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Rating: 
Summary: lousy, outdated guide, with horrible printing flaws!
Review: First thing I noticed about this book was that the pages were stuck together. No, really...they were. The printer did not get it right when they cut the edges of this book. There were many pages that had to be hand cut just to TURN them. I could not stand the ... design. Then, once I get everything readable, I find that the information herein is, oh, about 15 years old and totally useless for current midi applications.MIGHT be ok if you are looking for a history of midi and want to spent an hour making the book readable by cutting the uncut pages so that you can actually READ them.
Rating:
Summary: Too old to matter
Review: This book really should be removed from circulation. While basic MIDI information is in there, it is so out of date it just makes it hard to read. Examples are of obsolete or vintage gear and has no real relation to todays musician.
Illustrations are all cheesy and look like bad microsoft clipart. Photographs are all poor and dated. The section on MIDI and a personal computers lists atari and commodore as possible good choices - get the picture!
If you are looking for charts of Control codes etc, - they are in here, but you can find those anywhere. If you are trying to get information on MIDI in the last decade or so, buy a different book.
Rating: 
Summary: The best book on MIDI and home studios I've found.
Review: This book taught me how to put together a whole home studio with a computer adn different kinds of keyboards and synthesizers. It was clear, easy to understand and even pretty funny. I definately recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about MIDI, synthesizers, home recording, song writing or film scoring.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: This is a great book by the long-time contributor to Keyboard Magazine Jeff Rona. It eases the beginner into the basics and thoroughly covers everything you'll need to know to get started in the whacky and wonderful world of MIDI. It's a very decent reference book that should be on the shelf of all musicians who would like to take advantage of all the creative possibilities that MIDI offers.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for beginners!
Review: Very comprehensive, can get you up and running in 48 hours. A very thin book that contains the bare essentials as to familiarize yourself with MIDI and the initial steps to set up a working compilation of MIDI products. Explains concepts such as sequencers, samplers, MIDI-IN/OUT/THRU and countless more... the good part is that even though it holds great amounts of information, the book is orgenized in a way that is easily referenced in the future. It's easy... it's wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: great book for MIDI overview
Review: Who would be better at writing an over view of MIDI than Mr Rona, who was one of the founders of the MIDI Manufacturers' Association? i am thoroughly enjoying this book, because it is not too technical for the average reader, and yet it does explain the internal functions of computers and digital machines to the extent of providing a good understanding of the instruments we use. i always find it useful to know a little background information to anything i'm learning, and there is a (very) short history of how MIDI was developed. the book is written in a very lively manner, with some subtle humour found in the illustrations, veyr clear (almost condescendingly simple) diagrams. the sections are structures in a logical way, so the whole learning process is very comfortable. i know nothing about computers, and wanted to really understand how MIDI works so that i can properly hook up a few pieces of drum machines/sampler/sequencer/MIDI controller i have, and i find this book very helpful. i highly recommend it for the MIDI newbie.
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