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Questions and Answers
Which control signal was developed to allow a synthesizer to control the performance parameters of one or more synthesizers?
What was the name of the digital electronic instrument protocol created by Dave Smith and Chet Wood of Sequential Circuits?
What impact did the adoption of MIDI as an industry-wide standard have on electronic music?
Which of the following is true about control voltage (CV)?
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What was the Universal Synthesizer Interface (USI)?
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What was the impact of MIDI on the electronic music industry?
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Study Notes
The History and Evolution of MIDI
- Early keyboard synthesizers were monophonic and generated a thin sound quality, leading manufacturers to look for ways to combine instruments to create a richer sound texture.
- A basic control signal, known as control voltage (CV), was developed to allow a synthesizer to control the performance parameters of one or more synthesizers.
- The control voltage system was based on the fact that early keyboards generated a DC voltage that could directly control another instrument’s voltage-controlled oscillators and voltage-controlled amplifiers.
- The standard control voltage ascended at a rate of 1 volt per octave, making it possible to use this standard control voltage as a master-reference signal for transmitting pitch information to other synths.
- With the arrival of more advanced polyphonic synthesizers and early digital devices, new standards began to appear on the scene, creating the problem of having incompatible control standards.
- Dave Smith and Chet Wood of Sequential Circuits began creating a digital electronic instrument protocol, which was named the Universal Synthesizer Interface (USI).
- USI was proposed to the Audio Engineering Society in 1981 and later modified and adopted as the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI Specification 1.0) in 1983.
- MIDI allowed equipment from different manufacturers to communicate directly, leading to the strong acceptance of MIDI and the growth of keyboard sales at an astonishing rate.
- Any device that incorporated MIDI into its design could transmit or respond to digital performance and control-related data conforming to the MIDI 1.0 specification.
- The eventual maturation of software instruments and systems that could emulate existing devices or create entirely new functions and sounds led to the creation of hardware controllers that made use of MIDI to communicate physical control movements into analogous moves in a program or plug-in software interface.
- This explosion of software emulation and control has breathed a new degree of life into the common, everyday use of MIDI.
- The adoption of MIDI as an industry-wide standard has played a significant role in the development and evolution of electronic music.
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Description
Take our quiz on the history and evolution of MIDI to test your knowledge on how this digital electronic instrument protocol came to be. Learn about the development of control voltage and how the standard control voltage was used to transmit pitch information to other synths. Discover how Dave Smith and Chet Wood played a crucial role in creating the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) Specification 1.0, which allowed equipment from different manufacturers to communicate directly. Test your understanding of MIDI's impact on the music industry and
