Joy of Synths #9: MIDI MIND MELT
A non-musician’s guide to creating sounds for podcasts, videos, and sampling for music using analog synthesizers.
MIDI MIND MELT
Why use MIDI to control a synthesizer when you have Control Voltage and Gate signals? I always viewed MIDI as an add-on port that someone felt was important, but that someone wasn’t me. Until now.
After reading MIDI MIND MELT you should know enough to make buying decisions when it comes to MIDI controllers, Analog controllers with MIDI OUT ports (Korg SQ-1 and SQ-64), and yes, even Analog Semi-Modular Synthesizers. This is enough to cool off the mind melt.
Granted, you can skip all this MIDI stuff and just mess with Control Voltage (CV) and Gate signals. A keyboard or sequencer controller has to have that option via built in CV output jacks if you want to work with voltage rather than digital messages. That’s what makes the Behringer Swing Controller - still for $69 preorder at Sweetwater- a solid buy as it has enough MIDI connectors and implementation to grow with you AND CV/Gate output jacks.
What’s MIDI?
MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is 1970’s evolution against analog control voltage and gate signals and resulting cables, splitters, and multipliers. And never mind synchronizing multiple synths and sequencers.
Context is key here. Analog Synthesizers were quite expensive in the 1960s-70s, leaving it to University Music Departments and recording studios to be among the first adopters of this electronic analog instrument.
A recording studio could possibly afford to connect their synth and leave it be. A touring musician has to set up and breakdown after every performance, then travel to the next gig. Musicians wanted less cables and confusion as to what goes where. MIDI was developed to address this and other performance needs.
(As an aside, the band Sonic Youth would tour with a lot of guitars. Each guitar was set up for a specific song(s). Rather than make changes to one guitar, it was easier to just swap guitars that had been altered for a specific sound/noise quality. If you’re interested in guitar noise rock, check out Sister or Evol.)
CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING
Keep in mind context is everything. The context of Joy of Synths is recording a sound library of single events and atmospherics to use for podcasts, videos, and sampling for music. The analog synthesizer is the tool of choice because it can generate amazing sounds. While everyone is looking to AI tools to originate a duplicate of a sound alike, analog synths work great at creating original sounds.
Physical MIDI: USB, MIDI DIN & MIDI MINI JACKS
It’s important to take note of what MIDI ports are available on a controller to connect to your analog synth. While you can buy MIDI cable converters, you can also find controllers that have all the MIDI connections you may need.
MIDI USB is the most common connector. Laptops, Desktop computers and software are not part of this conversation so we can ignore the MIDI through USB connectors.
You’re looking for MIDI DIN (5 Pin) Connectors or MIDI Mini ports. Mini requires an adapter to Full Size DIN cables. This need for physical MIDI DIN or Mini jacks rules out a lot of cheaper MIDI Keyboards that take power over USB and are designed to work with a proper computer and software.
Your analog synth should have some sort of physical MIDI connector. Behringer synths feature full size 5 pin MIDI DIN ports of MIDI IN and MIDI THRU. MIDI THRU copies the data of the MIDI IN and passes it to the next MIDI IN port of another synth.
Certain Behringer synths like the Model D clone feature MIDI Poly chaining so a keypress of two keys would play keypress one on Monophonic Synth 1 and keypress 2 on Monophonic Synth 2.
The East Beast and West Pest synths feature MIDI Mini Jacks. A MIDI to CV eurorack converter is likely MIDI Mini jacks. I haven’t tested this, but if you have a Mini out of a controller and Mini in of the synth, then you could use a stereo mini cable to connect the two and bypass converters and 5 pin full size MIDI cables.
MULTIPLE MONOPHONIC ANALOG SYNTHS
This applies to MIDI as well as CV. Most analog synths are monophonic. A monophonic synth plays one note at a time. So I can smash 4 keys down and only MIDI messages from one of those keys will be received by the monophonic analog synth.
You would need a polyphonic synthesizer for it to respond to 2 or more keypresses. Or you would need to layer two or more synths, tuned slightly differently, and set up to play two notes at the same time, with 2 or more inputs for the recorder OR a stereo mixer before the recorder to blend the 2 synths’s sounds.
As written above, 2 or more Behringer synths in poly chain mode can be set to respond to multiple keypresses. However, start with one synthesizer and one MIDI cable. You can always layer one synth multiple times when it comes time to audio editing and mixing on a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software.
(Aside: Why not just work with synths on DAWs? Ableton Live is great software that runs $599 now, plus you’ll need a Push controller to make it tactile and more expressive. The total runs up to $1448 to $2448. Oh, wait! I forgot the computer. Add that in, as well. In contrast, the Behringer Kobol Expander analog semi-modular all-in-one synth runs $199 plus $69 for a Swing Keyboard Controller/Sequencer/Arpeggiator. The low entry cost AND MIDI Implementation is a reason Behringer is world-wide the largest synth manufacturer.)
MIDI Messages and Analog Uses
MIDI is truly about unrestricted live or studio performance and shaping sounds from a digital synthesizer bank and saving that work as MIDI files in a DAW. The power of that is you can perform once, edit the MIDI notation, and then playback that MIDI file with another software instrument.
In building a sound library, you are mainly performing a single keypress of a controller (keyboard or sequencer) and synth dial changing and patch cabling. Notation doesn’t apply. This can get you creating a lot of content. You don’t need to check every box of MIDI Implementation charts.
Digital Synthesizers can make more use of MIDI’s many parameters and programming, as can software connected by MIDI USB. This is all to caution you to not get sidetracked by learning all there is with MIDI.
Which is to say, the full scope of MIDI messages do not apply to analog synthesizers. You are looking at Note On/Off, possibly Velocity, Pitch Bend, and Modulation. Some controllers won’t send those messages. Some synths can’t read them.
MIDI Communication
In terms of MIDI Implementation, well, communication is a two way street. The MIDI controller has to be able to send messages and the synth has to be able to read those messages. One can be absent on the other. This is where you have to read MIDI Implementation Charts.
Frankly, MIDI’s implementation with analog synths is fairly straightforward. So I’m asking you to start and stop with analog synths that have MIDI built in or MIDI to CV modules. If you want to know more, there are great books like “MIDI Guide for Musicians” by Craig Anderton, copyright 1986. I fact checked against this book but you won’t find quotes here because I wanted to maintain a focus on 2023/24 MIDI uses with analog synthesizers.
MIDI CHANNELS & DIP SWITCHES
MIDI Channels are where the power of MIDI lies in connecting multiple controllers and synths to one chain of cables. However, the context of Joy of Synths doesn’t require you to play two synths with one controller, or two synths with two controllers. Start simple with one synth and one MIDI controller.
MIDI messages are sent over Channels 1-16, possibly. This is data, not sound. MIDI Channels have the potential to “block sound” because, despite a cable connection, the MIDI message sender and receiver are on the wrong channels. It’s like sending text messages to the wrong phone number. Both need to match for successful communication.
MIDI controllers send messages over a channel from 1-16. You can’t assume your synthesizer is set to the same channel as the controller. The easiest thing to do is read the manual for the MIDI controller and Synth for resetting the MIDI to Channel 1, or OMNI, which will read messages sent on all channels.
For example, I thought a used 2008 Oxygen v8 MIDI keyboard controller was broken. You could read the LED display, but pressing keys was spotty, never mind turning dials. I brought it to other musicians for repair advice. They didn’t have an answer. I was about to junk it until someone advised me to reset it first. Resetting the controller “fixed” the problem. It was probably set to Channel 8, not 1.
So start clean with a full reset of the controller. Next, set the analog synth to Channel 1. Where you change MIDI Channels on the analog synth depends on that synthesizer.
For example, one synthesizer has a MIDI to CV module that sets and confirms MIDI Channel by button press and flashing lights.
I have two semi-modular synths that have MIDI Channel Dip Switches on the back. With the Model D, all Dip Switches should be down for the synthesizer to read Channel 1 MIDI.
CONNECTING MIDI IN, MIDI OUT, MIDI THRU
A MIDI controller sends MIDI messages through a MIDI OUT port connected to a MIDI IN of a MIDI Instrument. These are CC, or control changes.
MIDI THRU will take the MIDI IN signal, copy it, and send it THRU for another synth.
For example, a Behringer Model D has MIDI IN and MIDI THRU, but no MIDI OUT. Why no MIDI OUT? The Model D doesn’t have a keyboard or sequencer. There are no MIDI messages it originates and transmits. The best it can do is copy and send along that MIDI message from a controller.
MIDI THRU
MIDI THRU really matters if you plan on daisy chaining multiple synthesizers with one controller. Mind you, you can buy a MIDI splitter and just connect one MIDI out to 2 synth’s MIDI INs. With MIDI THRU, a splitter isn’t needed.
Again, I’ll beat poly chaining to death. If you own 3 Model Ds and 3 full size MIDI cables, you would connect cables from Controller’s MIDI OUT to first Model D 1 MIDI IN, first Model D MIDI THRU to second Model D MIDI IN, second Model D MIDI THRU to third Model D MIDI IN. Three connections, three cables, which do not come with MIDI Controllers or Keyboards. You’re lucky if you get a MIDI 3.5mm to Full Size adapter, which even those can be MIDI A or MIDI B so you have to read the manufacturer's information.
MIDI Messages to Control Voltage
MIDI does not send voltage or sound. It sends commands in the form of codes that a MIDI instrument may interpret or not, if it has the specifications to read those commands. (Separate MIDI Implementation charts will indicate what exactly a MIDI instrument can do. If it’s not checked off on the chart, the MIDI instrument can’t do it.)
Common MIDI messages are Pitch, Note On/Off, and possibly Pitch Bend and Modulation (if the controller has Pitch Bend and Modulation wheels or strips) and Velocity (keyboard controllers, possibly).
Pitch is the actual key pressed. That’s a C, D, E, F, etc. note. When MIDI Pitch message is converted to Volts per Octave, then the C may be 2.1 volts, D is 2.2 volts, etc.
Note On/Off is pressing and releasing the key. This is converted to a Gate signal, which you can feed into a Envelope Generator or Loudness Contour and shape the volume of the sound over time using the Attack and Decay controls.
VELOCITY FOR THE WIN
Some MIDI controllers will output Velocity, which is how fast one presses the keys. This translates to loud/quiet dynamics (which is what dynamics are- loud and quiet over time.)
Gate signals don’t have an equivalent for velocity, as a Gate signal is High/Low, On/Off. It’s not “kind of” on. If it’s 0 to 5 volts or 0 to 10 volts, it’s still on/off. Analog Gate signals are either/or, there is no quiet or loud except for controlling the output volume, which again, an analog synth’s Envelope Generator’s Attack and Decay can cover how fast it rises to loud and falls to quiet.
If you are going to bother with a MIDI keyboard controller, it should have Velocity. A MIDI sequencer (without keys) may not have velocity. Again, read the MIDI Implementation chart before buying.
Analog Semi-Modular Synths with MIDI IN
But I have an analog synth- it can’t deal with MIDI! Well, don’t despair. This is where analog semi-modular synthesizers with MIDI IN have the potential to be genius (yes, I said it!) Some, like the B Model D, have added full-size MIDI IN ports, most with Velocity and After Touch available on the instrument. Others, like those by Pittsburgh Modular SV-1b and Voltage Research Lab, have MIDI to CV converters that are pre-wired to control the synth via MIDI.
If and only if your controller can send Velocity and After Touch messages, then you have those modes of expression affecting your sounds if and only if the Synth can translate Velocity and After Touch.
How does this really work? I don’t know. All I care about is whether the controller can send a message and if the instrument is capable of reading the message and doing something with it.
Analog Controllers with MIDI OUT
An analog sequencer like the Korg SQ-1 is analog first and focuses on CV and Gate signals. It’ll send Note On/Off, Gate, and Clock, and that’s about it over it’s MIDI Out mini jack. This is not a good candidate if you’re looking for a full MIDI Controller.
So while I can play a Korg SQ-1 like a piano of sorts, it’s not transmitting how hard I press the buttons, nor do I have modulation or pitch bend.
MIDI CONTROLLERS LIKE B. SWING
This is where the Behringer Swing is an amazing controller. It transmits that MIDI information.
More MIDI, More Problems (Just kidding!)
CLOCK
Clocks are important if you’re running sequencers and multiple synths and want them in time. But in the context of building a sound library, having things off time is pretty interesting given a whole industry of in sync recordings.
KEYBOARDS VS. MIDI
The problem with $300 MIDI Keyboard controllers is people expect them to have a sound bank like, well, a Casio Keyboard that has 100 sound samples built in.
I’ve collected Keyboards and the most interesting is a Yamaha model that has MIDI IN and MIDI OUT and a split keyboard so that one side can output to a different MIDI channel than the other. Alas, it’s a huge keyboard and not at all practical with a smaller workspace.
So, yet again, read the MIDI Implementation chart. It’ll save you a lot of head and heartaches as you grow with your MIDI instrument.
MIDI PHONIC, NOT PHOBIC
I hope this explanation of MIDI hasn’t overly confused you. I hope you’ve gained clarity and confidence to buy or borrow MIDI controller(s) and see which one fits you best. You really don’t have to settle.
There are more advances to MIDI than I’ve covered. The big thing is the range of MIDI controllers beyond keyboards and step sequencers. For example, ROLI made expressive controllers that were amazing. How much of that MIDI data translated to an analog synth is up in the air, but with a software synth it was a lot of fun. But again, the ROLI controller costs more than an analog semi-modular synth, and you still need something to control. Start with this knowledge, and grow from here. Cheers!
End Note 12/15/2023
I received the Teenage Engineering Knock Out 2 on Saturday, 12/9/2023. That’s faster than I expected. I opened the shipping box but not the shrink-wrap. Why? This MIDI Mind Melt deadline of 12/15 takes priority. I’m none too excited about the learning curve of the Knock Out 2, but life is a constant reminder of not-knowing-stuff. You play with it in order to know stuff.
While I have a few preordered instruments outstanding as we arrive at 2024 (Kobol Expander, Solina String Ensemble), the Knock Out 2 puts me at peak instrument saturation. Ring the bell. Getting more gear is over.
Update: On 12/14/23, the Kobol Expander arrived with no advance warning. With this synth my total number of physical analog synthesizers comes out to 10-ish + Knock Out 2 as a sampler, not including the absurd collection of littleBits Synth Kits, Electronic Music Inventor Kits, and nearly every kit and bit they produced.
Does anyone need 10 synths? No, but with MIDI, I could play most all of them with 1 controller. Granted, my Eurorack setup is generating control voltage signals, so add that to the modulation of frequency and amplitude possible beyond a Low Frequency Oscillator.
Cheers to New Years 2024!
Now’s a good time to think of New Year 2024 Resolutions. In my case that means no more shopping for synths or buying gear. And no more buying snack food or fast food, as that 2024 money goes to reimburse the KO 2 and Kobol Expander.
Yes to recording a littleBits Sound Library. Yes to applying that sound library to audio projects. Yes to synth playing, recording, editing, registering and publishing recordings through DistroKid.
Enjoy your Holiday Season! Joy #10 will arrive on 12/31/2023. Cheers! - Anthony Torres
This issue is sponsored by CoWolves. Buy vinyl at https://discogs.com/seller/cowolves.
All Content Copyright 2023 Anthony Torres, All Rights Reserved.