Editing MIDI (section)

=== Impact ===
MIDI's appeal was originally limited to professional musicians and [[record producer]]s who wanted to use electronic instruments in the production of [[popular music]]. The standard allowed different instruments to communicate with each other and with computers, and this spurred a rapid expansion of the sales and production of electronic instruments and music software.<ref name="Holmes3" />{{rp|21|date=November 2012}} This interoperability allowed one device to be controlled from another, which reduced the amount of hardware musicians needed.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Paul|first=Craner|title=New Tool for an Ancient Art: The Computer and Music|journal=Computers and the Humanities|date=Oct 1991|volume=25|issue=5|pages=308–309|jstor=30204425|doi=10.1007/bf00120967|s2cid=60991034}}</ref> MIDI's introduction coincided with the [[History of computing hardware (1960s–present)|dawn of the personal computer era]] and the introduction of [[Sampler (musical instrument)|samplers]] and [[digital synthesizer]]s.<ref>Macan, Edward. ''Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. p.191</ref> The creative possibilities brought about by MIDI technology are credited for helping revive the music industry in the 1980s.<ref>Shuker, Roy. ''Understanding Popular Music''. London: Routledge, 1994. p.286</ref>

MIDI introduced capabilities that transformed the way many musicians work. [[MIDI sequencing]] makes it possible for a user with no notation skills to build complex arrangements.<ref>Demorest, Steven M. ''Building Choral Excellence: Teaching Sight-Singing in the Choral Rehearsal''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. p. 17</ref> A musical act with as few as one or two members, each operating multiple MIDI-enabled devices, can deliver a performance similar to that of a larger group of musicians.<ref>Pertout, Andrian. ''[http://www.pertout.com/Midi.htm Mixdown Monthly] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504055022/http://www.pertout.com/Midi.htm |date=4 May 2012 }}'', #26. 26 June 1996. Web. 22 August 2012</ref> The expense of hiring outside musicians for a project can be reduced or eliminated,<ref name="Huber 1991"/>{{rp|7|date=November 2012}} and complex productions can be realized on a system as small as a synthesizer with integrated keyboard and sequencer.

MIDI also helped establish [[home recording]]. By performing [[preproduction]] in a home environment, an artist can reduce recording costs by arriving at a recording studio with a partially completed song.<ref name="Huber 1991" />{{rp|7–8|date=November 2012}} In 2022, the ''[[The Guardian|Guardian]]'' wrote that MIDI remained as important to music as [[USB]] was to computing, and represented "a crucial value system of cooperation and mutual benefit, one all but thrown out by today's major tech companies in favour of captive markets". In 2005, Smith's MIDI Specification was inducted into the [[TECnology Hall of Fame]], an honor given to "products and innovations that have had an enduring impact on the development of audio technology."<ref>{{cite web|title=TECnology Hall of Fame, 2005|url=http://legacy.tecawards.org/tec/05TECnologyHOFdetails.html|website=TECawards.org|date=2005|access-date=December 12, 2024}}</ref> As of 2022, Smith's original MIDI design was still in use.<ref>{{cite web |last=Stokes |first=William |date=2022-06-03 |title=Dave Smith: the synth genius who made pop's instruments work in harmony |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/03/dave-smith-synth-genius-pop-madonna-radiohead |access-date=2022-06-05 |website=[[The Guardian]] |language=en}}</ref>