Sequencers and DAWs (and midi)

What does DAW stand for?

Digital audio workstation.

SEQUENCING: what is step sequencing?

The notes are entered into a sequencer’s memory one at a time onto a grid.

Step sequencers were built into a number to of popular analogue synths during the 1970s - regular musical loops became a feature of synth pop.

How did early analogue synthesisers work?

They sent a CV/gate signals to trigger notes on a synthesiser.

In order to do this, a voltage was sent from the sequencer to control the opening and closing of gates to play notes on a synthesiser module.

How did digital sequencing work?

Invented in the 1970s, digital analogue synthesisers used voltage control but with computer memory.

Digital sequencers also were built in to samplers and synthesisers in the 80s - eg ‘Rio’ - Duran Duran.

When was MIDI introduced?

1983.

What was the impact of MIDI?

It became the common language used by electronic musical instruments to communicate with eachother.

It was successful in music studios as it was easier to programme a sequence on the computer and send it through the MIDI ports to control a synth, sampler or drum machine.

What does a MIDI message consist of?

A status byte - tells us the type of MIDI message - and one or two data bytes - provide more information about the parameters associated with it.

What binary values can a bit have?

Either 0 or 1.

How many bits is a byte?

8 bits.

Therefore the binary number for each byte is 8 digits long.

What do we call the largest bit and the smallest bit?

The largest bit (furthest to the left) - the most significant bit (MSB).

The smallest bit (furthest to the right) - the least significant bit (LSB).

What are note messages and controller messages examples of?

MIDI messages - digital instructions sent between electronic musical instruments, computers, and other devices to communicate musical information like notes, velocity, and control changes

What’s the status byte and data bytes of a note midi message?

Status byte - Note on/Channel

Data Byte 1 - Note number

Data Byte 2 - Velocity value.