Yamaha PSR-295 Owner's Manual - Page 65

R e eferenc Connecting To a Computer Nearly all of the electronic musical instruments made today - particularly synthesizers, sequencers and computer music related devices - use MIDI. MIDI is a worldwide standard that allows these devices to send and receive performance and setting data. Naturally, this instrument lets you save or send your keyboard performance as MIDI data, as well as the songs, styles and panel settings. The potential MIDI holds for your live performances and music creation/production is enormous - simply by connecting this instrument to a computer and transmitting MIDI data. In this section, you'll learn the basics of MIDI and the specific MIDI functions provided by this instrument. What Is MIDI? No doubt you have heard the terms "acoustic instrument" and "digital instrument." In the world today, these are the two main categories of instruments. Let's consider a grand piano and a classical guitar as representative acoustic instruments. They are easy to understand. With the piano, you strike a key, and a hammer inside hits some strings and plays a note. With the guitar, you directly pluck a string and the note sounds. But how does a digital instrument go about playing a note? ● Acoustic guitar note production Pluck a string and the body resonates the sound. ● Digital instrument note production L Sampling Tone Generator (Electronic circuit) Sampling R Note Note Playing the keyboard Based on playing information from the keyboard, a sampling note stored in the tone generator is played through the speakers. As shown in the illustration above, in an electronic instrument the sampling note (previously recorded note) stored in the tone generator section (electronic circuit) is played based on information received from the keyboard. So then what is the information from the keyboard that becomes the basis for note production? For example, let's say you play a "C" quarter note using the grand piano sound on the instrument. Unlike an acoustic instrument that puts out a resonated note, the electronic instrument puts out information from the keyboard such as "with what voice," "with which key," "about how strong," "when was it pressed," and "when was it released." Then each piece of information is changed into a number value and sent to the tone gener- ator. Using these numbers as a basis, the tone generator plays the stored sampling note. Example of Keyboard Information Voice number (with what voice) Note number (with which key) Note on (when was it pressed) and note off (when was it released) Velocity (about how strong) 1 (grand piano) 60 (C3) Timing expressed numerically (quarter note) 120 (strong) Your keyboard performance and all panel operations of this instrument are processed as MIDI data. The songs, auto accompaniment (styles), and User songs are also made up of MIDI data. MIDI is an acronym that stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface and it allows different musical instruments and devices to instantly communicate with each other, via digital data. The MIDI standard is used all over the world and was designed to transmit performance data between electronic musical instruments (or computers). Thanks to MIDI, you can control one instrument from another and transmit performance data between the devices-taking your creative and performance potential to even higher levels. MIDI messages can be divided into two groups: Channel messages and System messages. ● Channel Messages This instrument is capable of handling 16 MIDI channels simultaneously - meaning it can play up to sixteen different instruments at the same time. Channel messages transmit information such as Note ON/OFF, Program Change, for each of the 16 channels. Message Name Note ON/OFF Program Change Control Change Instrument Operation/Panel Setting Performance data of the keyboard (contains note number and velocity data) Instrument selection (including bank select MSB/LSB, if necessary) Instrument settings (volume, pan, etc.) ● System Messages This is data that is used in common by the entire MIDI system. System messages include messages like Exclusive Messages that transmit data unique to each instrument manufacturer and Realtime Messages that control the MIDI device. Message Name Exclusive Message Realtime Messages Instrument Operation/Panel Setting Reverb/chorus settings, etc. Start/stop operation DGX-205/203, PSR-295/293 Owner's Manual 65