Synthesizer Library Podcast

Overview MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) was developed to provide standardized communication between synthesizers. Today, it is much more than that and is found in computer, video games, effects processors and more. We’re primarily focusing on how to use it in music production—specifically with synths. History During the late 1970s and early 1980s as synthesizers became more powerful and polyphonic, controlling synths became more and more of a struggle. Traditional methods of using control voltage (CV) and gate signals was particularly problematic due to inconsistent CV requirements among the various manufacturers. Additionally, a single pair of CV/Gate connections could only send one control signal at a time. CV is inherently monophonic. Other control mechanisms had been developed, but these were strictly proprietary to each manufacturer. MIDI solved these problems. In 1983, Dave Smith and Ikutaru Kakehashi demonstrated MIDI control between a Sequential Prophet 600 and a Roland JP6 pr