MIDI: For Electronic Musical Instruments & Computers

Back in the early 1980s, the music world had a problem. Companies like Roland and Yamaha were making amazing electronic keyboards, but they couldn't "talk" to each other. If you bought a keyboard from one company, it wouldn't work with a drum machine from another. In 1983, these rival companies actually teamed up to create MIDI, which stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. They wanted a universal language so that any electronic instrument could control another, making it easier for people to make music at home on their new personal computers.  

Think of a MIDI file like a digital version of those old player piano rolls. The roll doesn't have any actual music recorded on it; it just has holes that tell the piano which keys to hit and how long to hold them. MIDI is exactly like that, but way more powerful. While a piece of sheet music is written for a human to read and interpret, a MIDI file is a list of instructions for a computer. It says "Play middle C at this exact volume for exactly two seconds." Because these files are just data, one MIDI file can have dozens of "tracks" playing at once,  It's like having a whole band or orchestra in one file but it can even include instructions to dim the stage lights or open the curtains at the perfect moment.  Because these files are simple instructions having no recorded sounds, they are often tiny, smaller than one digital photograph.

The biggest difference between MIDI and the sheet music you’d see for a pop song is how they handle the "feel." Sheet music gives a musician the basic idea, but the player decides exactly how to swing the rhythm or how softly to press the keys. MIDI used to be very stiff and "robotic" because it followed a digital clock perfectly. However, modern technology has fixed this. Today’s digital instrument libraries use something called "round robins." This means that instead of having just one recording of a guitar string being plucked, the computer has ten different recordings of that same note. Every time you play the song, the computer randomly picks one of those recordings.  

Because of this randomness, a MIDI performance doesn't have to be an identical, perfect loop. By slightly varying the timing and picking different samples of the same note, the computer can make a song sound human and "live" rather than like a machine. It takes the basic instructions of the "score" and adds those tiny, natural imperfections that make music feel real. Of course, MIDI files can also handle a synthesizer to create electronic noises and use 'sampled' non-musical sounds rather than relying on a bundled instrument library.

In today’s world, MIDI has become the essential backbone of the music industry because it offers a level of flexibility that traditional recording simply cannot match. It allows a single creator to act as an entire production team; tweaking a note’s pitch, changing the "instrument" from a piano to a violin with one click, or even automating the stage lights for a live show. By turning musical ideas into manageable data, MIDI ensures that the process of composing is as fast and adaptable as the digital world in which we live.

Another for the Road

The old, white, lightweight HP laptop was named, Little-Traveller. I guess I'll call this new one Little-Traveller-2 under the device's Windows system info.

   

This aluminum 14" replacement arrived by Canada Post yesterday afternoon. I ordered it directly from the HP Canada website.  For the most part, it's completely set up.  That's not quite the chore it used to be.  However, I certainly have generated a whole lot of notifications and emails about 'logins from a new device'

This will be our primary laptop now.  The former one did a whole lot of travelling over its four years of use.  This one feels a bit sturdier but also is a bit heavier.  We leave for a short break in Las Vegas on Friday.  I'm not sure which one will accompany us to Sin City.

Not a Random Decision

I find I'm spending days trying to pick out a replacement laptop for travel. I'm picky. I find three things I like about a particular model and then one that totally negates those points. On to the next. And the same thing occurs. And ...

I am glad I enjoy doing this type of comparison and contrast. If and when I decide on something, I'll go on to describe it in a future journal entry.

Now I'm Munching on an Apple

This year we returned to New Westminster on March 16th. That means we've been at home exactly one month. Until this week, we didn't have very many nice weather days, certainly not in a row! So, I was happy when going and coming from my dental work today.

   

I was in the scary chair for over an hour with my mouth open. Some people say I seldom shut my mouth but today I'd have to agree. It surely felt like a lot of drilling, filling, and smoothing. Thankfully, I felt nothing except the first two shots into my lower jaw.

Before driving home, I walked a bit uptown.  I checked out the London Drugs computer section but didn't see anything exciting there.  I'm checking out the options for a replacement travel computer.  I want absolutely minimum weight with a 14" screen.  There's no rush as the present Windows laptop has been around the world a few times but is in working order. 

A Reference to the 1956 Scifi Classic

We had at least six kinds of weather today. During one part of the morning, a winter-type storm blew through. Some trees were uprooted and it seemed as though we were experiencing November weather. Five remaining types of weather ensued throughout the rest of the day.

   

In the morning, Jay went to the rec centre in Burnaby. 

I ordered a TP-Link Deco X60 router with one mesh satellite. That prompted me to play with my current wifi network again. I am as close to stability as I can get until after Amazon brings my hardware on Friday. My SSID had been WINDTALKER for as long as I can remember. I remember setting it to that back when we had ADSL through the phone company.  From today, my 5 GHz band is called ForbiddenPlanet.  And as my new router will have bound 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, I'll use that going forward. 

All my Google Home speakers and displays should seamlessly accept the new setup. However, most devices are still on the old SSID and that means I will have to reset all the bulbs and switches to match the new wifi name and password.

Easy to Set Up

I think our new HP device is going to become my most favourite travel PC ever!  We don't leave for the winter for nearly a month; however, I wanted to get our new, Windows 11 device up to speed early.

   

The little Pavilion Aero 13 came in white, a very pristine white. Our former travel computer was that sort of rose metallic colour so popular four years ago. 

I suppose this one will be difficult to keep clean, especially when travelling. However, I do sort of love its looks at the moment. Neither Jay nor I are big fans of trying to work with laptop touchpads. So, Amazon just delivered a new white, Bluetooth mouse.  At $15, a new matching mouse just makes me feel more coordinated.

 

Two Different Screen Types

A wall canvas for the newly-renovated bathroom finally got here this morning. FedEx thought it'd be here yesterday, but obviously, that wasn't the case. This was the second we'd received. Unfortunately, the original package contained someone else's canvas and it had to be returned. That means this was about two weeks late in arriving. This has allowed me to keep the Bathroom Reno blog tag active for a little longer, I guess.

Another arrival this evening was Windows 11.  This was the first day of its worldwide release to the public.  Most Windows 10 users will automatically receive the free upgrade in the same way the OS usually updates.  However, I could've waited forever with our older laptop used when travelling.

You see, this computer is about four years old.  Although the processor is perfectly adequate, Microsoft decided against allowing most Intel 7th generation chips from running the new operating system.  This has an Intel Core i5-7200 CPU.

So, I had to download the free MS Media Creation Tool and create a bootable USB drive.  I saw warnings only before beginning the process.  Otherwise, it all went very smoothly and quickly.  I have already deleted the old backup Windows 10 left on its drive.    

It takes only a few minutes to find one's way around with the new menuing.  It is smooth and faster than the previous OS.  It feels a little dumbed-down but I guess I'm past the point of wanting an operating system that is complicated.  This feels like it's going to work well, even without the Microsft-included 'Apple-marketing-ripoff comments' about its 'magical' and 'calming' attributes.  Paaleeeze, spare me!

Let Me Pass!

My passwords were a complete mess.  I knew a few had been kicking around since my days with MS Internet Explorer.  There were site-duplicates that had been imported over the years, as I paraded through a long list of browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and my current Chromium-based MS Edge.  I had never used the same password for different sites but came up with a clever mnemonic solution to keep them all unique.  However, the length and allowed complexity of allowed passwords has increased.

This week, I took a plunge by installing a password manager.  Bitwarden was an obvious choice as it is free.  Getting rid of the passwords saved over the years by Google and now MS Edge was painfully slow and irksome.  It took even longer to devise a longer password convention to keep each site memorable enough so that I can still login without a crutch.  Next, I set out to change every single one.  I sometimes enjoy repetitive, mindless, and time-consuming tasks.  It's a gift.

As it stands right now, I have nearly 100 different credentials for Internet use.  This is because I was able to weed out more than 30% of the former sites I no longer visit.  It feels much better being organized even if it involves things that remain mostly unseen.