
              OO                 O                             OO
              OO                 O                             OO
                                OO
            OOOO      OOOO      OO       OOOO      OOOO  OO  OOOO
              OO    OO    O   OOOOOOO   OO  OO       OO O OO   OO
              OO    O      OO   OO     OO    OO      OOO  OO   OO
              OO   OO      OO   OO           OO      OO        OO
              OO   OO           OO        OOOOO      OO        OO
              OO   OO           OO      OO   OO      OO        OO
              OO   OO           OO     OO    OO      OO        OO
              OO    O       O   OO   O OO    OO      OO        OO
              OO    OO     O    OO  O  OO   OOO  O   OO        OO
            OOOOOO    OOOOO      OOO    OOOO  OOO  OOOOOO    OOOOOO

                     *   m   a   g   a   z   i   n   e   *

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          T h e   W I Z ! ' s   M I D I   M A N I A   S e c t i o n
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

            Contact The WIZ! either thru Ictari or....
            JANet E-Mail: COM240155 @ UK.AC.BOLTON.BASIL
            Snail Mail: James Roskell,
                        The Britannia Inn,
                        Penny Bridge,
                        Nr. Ulverston,
                        Cumbria. LA12-7RJ.

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Congratulations! You are very lucky, but you may not know it.

You may not have realised  the  creative  potential sitting there at your
fingertips right now.

You see, thing is, the ST is  -still- the only range of microcomputers to
come with MIDI ports as standard.

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, and in simple terms
it means you can use your St to create wonderful music. All you need is a
MIDI compatible keyboard which you can buy now for as little as 150.

So, you knew all that, you're  interestd,  but  you dunno where to start.
Watch this section with interest, because over the next few months or so,
I'm going to be showing you how to  set  up your gear properly and how to
make a start on writing some good music.

I will also be attempting to answer  any  of your questions you may have,
so don't forget to write into Nik  at  ictari HQ, who'll kindly pass them
on to me.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

So you've got your keyboard. What now?

Well you'll need some MIDI leads. These  are  just 5 Pin DIN plug to plug
leads wired straight through  (no  wires  crossed).  The  pins on the DIN
plugs are arranged  in  a  semi  circle.  They  are  readily available in
varying lengths from Tandy, Maplin or your friendly music shop.

Some people may tell you that  MIDI  leads  should only have 3 pins wired
because of the ST's  weird  combined  Out/Thru.  This  is not necessarily
true, as the problem only arises when  you  have a large MIDI system, and
besides, most -decent- ST sequencers are able to eliminate the problem.

With just one keyboard and your ST the connections are easy:


   || Out ---------------------> In  ||
   |  Atari ST      | In  <--------------------- Out | Keyboard       |
   |________________|                                |________________|


St's MIDI Out socket to your Keyboards  MIDI In socket and Keyboards MIDI
Out socket to your ST's MIDI In.

Incidentally, if you've lost them, your  MIDI sockets are those two black
holes on the left hand side of the ST near the back.

It is a very good idea, especially as your MIDI system grows to mark your
leads. The easiest way to do this,  I  find, is to slice an address label
in 3, and wrap one of the resulting strips round the plug to form a 'tab'
I can write on.

With this setup, you now need a  sequencer. There are plenty around, with
some good ones in the PD. You will be able to play on your keyboard, with
your ST recording exactly what you did, then at the press of a button the
ST will play it back! I  will  be  explaining  more about sequencers in a
future section.

If you've bought a keyboard  with  a  decent  MIDI spec you have probably
noticed something else. 'Ere, wots this THRU thing?' I here you cry.

MIDI IN - receives data from another source
MIDI OUT - sends data to another source
MIDI THRU - echoes the data received at the IN, passing it on, unchanged

So you can see that  the  THRU  socket  is  used  to pass on data, 'daisy
chain' fashion if you have lots of gear, like so:


   ||Out-------->In||Thru-------->In||
   | Atari ST |In<--------Out| Keybrd |               | Module |
   |__________|              |________|               |________|
                                                     Thru I
                                                          I
                                                          V
                                                     more modules


With this set up, again you  can  still  play  and record stuff with your
keyboard, but now you can  add  a  'sound  module'.  This  is a box which
contains more sounds. It doesn't  need  a  keyboard,  as you can use your
original one as a 'mother'.

It's usually only a good  idea  to  add  3  or  4 modules in this IN-THRU
fashion because you get 'data  lag'  and  notes  you  play on your mother
keyboard are only picked up by the  module a second later, making playing
difficult.

'But I can edit the sounds on my  module.  How do I get around that?', is
the other common question. if  you've  got  an editable module, the other
setup above will not allow you to communicate with it, or save the voices
to your ST. You will need an extra MIDI Merge or Switch box.


   ||Out-------->In||Thru-------->In||
   | Atari ST |In<--I   --Out| Keybrd |       -----Out| Module |
   |__________|     I   I    |________|       I       |________|
                    I   I                     I         Thru I
                    I   I                     I              I
   ||Out--I   I                     I              V
   | MIDI Mrg |         I                     I         more modules
   |__________|         I                     I
    In ^  In ^          I                     I
       I     I          I                     I
       I     I----------I                     I
       I--------------------------------------I


You cannot just merge MIDI signals  by  buying  a  5 pin DIN Y-Lead. MIDI
consists of binary data not just audio signals, and so if you were to try
and merge the data in this way,  you  would end up with mismatched binary
words with no  start  or  end.  The  MIDI  Merge  box  joins  the packets
properly, not an easy job when you think  about it, which is why they are
sometimes quite pricey.

Well, that just about wraps it up  for  this  time. I hope I haven't gone
too basic, but without knowing who's got  what, I thought I'd give you an
insight into what can be done.

If you have any comments  or  questions,  please  write  to either Nik at
Ictari HQ, or me; here at The Brit in Penny Bridge.


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                       E N D   O F   S E C T I O N
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