Part 1 was a general overview of what MIDI is ! . . . . .
in this part, I will explain in more detail the advantages and disadvantages of using MIDI with a LOWREY organ
Some of the terminology and abbreviations used below you may not be familiar with, but I will set links within the test to show you what it means
Advantages
There are many advantages to using MIDI with a LOWREY organ, including:
- Adding Specialty Sounds:
You can of course add better quality sounds like piano or violin to a pipe organ or in the case of LOWREY that already has these, you can add any instrument you wish, which are far superior than those supplied within the organ itself, including the most up to date and Latest LOWREY ARIA.
Which was the top of the range in 2018 . . .But with the added edition of MIDI, there is no limit to what can be added and of course the extra quality of the sounds that can be added is ever increasing. - Expanding Tonal Quality:
MIDI can expand the tonal quality of any LOWREY Organ. - Controlling Pipe Components:
You can use MIDI output to control components like draw knobs, lighted rocker tabs, and lighted push buttons. I will show you how to set up and use Virtual instruments such as Hauptwerk using the LOWREY organ as the master keyboard - Increasing the number of stops:
Digital organs such as LOWREY and other makes can also be connected to a variety of sound modules through MIDI, which increases the number of stops available. - Editing music without loss of quality:
MIDI allows you to easily manipulate music without loss of quality. You can change the instruments on which notes sound, transpose notes, and alter the duration of notes. - Using notation software:
Non-organist composers can write organ music in notation software. I will explain in detail what is required and exactly how to do it - Speed
The biggest advantage of MIDI is that it can speed up your entire workflow. Using MIDI to control a LOWREY organ or other instrument or adjust settings in your DAW is so much faster (and more natural) than clicking away using a mouse. Likewise, programming a MIDI sequence using your LOWREY organ or other MIDI controller can get you the perfect performance every time from a virtual instrument or hardware synthesizer.
- Accessibility
MIDI makes playing and recording music much more accessible for everyone. If you want to record a drum beat, you don’t need to buy a drum kit and spend years learning the drums: just grab a drum VST and tap away on your MIDI controlled LOWREY organ Or, program a MIDI sequence and send that to your drum VST . . . . No playing the organ needed, but you can also just play along like the the music presets built into the organ
- Affordability
There are so many budget friendly MIDI controllers available nowadays to buy, but as you already have a more than capable one being the LOWREY organ itself, you don’t’ need to buy one. If you Connect your LOWREY organ to a DAW (which you can pickup for free in some cases), you can make high-quality music for zero £/ $. and as a FULL or LIFE Member of this website, I will show you and also supply software for you to do exactly that.
But, using MIDI can also save you money. Hardware Synthesizers (especially vintage synths) are very expensive pieces of gear. If you’re just getting started in using MIDI on your LOWREY organ, you probably don’t want to spend a lot of money, as your initial expense of buying your LOWREY organ may have already been a considerable amount. Instead, you can just pick up a some VST’s
(again you can download them from this website) and start making music.
- Editable
When you record MIDI, you record exactly how you played the notes. A bit like the inbuilt recorders we have in the LOWREY organs, but with the added advantage that you will get with MIDI and MIDI files is that if your not happy with your performance, you can just tweak the notes in the MIDI sequence and make it sound just how you want ! . . try doing that with any of the propriety LOWREY Files.
It’s an incredibly easy process that’s much more convenient than doing take after take until you get it right.
- Small file sizes
MIDI files are really small, especially when compared to bulky audio recordings. If you’re limited on computer storage space, using MIDI instruments might be your best bet.
Not only that, but if you’re collaborating with other musicians or just friends – it’s easy to share files. You’re not going to be uploading and downloading a lot of data.
The main problem with the LOWREY format, while nice and small, is every organ is different, you simply cannot send a LOWREY file to someone who has got say an ARIA, if you have a Stardust ARIA’s use E series technology, while a STARDUST uses SU series formatting, both completely different and not usable apart from organs using the same technology. With MIDI it does not matter what type it is or even the manufacturer . . . MIDI is MIDI whatever, that is the pure genius of it.
- Variety of sounds
Using MIDI (with a DAW) gives you access to countless different instruments. No matter what genre of music you make: you can make it using MIDI and your LOWREY Organ.
I’ve heard a metal drummer using a virtual drum kit, and I honestly couldn’t tell, it’s that good! Sure, a good quality professionally produced VST will cost a bit of money, but it’ll always be cheaper (and smaller!) than the real thing.
Disadvantages
MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) has some disadvantages, including:
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Limited speed and resolution
MIDI’s data transfer rate is relatively low, which can cause a delay when transmitting MIDI messages between devices. MIDI’s resolution for some parameters is also limited to 7 bits, which can create steps in musical expressions.
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Complex polyphony handling
Mapping individual MIDI messages to control each note independently can be complex and resource-heavy.
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Cannot reproduce speaking and singing
MIDI does not specify the final sound and cannot reproduce speaking and singing. One of the main disadvantages of MIDI is that it depends on the quality and compatibility of the sound source and the playback device.
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Inexact timing
MIDI can have inexact timing.
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May not replicate nuances accurately
Audio recordings can capture the nuances and subtleties of acoustic instruments, which MIDI may not replicate accurately.
- Small file size
- Ease of modification and manipulation
- Wide choice of electronic instruments and synthesizer or digitally sampled sounds
- Takes up much less space and system resources than audio
Overall MIDI is here to stay, it has proven it’s worth for over 40 years, and when MIDI 2.0 is eventually released.
Briefly, MIDI 2.0 is an extension of MIDI 1.0. It does not replace MIDI 1.0 but builds on the core principles, architecture, and semantics of MIDI 1.0.A foundational architecture for MIDI 2.0 expansion is defined by the MIDI Capability Inquiry (MIDI-CI) specification. MIDI-CI allows Devices with bidirectional communication to agree to use extended MIDI capabilities beyond those already defined in MIDI 1.0, while carefully protecting backward compatibility.
MIDI 2.0 is not a stand-alone specification. Manufacturers and developers must have a thorough understanding of MIDI 1.0 in order to implement MIDI 2.0.