Editing MIDI (section)

===Instrument control===
MIDI was invented so that electronic or digital musical instruments could communicate with each other and so that one instrument can control another. For example, a MIDI-compatible sequencer can trigger beats produced by a drum [[sound module]]. Analog synthesizers that have no digital component and were built prior to MIDI's development can be retrofitted with kits that convert MIDI messages into analog control voltages.<ref name="Manning3" />{{rp|277|date=November 2012}} When a note is played on a MIDI instrument, it generates a digital MIDI message that can be used to trigger a note on another instrument.<ref name="Huber 1991" />{{rp|20|date=November 2012}} The capability for remote control allows full-sized instruments to be replaced with smaller sound modules, and allows musicians to combine instruments to achieve a fuller sound, or to create combinations of synthesized instrument sounds, such as acoustic piano and strings.<ref name="Why">Lau, Paul. "[http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1610624011.html Why Still MIDI?]."{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502161431/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1610624011.html |date=2 May 2013 }} Canadian Musician. Norris-Whitney Communications Inc. 2008.</ref> MIDI also enables other instrument parameters (volume, effects, etc.) to be controlled remotely.

Synthesizers and samplers contain various tools for shaping an electronic or digital sound. [[Filter (signal processing)|Filters]] adjust [[timbre]], and envelopes automate the way a sound evolves over time after a note is triggered.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Sasso |first=Len |url=http://www.emusician.com/news/0766/sound-programming-101/145154 |title=Sound Programming 101 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317104859/http://www.emusician.com/news/0766/sound-programming-101/145154 |archive-date=17 March 2012 |magazine=Electronic Musician |publisher=NewBay Media |date=13 October 2011}}</ref> The frequency of a filter and the envelope attack (the time it takes for a sound to reach its maximum level), are examples of synthesizer [[parameter]]s, and can be controlled remotely through MIDI. Effects devices have different parameters, such as delay feedback or reverb time. When a MIDI continuous controller number (CCN) is assigned to one of these parameters, the device responds to any messages it receives that are identified by that number. Controls such as knobs, switches, and pedals can be used to send these messages. A set of adjusted parameters can be saved to a device's internal memory as a ''patch'', and these patches can be remotely selected by MIDI program changes.{{efn|The MIDI standard allows selection of 128 different programs, but devices can provide more by arranging their patches into banks of 128 programs each and combining a program change message with a bank select message.}}<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Anderton |first=Craig |url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1995_articles/may95/midiforguitarists.html |title=MIDI For Guitarists: A Crash Course In MIDI Effects Control |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110075506/http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1995_articles/may95/midiforguitarists.html |archive-date=10 January 2012 |magazine=[[Sound on Sound]] |publisher=SOS Publications |date=May 1995}}</ref>