Pelland Pipe Organ Company, Derry, NH USA

MIDI

What it is and what it can do for you.

MIDI is a very simple concept; it is a standard by which different musical instruments may be connected together. Notice that I said standard. MIDI is not a piece of equipment or a cable, it is a method.

Having said that, in a practical world MIDI refers to anything which can plug into one musical instrument and allow it to do something to or with another musical instrument. You may have seen MIDI jacks on various keyboards, sound modules, organs or personal computers; these jacks connect together to allow one device to control, or be controlled by, another. For example, if a MIDI pipe organ is plugged into a MIDI computer it could record and play back the organ performance much like a player piano roll did. Another example might be plugging a MIDI keyboard into a pipe organ. The organist could play the pipe organ from the keyboard located in a better spot to view the choir. Plugging a MIDI synthesizer into the organ would allow hundreds of new sounds to be played from the organ as though they were actual stops on the organ. This can provide some very interesting variety to your music. Percussive instruments can be played which you may not have in the organ such as Celesta, Harp, Bells, and Xylophone as well as String and Brass Ensembles and myriad other sounds.

Since MIDI is a standard, it is not usually necessary to put a lot of thought into your choice of equipment although I can make a few suggestions.

MIDI Sequencer for recording and playback of organ performances. Yamaha MDF-2
Synthesizer / sound module Roland DS-330, Sound Canvas
Keyboard to play organ remotely Almost any keyboard with MIDI Out jack
PC based MIDI software Cakewalk Pro Audio Version 6

These are only a few of hundreds of possible suggestions. For every special application there is a solution. You may feel free to Email any specific question and I will try to help you. There are as many software programs for Macintosh and Atari computers so don't feel left out if that is what's available. One word of caution regarding PC software, in order to properly record pipe organ performances the software you choose must have the capability to record something called "Live Sysex". This has to do with the ability of the software to capture large stop changes accurately.

MIDI recording and playback is an excellent keyboard study aid. Instructors can record a piece as it is supposed to sound and the student can play it back as often as necessary. One of my clients records complete church services for the five or six weekends during the year he cannot play live. I also record demonstration selections for prospective clients to hear.

I will be providing some MIDI organ files as examples but for now please check out the excellent MIDI files available at the Classical MIDI Organ Stop on the Internet.

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