Have been reading several posts on the forum about MIDI and control commands (CC) and usage. Several folks have asked for a post where they can add info and help on MIDI. Let's use this topic to post help for all those who want to understand a bit more about MIDI and how to use it. To start here is a link to a great reference on MIDI and Control Commands:
http://www.midi.org/techspecs/midimessages.php#3
Using the table, looking at the decimal equivalent commands, you'll see that the CC command (10) controls panning. This is the command we would put into our piano roll to effect panning of the midi sound. Record a short melody or set of chords in a midi track and then go into the piano roll view.
- MIDI Tutorial (1).jpg (216.55 KiB) Viewed 15554 times
Notice the area circled in yellow, it should show piano roll and (none) in the second box (if you chose a piano). The area in red is where the midi CC commands are stored and used. To add a new midi CC command, click in the command box and delete what is there and then enter the number ten (10). Then go to the piano roll at the block below the tab and point to the top of the block and click. (note: To save the command you must place at least one line in the track after you add the command in the window). A straight line will be placed in there with a highlighted value of 100 to 128, depending on where you pointed the mouse cursor.
- MIDI Tutorial (2).jpg (216.9 KiB) Viewed 15554 times
Now the CC command 10 controls panning. The value of this straight line you just put in can be 1 to 128. Half of 128 is 64, so if you set the line height to 64, the panning will be in the center. If you go up to 128, the panning goes to the right, and below 64 goes to the left. Now don't get excited, this is just being used as an example because it is very prominent in the sound. You can always pan from your mixer controls and track controls. Just using the CC command 10 as an example. Now you can begin to experiment. Notice all the other commands already in the drop down. Some of these work with different instruments and effect different parameters. If you choose the reverb level command (31) you again can add a line and adjust it's height to increase the reverb of the instrument.
Now that you have some rudimentary concept of the CC commands you can add and play with those that you want. The link I provided at the top kind of explains the function of what certain commands will do. Have fun and play around.
Expert Note: - You can add lines anywhere in the track and adjust the height. So for the panning command (10) you could move your sound left to right as it plays!)
