MIDI Basics: Working With Ports And Channels

US Connecting using USB and MIDI Din      11/03/21

MIDI BASICS PART 2 - Ports and Channels

Ok, after reading our first piece on connecting your MIDI controller and now have it playing sounds in your computer, at least we hope so. What next?

In this article, we'll cover the basic principles of MIDI ports as it relates to using a computer, introduce the idea of MIDI channels and why you would need them. We also cover connecting to other MIDI gear when using a DAW or Computer based MIDI sequencer using both USB and MIDI cables.

Lets get to it...

Most MIDI controllers (not all) as well as a USB connection, will have at least one physical MIDI connector  - a DIN plug that you connect to an external instrument using a MIDI cable to with connectors that look like this:

Why do you need this? 

Pretty much all DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) allow you to route the output your MIDI controller into the active track which may contain a virtual or software instrument so you can play it. 

But what if you have an external hardware instrument, how do you send MIDI through the computer to that? Additionally you may want to play a recorded MIDI track from your DAW to an external instrument.

There are two ways that you can connect this to your system.

Using USB - your hardware instrument may have it's own USB connection - most modern instruments do, and that means you can also connect this to your computer via a spare USB port of USB hub and have it show up as a destination.

This follows pretty much the same process as hooking up the controller, but only using the external gear as an output destination or PORT. 

 

Using A MIDI Cable

Your MIDI controller or interface may also have a physical MIDI output port, which will allow you to connect to other gear with MIDI DIN connections using a MIDI cable and route the MIDI to it either directly from the controller itself, or from the DAW or sequencer you are using.

You will need an actual MIDI cable from the MIDI out connected to the MIDI in of your external instrument for this to work. 

 

Once you have set the input from your controller on your active DAW track, and seen that it is receiving MIDI,  you will also need to set the MIDI output of that track to that of the desired MIDI device.

In this case it will be the output port of our MIDI controller, which is in turn connected to the external device.

On many controllers the MIDI din port simply mirrors the USB output port, so setting that as the output of your track will be fine. 

If your DAW track is record enabled, when you play your controller,  you should now be sending notes through the track to that MIDI port and to the device. Likewise, if you have already recorded some MIDI on to the track, it will play that back to the selected MIDI device.

However, you must also ensure that the MIDI channels match on the output of the DAW track and the receiving instrument.

That means MIDI Channels
It's important to understand the difference between ports and channels. 

A MIDI port  MIDI port is a physical connection (USB or Din) whereas a MIDI channel is one of 16 channels available to each port, the more ports you have, the more possible MIDI destinations you will be able to connect. 
MIDI information (notes, controllers) can be sent on ch1, ch2 ,etc up to ch16 or on all channels (OMNI or ALL) for each of those ports.

Most DAWs will allow you to set both the PORT and the MIDI channel for the output for each track.

To set the receive channel of your external device:

This is usually found in the MIDI section of the settings for your external instrument. Most instruments will default either to Channel 1, or OMNI (All). It's simple a matter of ensuring they are both set to the same channel or set to OMNI or ALL.

 

What if your receiving device can play multiple sounds at the same time? 

Perhaps it can handle: drums, bass, chords etc.

Each sound will need to be set to receive on it's own MIDI channel. The MIDI channel for each part in your receiving instrument is usually set at a Patch or Performance level, check the settings to ensure they match.

Each track in your DAW will need to be set to the MIDI output port and channel to match the receiving channel on your external device and the sound you want to play.

Wait, that's not working...
Start with the power and physical connections - make sure they are all as should be

Then make sure your output Port  and MIDI channel match the ones set in the track you want to play our DAW. 

MIDI is a powerful and useful communication standard and can be used in many different ways. We hope this helps you get started and realize some of it's potential.

See the first of our MIDI Basics articles on Connecting a MIDI controller
 

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