The MIDI Manual: A Practical Guide to MIDI in the Project Studio

by David Miles Huber

The MIDI Manual is a complete reference on MIDI, written by a well-respected sound engineer and author. This best-selling guide provides a clear explanation of what MIDI is, how to use electronic instruments and an explanation of sequencers and how to use them. You will learn how to set up an efficient MIDI system and how to get the best out of your music. The MIDI Manual is packed full of useful tips and practical examples on sequencing and mixing techniques. It also covers editors/librarians, working with a score, MIDI in mass media and multimedia and synchronisation. The MIDI spec is set out in detail along with the helpful guidelines on using the implementation chart. Illustrated throughout with helpful photos and screengrabs, this is the most readable and clear book on MIDI available.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

648 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 1990

Reviews

[Keith Wheeles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Solid review of MIDI format, interfaces.

[Silas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a variety of MIDI books in an Amazon wishlist, and accidentally bought this one while scrolling one day, so I decided to read it. As it turns out, this book is barely about MIDI at all. There is some actual MIDI information in the beginning, though as a MIDI newbie, I knew maybe 80% of it apart from specific standards, like what MIDI channels are standard for certain instruments, and what some standard MIDI CC assignments are. The majority of the book is about how to run a commercial small recording studio circa the early 2000s. There is a good bit of information about specific digital recording media and social media platforms of the time (the author really wants you to make a MySpace page). As you can tell, a lot of that information is wildly out of date, and no longer particularly useful. I wouldn't really recommend this book to anyone, and wish I hadn't accidentally bought it. There is very little technical information about MIDI or practical information about how to connect and troubleshoot MIDI. It's mostly an outdated and somewhat vague book about how to make it in the music business that is no longer relevant.

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent guide for understanding the history of MIDI as well as practical applications for use within today's technology driven digital age. A must for today's digital dj's, vj's and producers to have as reference.

[Eli Stafford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not to good a writing reviews but I think this book is really good & thorough. Since I'm pretty much a MIDI Jedi nowadays, it mainly serves as a reference manual. But there are also a lot of things in this book that don't deal with MIDI but deal with other aspects of music.

[Lafayette Cates · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. Could've been better written.