What is a sound card?

[2oldman]

Yeah, that's really my question.

I was told on the Cakewalk forum that my US122 audio/Midi interface is a 'sound card' and that I should be able to pump MIDI into it and sound would appear at the line out jacks. Nope.

I just got off the phone with a Sweetwater engineer who said my US122 is a sound card, but sound cards don't do MIDI. He said my Yamaha piano plays MIDI because it's a 'tone generator.'

I googled "sound card definition" and got a site that said "almost all sounds cards support MIDI."

So.. what IS a sound card..cause.. to quote from the "Dewey Cox" movie.."it's got to be what it looks like to one of us!!"

[Metaltyme]

Hopefully, this will clarify things a bit for you.

Basically, an audio interface is a sound card, and vice versa. It is true...most sound cards do support MIDI. However, it is important to know what MIDI is and how it is used.

A simple description of MIDI is this: MIDI is not audio. Rather, it is performance data that triggers audio to playback from within a synthesizer (whether hardware OR software). MIDI can also be triggered by a device called a MIDI controller, which captures the performance data.

Most external audio interfaces support MIDI by at least containing a pair of what's known as a "MIDI In" port and a "MIDI Out" port. Since the external audio interface does not have a built-in synthesizer within it, it cannot playback the performance data (or MIDI data) as audio. But, it can route the performance data to the intended recipients {such as an electronic synth keyboard, electronic drum kit, MIDI controller keyboard [which is basically a keyboard without a built-in synthesizer to generate its own sound], and/or DAW software [like Sonar, Cubase, or Protools]}. Most PCs do not come with a MIDI In or Out port built into the tower, so, an audio/MIDI interface provides that luxury.

So...what to take from all this? You cannot send MIDI data to the MIDI In port of an audio/MIDI interface and expect to hear sounds or audio from that same audio/MIDI interface's audio outs. To hear sound triggered by the MIDI data that you'd send to your audio/MIDI interface's MIDI In port, you must have either (A) a MIDI cable connected from that same audio/MIDI interface's MIDI Out port to an external synth's MIDI In port like that found on a $100-$200 keyboard you'd find at Target with MIDI capabilities (i.e., one that contains a MIDI In port and a MIDI Out port.), or (B) a software synthesizer plugin that you have working with your DAW software on your PC, which is reached by your audio/MIDI interface's firewire, USB, or PCI connection.

You can read all about MIDI in much greater detail than I can include in a single forum post by "Googling" it on the web. If you have specific questions down the road, you're in the right spot. I hope this helps.

Cheers,

[2oldman]

Thank you.

Yes, I've read many web sites and obviously have not fully understood them. So, to spoonfeed me on this, let me try this one point at a time:

1) Just because something is called a "sound card" and supports MIDI, that doesn't mean it makes sound from MIDI data.
2) A synthesizer (or tone generator) is something that uses MIDI information to produce audio
and, this most important point
3) A synthesizer can exist as software in my computer

[cakewalkgg]

correct on all counts

[2oldman]

Ok, good.

Part of my reason for asking is that I'm years behind on the technology of playing with pre-recorded tracks. On gigs I've been playing MIDI tracks thru my piano and playing that piano at the same time, but that's probably the old way and not what folks do anymore. At least this is the impression I get from talking with other single acts and an engineer. They record using midi, but don't use that on a gig. An audio track is 'set in stone' and no way would any of the patches get messed up.

Correct?

[Metaltyme]

Originally Posted by 2oldman

Ok, good.

Part of my reason for asking is that I'm years behind on the technology of playing with pre-recorded tracks. On gigs I've been playing MIDI tracks thru my piano and playing that piano at the same time, but that's probably the old way and not what folks do anymore. At least this is the impression I get from talking with other single acts and an engineer. They record using midi, but don't use that on a gig. An audio track is 'set in stone' and no way would any of the patches get messed up.

Correct?

I wouldn't say that's accurate. MIDI can be used in so many ways, it really depends on the user's preferences of workflow/performance. I find ways all the time to incorporate MIDI in my projects that just feel wrong, but the end result is always what matters. Who cares if a particular method is deemed "dated." If it works for you, then it just works...and is good.