MIDI? What is that?

[willscott182]

I think Smokey summed it up best in saying that MIDI signals are pretty much commands and such.

Yeah MIDI is basically a number and has no relation to the audio as we hear it. (Think VST instruments and such)

 

[HOT TUBES 70]

MIDI Rocks !

 

[Ken]

I don't know HOW much of a noob you are, but unless you are a gigging musician who is happy with his chops as they are, I'd run like hell from this research project (beyond the concept of what it is). Reason: tone chasing can be distracting, but some is downright enslaving. It's everybody's call how much time and effort he wants to take away from practice to chase tone, but early on it's an ugly mistake.
d

This is good advice; I've seen it myself. As a beginner I loved my stomp boxes but after a few years I started realizing my tone was complete shit because the FX covered everything up. I never leaned how to get good tone from my fingers.

So I went the other route and never used anything and became a 'purist snob': just guitar and amp. I leaned how to use the guitar's volume and how to improve my tone. It took time but I eventually became happy with my tone.

Now that I've been playing long enough, I'm getting back into FX, and this time around I think they really enhance my songs as opposed to covering them up. FX are like condiments to me: used with really good food, it makes it better. But if the food sucks, it doesn't matter how much seasoning you use.

 

[MKB]

Midi in general serves several purposes on Marshalls:

Sometimes Marshall sees fit to enable their amps to have more channels/patches than can be easily accessed by the footswitch they decide to ship with the unit. Midi allows a user to purchase as complicated a footswitch from another source as they want, and it will work well with the Marshall.

If you want to integrate your Marshall with outboard effects, and want to push a specific button to enable not only the Marshall channel but also select patches on outboard effects, midi allows you to do that easily. Just set the patch number for your Marshall tone to the same midi program change number as the effects unit patch, and send that patch command to the units from a midi footswitch, and everything will set up as you wish.

The midi commands used for the channel/patch switching on Marshalls are called program change commands. When you press a button on your midi footswitch, it sends out a command that specifies three things; it is a midi program change command, what midi channel the command is on, and the number of the change (patch number). Actually midi can transmit a bunch of different commands, but this can get confusing rather quick. For the most part Marshall only uses the program change commands.

A third use for midi is for bulk patch/setup storage. Midi has commands called system exclusive commands, and some Marshalls will output a bulk storage file through midi so it can be stored and restored by an external computer. Another use of system exclusive is for firmware upgrades.

 

[TwinACStacks]

MIDI is derived from the ancient Wiccan. It is pure EVIL.

TWIN

 

[Söulcaster]

 

[JimiRules]

I don't know HOW much of a noob you are, but unless you are a gigging musician who is happy with his chops as they are, I'd run like hell from this research project (beyond the concept of what it is). Reason: tone chasing can be distracting, but some is downright enslaving. It's everybody's call how much time and effort he wants to take away from practice to chase tone, but early on it's an ugly mistake.

The beauty of midi is you can take 6 (or more) FX and set them up on these buttons for crazy tweakability, so you can set up a "killer ambient intro" patch for song 1, then patch 2 goes to a grinding rhythm setup, patch 3 is a crunch flavored chorus to switch with 2 until you get to 4, that off-mids bridge, then 5, the 300ms delay with mid hump and a swirl of chorus solo patch. Then for song 2...

See, it IS really cool, BUT the problem is all the time spent on blending FX,and levels for each patch (and later revising). It's slightly less nuts than designing the most elaborate stage setup or album cover for the band that hasn't been put together. It.s a very cool distraction, but some can afford the distraction more than others and with all the sonic toy distractions out there, embracing all the crap you can plug into too soon becomes a bad habit that takes a lot to walk away from. Food for thought if you are getting started

I agree, that is some good advice. I remember when I got my first modeling amp, a Line 6 Flextone II. I thought it was awesome to have so many amp sounds, effects, and cabs at my fingertips. I spent so much time setting it up and saving sounds. Then I'd get to playing with the sounds I'd saved and I'd think to myself, "I wonder how amp x would sound with cab c with this effect on it?" Next thing I knew all the time that I had put aside to practice was spent doing nothing but changing around different combinations of things. I soon figured out that the best thing for me was to get a good tube amp with a few stomp boxes and to keep things as simple as possible!

 

[JVM]

I agree, that is some good advice. I remember when I got my first modeling amp, a Line 6 Flextone II. I thought it was awesome to have so many amp sounds, effects, and cabs at my fingertips. I spent so much time setting it up and saving sounds. Then I'd get to playing with the sounds I'd saved and I'd think to myself, "I wonder how amp x would sound with cab c with this effect on it?" Next thing I knew all the time that I had put aside to practice was spent doing nothing but changing around different combinations of things. I soon figured out that the best thing for me was to get a good tube amp with a few stomp boxes and to keep things as simple as possible!

You sir, have an excellent point and I couldn't agree more. That being said, I don't know if the JVM is right for me...

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

MIDI is derived from the ancient Wiccan. It is pure EVIL.

TWIN

Doesn't your favorite Marshall have MIDI?

 

[StratoMarshall]

Doesn't your favorite Marshall have MIDI?

Ah, to use or not to use, that is the question!

 

[JimiRules]

You sir, have an excellent point and I couldn't agree more. That being said, I don't know if the JVM is right for me...

Why wouldn't it be? Just don't use the MIDI and use it as you would any other tube amp.

 

[JimiRules]

Why wouldn't it be? Just don't use the MIDI and use it as you would any other tube amp.

(Sorry didn't mean to double post!)

 

[TwinACStacks]

Doesn't your favorite Marshall have MIDI?

Yep. That's why I keep it chained in the Basement...

TWIN

 

[MKB]

Yep. That's why I keep it chained in the Basement...

TWIN

Of all equipment I've seen with midi, the JMD has the lamest implementation of any of them. It almost has no midi at all.

 

[carnada]

Once you go MIDI you go back to NOT MIDI.

MIDI is fucking awesome and that's what I use.

Heres a video I made like 2 years ago explaining my rig and that sort of thing. I only had like 4 pre sets then

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcqo2BDkBoA&list=UUNJ-6gLPmUgQFTZslbjqdXA&index=7&feature=plcp[/ame]

Very notorious...dave murray adrian smith dave murray adrian smith dave murray

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Of all equipment I've seen with midi, the JMD has the lamest implementation of any of them. It almost has no midi at all.

That's true. That's my main beef with it. If they want to make something to go against Line 6, at least make more use with MIDI so people can have a lot more versatility. Like turning off individual effects storing more presets...

 

[Adwex]

You don't HAVE to over-use MIDI, I only used 3 patches....clean, rhythm, lead. A good effects processor and a midi footcontroller made it possible. Only 1 cable running from the board to the amp, and all signal path cables were short.

 

[Ewlman]

I'm sure those MIDI controllers can be useful and all but since so many string benders I've seen already use to many effects it can be more of a curse than a blessing.

When I was in my green teens I tended to be "fixing" the tone by adding pedals instead of improving my playing skills, the guitars I use and the amps and cabs. It took me many years to come back to using pedals at all after that... showing me a digital multi-fx unit is like serving garlic to a vampire.

 

[JVM]

Why wouldn't it be? Just don't use the MIDI and use it as you would any other tube amp.

Well, I don't know, the MIDI seems to be a major selling point. Either way, I've been a little on-the-fence about it for a while and I think I might be better off with a JCM800

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Get JVM
Mod it
Get JCM800 sounds