MIDI & Virtual Instruments

Preview: One performance, two sounds

Distinguish editable note instructions from rendered sound.

Learn

Imagine handing the same tune to a piano player and a bell player. The tune can survive even though its sound changes. MIDI stores instructions such as which note starts, when it starts, and how strongly it begins. A virtual instrument turns those instructions into sound. Audio stores that result. The project connects notes, instruments and other choices. To keep your work useful, preserve the editable performance, the instrument settings and a listening copy. A note number is a useful shared pitch label because applications may use different octave names.

Hear

Play First Steps A, then B. Follow the event table. Identify one repeated musical feature and one changed sound feature. The supplied renders are simple teaching synthesizers, not recordings of named commercial instruments.

Do

Import first-steps.mid, or enter the first four events from the table. Set 96 BPM.

Choose a pitched instrument and play the phrase. Keep the note events unchanged.

Choose a contrasting instrument and replay. Describe attack or release rather than only good/bad.

Save the original MIDI and record both instrument names in your project notes.

Evidence

Three sentences explaining MIDI, audio and project roles; one unchanged musical feature and one changed sound feature.