MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/838
28 MacDirectory
DEPARTMENT
Q > I was digging through my utilities
folder and found Audio MIDI setup. What
is MIDI? Hanna Coone, GA
A > MIDI (musical instrument digital
interface) is a technology by which
instruments, controllers, effects, devices
and computers talk to one another. The
messages involved can be everything from
playing a note at a certain pitch, volume
or velocity to changing synthesizer
"patches," altering parameters as a song
plays, or saving and recalling huge banks
of sounds. A single MIDI connection can
transmit data on 16 channels
simultaneously, making it possible, for
example, to play a sequence of notes on
one device, upload a bank of synthesizer
voices to another device, and make
automated changes to stage lighting – all
at the same time. The most fun I have
had with MIDI was using a Behringer
Fcb1010 foot controller to handle my
synth patches while simultaneously
triggering synchronized special effects in a
Director-based movie that was rear-
projected behind my band.
While your Mac does not have a set of
built-in MIDI ports, you can attach a MIDI
interface via your USB or Firewire port, or
you can buy an expansion card. MIDI may
be thirty-year-old technology, but there
are tons of MIDI-compatible hardware and
software products out there and more are
becoming available on a daily basis. Fun,
fun, fun!
Q > I bought a new MacBook, used the
built-in software for transferring my files
from my iMac to the new machine, but
the MacBook is just as goofy as the iMac.
What is going on? S. Essex, FL
A > It's impossible to tell from here
("goofy" being such an imprecise term),
but chances are that when you moved to
the new machine you transferred your
existing preferences along with your
applications, rather than installing
everything from scratch. If the original
problem was due to corrupt preferences
or even corrupt applications, you may
have simply transferred the problem to
your new machine.
My advice is to use your OSX install disk to
return the MacBook to the factory state,
manually install everything, set your Finder
and application prefs (palette positions,
color settings, everything) and, before
getting to work, use a utility such as
Carbon Copy Cloner from