CompuServe Messages

John- Well, here's at least one data point… I'm a software consultant by trade and a lifetime musician. As such, MIDI wasn't too hard to "grok," but that's not always the case for beginners. The MIDIforum typically is inhabited by a spectrum of folks from rank beginners asking questions, through the "somewhat-initiated" digging in a little deeper, to seasoned pros hobnobbing with their peers and helping the newer folks come up to speed. (There are also the inevitable transients coming through like bus tourists, scanning the territory and of course looking for bargains…) There are two levels at which to approach MIDI, the purely functional and the "serious" level. Many simple users can have a *great* time with MIDI by simply treating it as the way you connect one musical device to another, using channels as "addresses." General MIDI helps this type of user along by making it more likely that "canned" sequences will sound something like they were meant to when recorded, since it defines a standard mapping of patch number to type of sound (e.g., electric piano, snare, french horn) produced. More serious users, like those who wish to sequence (i.e., record) MIDI pieces, adjust or insert controller values, shift note times or adjust note lengths, need to understand things in a bit more depth. (So do MIDI programmers, of course!) MIDIforum is a good place to compare notes on various pieces of MIDI hardware and software, as well as a good place to buy and sell *last* year's whiz-bang magic box in order to fund the purchase of *this year's… "Hi, my name is Bob, and I'm a MIDI-holic…" Good luck with the article, hope you get more input. Bob Ashforth Software Synergy, Inc.