MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is a technology which allows music to be encoded in digital form. Comparable to a digital equivalent of sheet music in many ways, MIDI files contain only the bare bones data necessary to recreate a musical piece, not an actual recording of it as, for example, mp3 files do. As a result, MIDI files are extremely compact when compared to other digital music formats. This has made them popular in environments where small file sizes are at a premium such as mobile phones and web pages.
Most modern sound cards and software audio players are capable of playing MIDI files. They can be created using software known as a sequencer ~ which could be described as the musical equivalent of a word processor.
As with sheet music, the quality of the ultimate rendering, when the raw data is actually performed as music, can vary dramatically. Higher-end sound cards will be capable of rendering the MIDI instrument sounds with richness and depth while, on less sophisticated equipment, they may sound tinny and inauthentic.
Most modern sound cards and software audio players are capable of playing MIDI files. They can be created using software known as a sequencer ~ which could be described as the musical equivalent of a word processor.
As with sheet music, the quality of the ultimate rendering, when the raw data is actually performed as music, can vary dramatically. Higher-end sound cards will be capable of rendering the MIDI instrument sounds with richness and depth while, on less sophisticated equipment, they may sound tinny and inauthentic.
