Since MIDI was introduced in 1983 and has since transformed the way we write and record music.
Transfer Music Data between Devices
The MIDI acronym stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, essentially it's an accepted and ratified industry standard way of sending and receiving data related to music between devices (not just music itself, but also messages to control and synchronise separate pieces of gear in your studio).
Rather than transmitting an audio signal, MIDI works by sending 'events' down a special 5-pin cable. This event could be a note you've played, telling the receiving device the pitch and intensity of the note, or it could be telling a device to start playing, or change the pan of a particular channel.
Improved Connectivity for Instruments
The reason MIDI has been so successful is because of its flexibility - it enables all manner of gear to be connected in a virtually unlimited way. For example, you could connect a guitar with a MIDI pickup to a synthesizer and make it sound like an Organ, or you could record your drum parts to computer using an electronic kit like the Roland V-Drums and then play the data back through a software plug-in like BFD.
In any case, in order to use MIDI devices you'll need, at the very minimum, a MIDI interface. If you're using a computer to record and you don't already have one of these built-in to your sound card or audio interface, you can pick one up that connects to your computer via USB. We carry a full range of these interfaces, as well as further MIDI gear and accessories within this section.