Yamaha CP50 Reference Manual - Page 54

Appendix Appendix > MIDI MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) is a global standard designed to allow performance, voice, and other data to be transferred between musical instruments As such, data communication is assured even between musical instruments and equipment from different manufacturers. In addition to data generated by playing the keyboard or selecting a Performance, a wide range of other information types - such as tempo and instrument controls - can also be exchanged via MIDI. Using the powerful functionality provided by this technology, therefore, you can not only play other instruments using your CP5 or CP50 keyboard and controllers, but you can also change pan and reverb settings for each part and adjust audio effect settings. In fact, practically all of the parameters that can be set using the CP5 or CP50 control panel can also be remotely controlled from another MIDI device. In this section, data and values will be displayed in binary, decimal, and hexadecimal formats. In order to indicate hexadecimal values, an "H" is displayed at the beginning of the data line or after the values themselves. Furthermore, "n" is used to represent an arbitrary integer (or whole number). MIDI Channels Any item of MIDI performance data can be transmitted and received on one of sixteen MIDI channels. Therefore, performance data for up to sixteen different instrument parts can be simultaneously exchanged over a single MIDI cable. MIDI channels are very similar in nature to TV channels, in that each TV station transmits its broadcasts on a specific channel. Your TV, for example, receives many different programs at the same time from different TV stations, and you select which program to watch by choosing the corresponding channel. Weather Report News 2 1 News 2 In much the same way, multiple transmitting devices in a MIDI system can each be set to send data on a separate channel (i.e., a MIDI Transmit channel), which link with the system's receiving devices via MIDI cables. If a receiving device's MIDI channel (i.e., a MIDI Receive channel) matches a MIDI Transmit channel, the receiving device will produce sound according to the data sent by the corresponding transmitting device. For details regarding MIDI Transmit and MIDI Receive channels, see page 45 of the Reference section. 54 CP5/CP50 Reference Manual MIDI cable CP5 or CP50 MIDI keyboard or synthesizer (such as the MOTIF XS) Supported MIDI Message Types Broadly speaking, MIDI messages can be divided into two groups - channel messages and system messages. A description of each different type of channel message and system message supported by the CP5 or CP50 is provided below. Further details can be found in the MIDI Data Format and MIDI Implementation Chart sections of the Data List booklet. Channel Messages MIDI channel messages contain performance-related information, and each one is sent on a specific MIDI channel.  Note On & Note Off Note On and Note Off messages are generated when a keyboard is played. Specifically, a Note On message is produced when a key is pressed; a Note Off message, when it is released. Each of these messages contains a specific note number corresponding to the key that was pressed, in addition to a velocity value indicating how hard the key was struck. MIDI note numbers range from 0 (C -2) to 127 (G8), with middle C (C3) represented by 60. Velocity values, which are contained within Note On messages only, range from 1 to 127.