guide

Table of Contents


Intro to MIDI

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is a standard designed for electronic musical instruments to communicate with each other.

MIDI is a set of pre-defined messages that can be sent from one digital instrument to another to communicate events such as turning on a note (such as by pressing a key on a keyboard), changing the instrument that the synthesizer should play, or changing the balance of the speakers on the synthesizer. MIDI defines 16 channels on which messages can be sent, so multiple notes and instruments can be played simultaneously.

MIDI devices have transmitters and receivers. Transmitters are what MIDI devices use to send messages to another device. Receivers are what MIDI devices use to receive messages from other devices. Each MIDI device specifies how many transmitters and receivers it has. In order to send messages from one device to another, the transmitter of the first device must send a message to the receiver to the second device.

For more info on MIDI Routing, see Midi Routing in AMPT.