54 CP5/CP50 Reference Manual
Appendix > MIDI
Appendix

MIDI

Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) is a global standard designed to allow performance, voice, and other data to
be transferred between musical instruments As such, data communication is assured even between musical instruments
and equipment from different manufacturers.
In addition to data generated by playing the keyboard or selecting a Performance, a wide range of other information
types — such as tempo and instrument controls — can also be exchanged via MIDI. Using the powerful functionality
provided by this technology, therefore, you can not only play other instruments using your CP5 or CP50 keyboard and
controllers, but you can also change pan and reverb settings for each part and adjust audio effect settings. In fact,
practically all of the parameters that can be set using the CP5 or CP50 control panel can also be remotely controlled from
another MIDI device.
In this section, data and values will be displayed in binary, decimal, and hexadecimal formats. In order to indicate
hexadecimal values, an “H” is displayed at the beginning of the data line or after the values themselves. Furthermore, “n”
is used to represent an arbitrary integer (or whole number).

MIDI Channels

Any item of MIDI performance data can be transmitted
and received on one of sixteen MIDI channels. Therefore,
performance data for up to sixteen different instrument
parts can be simultaneously exchanged over a single
MIDI cable.
MIDI channels are very similar in nature to TV channels,
in that each TV station transmits its broadcasts on a spe-
cific channel. Your TV, for example, receives many differ-
ent programs at the same time from different TV stations,
and you select which program to watch by choosing the
corresponding channel.
In much the same way, multiple transmitting devices in a
MIDI system can each be set to send data on a separate
channel (i.e., a MIDI Transmit channel), which link with
the system’s receiving devices via MIDI cables. If a
receiving device’s MIDI channel (i.e., a MIDI Receive
channel) matches a MIDI Transmit channel, the receiving
device will produce sound according to the data sent by
the corresponding transmitting device. For details
regarding MIDI Transmit and MIDI Receive channels, see
page 45 of the Reference section.

Supported MIDI Message Types

Broadly speaking, MIDI messages can be divided into
two groups — channel messages and system messages.
A description of each different type of channel message
and system message supported by the CP5 or CP50 is
provided below. Further details can be found in the MIDI
Data Format and MIDI Implementation Chart sections of
the Data List booklet.
Channel Messages
MIDI channel messages contain performance-related
information, and each one is sent on a specific MIDI
channel.
Note On & Note Off
Note On and Note Off messages are generated when a
keyboard is played. Specifically, a Note On message is
produced when a key is pressed; a Note Off message,
when it is released. Each of these messages contains a
specific note number corresponding to the key that was
pressed, in addition to a velocity value indicating how
hard the key was struck.
MIDI note numbers range from 0 (C -2) to 127 (G8), with
middle C (C3) represented by 60. Velocity values, which
are contained within Note On messages only, range from
1 to 127.
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MIDI cable
CP5 or CP50 MIDI keyboard or synthesizer
(such as the MOTIF XS)