Chapter 4: MIDI and Electronic Instruments
In This Chapter
Understanding Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI)
Getting to know synthesizers, drum machines, and other electronic instruments
Synchronizing MIDI devices
Exploring sequencing
My first job in a recording studio was in 1985. I can still remember the first time I walked into that studio. The owner was sitting, arms crossed, in front of the mixing console (called a console in those days because the mixer was an actual piece of furniture that took up nearly the whole room). He looked at me and hit a key on the Macintosh computer sitting next to him. Then all of a sudden, a synthesizer started playing, then another, and yet another. “This is cool,” I thought. But then I heard my nemesis — the drum machine.
Drum machines made me lose my recording gigs as a drummer and drove me to expand my career to that of a recording engineer as well. However, I eventually came to love that drum machine and the many others to follow (sigh). In fact, over the years, I became so captivated by the whole MIDI/drum machine thing that I assembled ...
