1. Agenda
More than Music with MIDI
What we're doing
MIDI is how electronic instruments have talked to each other since 1983. It is three bytes per message, it has no opinion about what they mean, and every operating system speaks it. So a MIDI controller sends numbers and you decide what they do. A joystick can drive a simulation. Sixteen arcade buttons can be a sequencer, or Simon, or a door lock.
We work in the Processing IDE, Java mode or Python Mode, with nothing installed beyond Processing. Every starter also exists for p5.js if you would rather stay in the browser.
Goal: pick up a device and have it move something on your screen within five minutes.
What to bring
- A device from the table: PipSqueak joysticks, Circuit Playgrounds, Midi Fighters, two Launchpads, two Trinkeys. Or your own. If your computer sees it as a MIDI device, it works. The PipSqueaks are here thanks to Masson at useMidi.
- Processing 4, installed before build time. Before you start.
- For the p5 side, a browser with Web MIDI: Chrome, Edge, Opera, Brave, or Firefox 108 and up. Not Safari.
- This site on your phone, next to the laptop.
The 80 minutes
| Minutes | What | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| 0–10 | The story: signals, three bytes, bananas, the devices on the table | Introduction to MIDI |
| 10–20 | The Explorer on the projector, then ideas | The Explorer, Project ideas |
| 20–70 | Build. George wanders. | Your device, Hello world |
| 70–80 | Show and tell | References |
In order
- What MIDI is and what a message looks like.
- Open the Explorer. Watch what the devices send.
- Open the starter for your device. Press Run.
- Change it. Every starter marks the lines worth changing.
- Build something small. Ideas per device, smallest first.
- Show and tell. Thirty seconds each, device in hand.