ADSR:  Acroynym that standa for Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release.  These are
    the basic building blocks of a simple "envelope."

AFTERTOUCH: Pressure applied to keys held down on a keyboard. This changes
    the volume.

ATTACK: The time that a tone generator takes to reach peak volume after a key is
    hit on the keyboard. Pianos and guitars have fast attack rates. Horns and most
    organs have medium attack rates. Instruments in the violin family, as well as
    synthesizers, can have varying attack rates.

BAUD RATE: The number of bits that are sent per second. The baud rate for MIDI is
    31,250 bits per second. This translates to roughly 3.1 kilobytes per second.

CELESTE TUNING: A tuning scheme where two tone generators are slightly out of tune
    of each other. This is often desirable in order to achieve "enhanced" sounds. A
    deviation greater than 1.5% is usually too "sour" for normal musical use.

CONTROL CHANGE: Change of channel volume, reverb depth, stereo panning, vibrato,
    tremolo, or other parameter. Several on/off type parameters, such as sustain
    fall under this category.

CONTROLLER: A device that "tells other MIDI components what to do." This is usually
    a keyboard or computer, although there are MIDI guitars, MIDI horns, and even
    hardware to allow a person to send MIDI commands simply by body movements,
    which are picked up through EKG/EEG type wires (extremely rare).

DECAY: The time that it takes for a note to die out or level off while a key is held down
    on a keyboard.

DETUNE: See CELESTE TUNING.

ENVELOPE:  "Volume shape" of a sound.  It typically includes the attack rate, decay rate,
    sustain level, and release rate.  However, sounds can be much more complex than this.

EVENT LIST: A listing viewable in decent sequencers, which shows all the events that
    were recorded onto a track. You can also edit this. However, only people that
    are familiar with MIDI should attempt this, for things can get messy in a hurry.

GENERAL MIDI: A standardized protocol that dictates 128 instrument sounds and standardizes a
    number of MIDI functions,  including volume, reverb, stereo panning, vibrato, pitch bend, and more.

GS MIDI: See MIDI GS.

LOCAL CONTROL: A feature that can disable the tone generator in a MIDI keyboard or organ.
    This is used to allow a person to hear only the host equipment. It may also be used set the
    equipment up in a full-duplex manner to ensure that components are set up properly and to help
    check for missed data during recording.

MIDI: An acronym that stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is a system
    of communication between instruments.

MIDI FILE: A song recorded using a sequencer and saved on tape or disk as a computer
    file. These can be copied and even sent over the Internet. These may be type 0,
    1, or 2. Types 0 and 1 are, by far, the most common and are pretty much
    universally accepted. Type 1 is the most versatile form. There are other formats,
    but these are usually dependent on a particular brand and/or model of sequencer.

MIDI GS: A superset of General MIDI as dictated by Roland. It adds a number of
    instruments beyond General MIDI.  Please note that MIDI GS uses controller #0
    to change instrument banks.

MIDI XG: A superset of General MIDI as dictated by Yamaha. It adds a very large
    number of instruments beyond General MIDI, as well as a number of new
    functions, such as attack control.  Please note that MIDI XG uses controller #32
    to change instrument banks.

MONO AFTERTOUCH: Pressure applied to the key having the most pressure. If
    several keys are held down, the key having the most pressure dictates the overall
    volume.

MONO MODE: The complete opposite of multi-timbral mode. In this mode, only one
    channel is played back. In terms of sequencers, this is called solo.

OMNI MODE: See POLY MODE.

ORCHESTRATE: To arrange accompaniment via multiple instrument tracks.

ORCHESTRATION: An arrangement based on multiple instrument tracks.

PATCH: Another term for instrument setting. See PROGRAM CHANGE.

PATCH BAY: A hardware device that allows a user to change MIDI connections without
    having to physically remove or swap cable connections.

PATCH LIBRARIAN: A software package that allows a user to save and possibly edit
    system dumps from MIDI equipment. This can affect sound data and possibly
    other system functions.

PITCH BEND: A means of sliding from one note to another by gradually shifting the
    pitch. This is usually done via a wheel, movable stick, or pedal control. Unlike
    portamento, it is manual, which allows a user to control it completely. More than
    one key may be held down during the pitch bend process.

POLY AFTERTOUCH: Pressure applied to several keys at a time. The pressure
    applied to each key is processed separately.

POLYPHONY: This refers to the number of "voices" that a MIDI device has. It dictates
    the maximum number of notes that can be played at a time.

POLY MODE: Mode where all channels are read from the MIDI IN (no channel is
    ignored unless told to do so). If the device is multi-timbral, each channel can have
    different instrument sounds.

PORTAMENTO: An automatic means of pitch bend, which slides from one note to the
    next. Unlike pitch bends, the rate is pre-determined and it discourages the use of
    more than one note at a time. On better keyboards and organs, portamento is
    achieved by hitting the next note before letting up on the current one, provided that
    the portamento mode is turned on.

PROGRAM CHANGE: Instrument change. i.e. going from a piano to a trumpet.

QUANTIZATION: The process of rounding note-on’s and/or note-off’s to a specified
    resolution, such as quarter notes, eight notes, sixteenth notes, or so forth. It is
    designed to help counteract slight timing errors caused by humans. Better se-
    quencers usually allow a user to set the degree of quantization in addition to the
    resolution. If a song is not going to be transcribed into sheet music, a person may
    wish to use a quantization degree less than 100% in order to help counteract
    human errors, but not give a song a "mechanical feel."

RELEASE: The time that it takes for a note to die out after letting up on a key on the
    keyboard.

RE-ORCHESTRATE: To re-do multiple instrument tracks. This technique is used to
    improve the "feel" of a song.

RE-ORCHESTRATION: A re-doing of multiple instrument tracks. This technique is
    used to improve the "feel" of a song.

SEQUENCE: A song recorded using a sequencer.

SEQUENCER: Any hardware or software used to record music into memory. A MIDI
    sequencer records note data, not sound waves.

SEQUENCING: The process of using any hardware or software that records music into
    memory.

SERIAL: A method of digital communications where a byte is broken up into its individual
    bits and sent one at a time. MIDI and modems use this type of communications.

SOLO: A mode used in a sequencer to allow a user to hear only one track. This is often
    used to help isolate mistakes and other problems.

SOUND BOARD: In MIDI terms, it refers to a SOUND CARD. Please see SOUND
    CARD.

SOUND CARD: A circuit board that allows sound production in a computer.

SOUND MODULE: A hardware device that allows a MIDI instrument to achieve other
    instrument sounds that are not built in.

SUSTAIN: (1) Lingering of notes even when the keys are released on a keyboard. (2)
    The volume level that a note retains after the decay phase and lasts as long as the
    key is held down on the keyboard.

SYSEX: A short form for SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE. Please see SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE.

SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE: Command type that is understood by only one brand and
    usually one model of keyboard, sound module or other device.

TRANSCRIPTION: In MIDI terms, this refers to taking a MIDI file and generating
    standard musical notation from it.

TREMOLO: A fast oscillation (moving up and down) of volume.  Like vibrato, it
    typically runs around 5-7 cycles per second.

UNQUANTIZE: To add a degree of "randomness" to the timing of a track or song.
    Sometimes. quantization can cause a song to sound too "mechanical" or too pre-
    cise. Unquantizing is sometimes done to give a song more of a "human feel."
    However, this is BAD NEWS for music that is to be transcribed into sheet music.
    See QUANTIZATION.

VIBRATO: A fast oscillation (moving up and down) of pitch. Good vibrato is usually
    around 5-7 cycles per second with a deviation no more than about a quarter of a
    step in each direction from the normal frequency.

WAVETABLE:  A setup where a collection of sound samples of real instruments are
    stored in memory and accessed in realtime for MIDI playback.  There are wavetable
    sound cards, such as the Creative Labs SoundBlaster AWE and Live series, and Yamaha
    Waveforce 192XG.  In addition there are also software wavetable drivers, such as the
    Yamaha SXG-100.  Wavetable soundcards are much better than software wavetable synths,
    because of using MUCH less CPU time.

XG MIDI: See MIDI XG.