MIDI definition/help — BACHWARE @ BACHWARE.COM

MIDI: acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.

This makes it possible to record musical-instrument activity such as key hits; and then, later on, by means of appropriate hardware and software, to reproduce the recorded performance nearly exactly.

As of 1998 there are two types of MIDI files: Type 0 and Type 1 . MIDI files are either .MID or .RMI type.  I won’t go into the difference here.

• Type 0 files (of which there are none at this site) place all instrumental parts on one “track” (like a player-piano roll); whereas

• Type 1 files place each separate part on its own track, like having a separate player-piano roll for each part, which makes it much easier to manipulate these separate parts for a more pleasing musical experience.

For example, J.S. Bach’s “Little” fugue in g minor is a four-part piece, so each fugue part is assigned to its own track, respectively playing on tracks 1-4 via MIDI channels 1-4 that are panned right-left to improve separation for the parts. That way it’s possible disperse them at will throughout the left-right stereo panorama for wonderful listening, for the counterpoint (different parts sounding simultaneously, and sometimes interweaving) are easier for one’s hearing to disentagle.