How MIDI Works - 6th Edition

Rating:
Summary: For all who aspire to create music in the MIDI forum
Review: How MIDI Works by expert Peter Alexander is now in a fully updated and expanded sixth addition. Ably edited and deftly illustrated by Carol J. Whitear, this "user friendly" introduction and guide assumes no prior experience or expertise on the part of the reader. The text is written in straight forward English and covers all aspects of mastering the MIDI including understanding the MIDI workstation, MIDI language of musical performance, computer language of MIDI, control changes, controllers for keyboard operations, the mixing board, recording features, sequencing, hard disk audio recording, the computer as the hub of a MIDI studio, sequences and recording MIDI and digital audio. A complete course in MIDI technology and operation, How MIDI Works is a essential reading for all who aspire to create music in this particular forum and would be a core acquisition for professional and music school reference collections.

Rating:
Summary: Easy to read and understand
Review: I am so excited that I found a music book that could help me with all the midi stuff. I needed somthing and this book is it. I gives you list and pictures of equipment that you could buy to make systems that work. It explains all the reasons for each piece of hardware and what their use is in the computer. For me it shows me how to buy the correct type and how much computer hardware. This book really has been great!

Rating:
Summary: I can record all my music on my computer now!!!
Review: I cant believe how many years I have been trying to get my computer to work. I have been wanting to write music on my pc for so long. I ran into so many problems because I did not know what kind of equipment would work together or what equipment would not work at all together. This book weeds through all the problems that I had to deal with that. I picked up the book and brought it home and hooked up all my midi gear and recording gear and I got it all figured out. I am building a new PC and I know exactly what kind of equipment I need to get because the book layed out everything in plain english. I will tell anyone who wants a sweet midi setup to buy this book. Kudos To the author. This is the only midi book you will need to get from start to finish.

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time or money on this worthless tome.
Review: I would've rated this book as a zero if that option had been available. I have to reiterate what some of the other reviewers have said about this book in that the organization and topic material is just a downright mess. The author probably has good intentions but strays from the subject matter to the poinbt of aggravation for the reader. The meat of the matter doesn't surface until way late after one has managed to read all of the preamble drivel. Nowhere is there a satisfying distillation or comprehensive delivery of even basic MIDI understanding. This book will leave newcomers to MIDI even more dazed and confused than before they started reading it. If you feel anything hitting you in the back of the head when you walk away from the cashier after purchasing this piece of junk, it's probably your change.

Rating:
Summary: Practical, opinionated, well argued
Review: My perspective when reading this book was someone who has played piano for decades, and just now wanted to get into sequencing, etc. What I wanted was a practical guide into this new world that was both approachable but went well beyond just the basics of what makes up a MIDI home studio that I could easily find on the web. This book is exactly that. In addition, the author obviously has ample hands on experience and as a result is very opinionated on the subject. Because he explains his opinions and lets you in on his thought processes behind it, the strong opinions and willingness to discuss specifics (including brands for hardware and software) is one of the most valuable elements of the book. As one (negative) reviewer mentioned, the book does not really cover the Mac - however, if your digital audio workstation is or will be PC based, you will not be disappointed with this book. I would recommend to anyone who is serious about building a home studio to buy and read this book before beginning.

Rating:
Summary: Practical, opinionated, well argued
Review: My perspective when reading this book was someone who has played piano for decades, and just now wanted to get into sequencing, etc. What I wanted was a practical guide into this new world that was both approachable but went well beyond just the basics of what makes up a MIDI home studio that I could easily find on the web. This book is exactly that. In addition, the author obviously has ample hands on experience and as a result is very opinionated on the subject. Because he explains his opinions and lets you in on his thought processes behind it, the strong opinions and willingness to discuss specifics (including brands for hardware and software) is one of the most valuable elements of the book. As one (negative) reviewer mentioned, the book does not really cover the Mac - however, if your digital audio workstation is or will be PC based, you will not be disappointed with this book. I would recommend to anyone who is serious about building a home studio to buy and read this book before beginning.

Rating:
Summary: Grammatical Errors Galore
Review: The author seems to have meant well but, how is one supposed to take him serious when there are so many blatant grammatical errors? Words are used incorrectly and spelled wrong. Use a spell checker for crying out loud! As mentioned previously, there is good information but put together poorly. He does go on and on about gigastudio but, in his defense, it is the future of the industry.

Rating:
Summary: Pass on this book
Review: This book is just plain bad. I have read many technical books (I am a computer programmer so I can realistically criticize this book) and I would not recommend this to anyone. The back cover of this book claims to be in "simple English" yet the author has written this book in such a way that it is very difficult to read. The definitions of the technical terminology are scattered throughout the book with no index to look them up (that's right, no index in this book). For example, the definition of 'Sequencer' is defined on page 128, yet the author uses the word 'Sequencer' in many sentences before that point in the book. ... all of these Windows systems can be a real pain for a non computer literate person. In closing, I will look for another book on MIDI. This book will be collecting dust on my shelf, as I won't be referencing it much.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of Good Material, but Disorganized
Review: This book seems to cover most of the right topics for explaining how MIDI works. However, I find the organization of the book very confusing and the advertised "plain English" missing. Where was the editor when this book was being written? Just a little more organization and better writing clarity could have made a huge difference.

The title of the book is "How MIDI Works" but the first three chapters barely mention MIDI as the system requirements of computers are explained. Eventually, when we get to Chapter 4, we see a discussion of "Multiport MIDI Devices". However, even at this point, MIDI has not even been defined. Only when we get to Chapter 9 do we start to see a definition and a real discussion of the MIDI interface and its data and control formats. However, I still have not found a concise summary of the MIDI format as it is sprinkled throughout the book but never really summarized. I would expect a book with this title to function well as a reference source for MIDI information. I looked for MIDI in the index but found there is no index!

It appears that the title of the book should have been "How to Build a PC-based Recording Studio" since that is what the book actually attempts to deliver. MIDI is just one technology that gets discussed among all the other ins and outs of putting together a PC-based audio system. I'll need to look elsewhere for a good reference on MIDI.

Rating:
Summary: Not Bad, Not Great
Review: This book was "OK" at best. Like others have mentioned, it is kind of organized oddly as MIDI isn't even mentioned until a third of the way through. The title is semi-misleading because it strays from MIDI quite a bit from time to time to explain other things. And also as someone mentioned, he has a bad tendency to mention terms and concepts well before he actually explains them.

Also, it's already seriously outdated as far as system specs, software, etc...

One more complaint: This book is full of blatant advertisments for the author's other business ventures as well as the music school where he teaches, and also for Gigasampler/Studio which is mentioned SEVERAL (I mean SEVERAL) times in every chapter and shown in nearly all diagrams, and even goes as far as having an entire chapter dedicated to Gigasampler/Studio. If you were a complete newbie reading this, you would be convinced that having Gigasampler was the only way you could make music on your computer.

But, I'd say that the information is mostly straight forward, easy to understand and finally when it gets into actually talking about MIDI, has some good info. This book had potential, but the little things really add up to make it sub-par in my opinion.

I'd give it 2.5 stars if I had the option.

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