MIDI In/MIDI Echo

Command Location: Tools Menu / MIDI Options / MIDI In and MIDI Echo Tab

The MIDI In and MIDI Echo screens allow you to configure an external MIDI Instrument to interact with MidiIllustrator. An example of a MIDI Instrument might be a MIDI Keyboard or a MIDI Guitar.

Note: Neither MIDI Echo nor Step by Step mode will work properly unless you have configured a MIDI In device and you are ‘listening’ for MIDI In from that device.

MIDI In

In order for MidiIllustrator to receive input from a MIDI In device you must:

MidiIllustrator will now hear any MIDI data generated by your external MIDI instrument. What it does with that data depends on how you configure MIDI Echo and/or Step by Step mode.

MIDI Echo

All MIDI data received from an external MIDI device can be ‘echoed’ to another MIDI device of your choice. Typically you would use MIDI Echo to take the MIDI notes passed in from your external MIDI Keyboard and play them through your computer’s MIDI equipment. This gives your MIDI instrument access to all the instrument sounds provided by your computer’s MIDI devices.

In order for MidiIllustrator to play back MIDI data received from your external MIDI instrument you must:

Echoing to a Staff Instrument vs Echoing to the MIDI Echo device

By default, all MIDI data received through the MIDI In device will be broadcast to the MIDI Echo device. The sound you will hear will be played by the MIDI Echo instrument.  You can, however, opt to have MidiIllustrator redirect the MIDI In data to any of the Staff Instruments used in the current score. For further information see Echoing to a Staff Instrument vs Echoing to the MIDI Echo Instrument in the Echoing to a Staff Instrument section.

MIDI In Latency (see also Playback Latency) MidiIllustrator Maestro Only Feature

Sometimes there is a delay between notes being input to a connected MIDI device and these notes reaching MidiIllustrator via various computer soundcards and any other MIDI device in the 'chain'.  This is know as MIDI device latency (or "lag").  If you find, for instance, that recorded notes are out of sync with existing notation even though you played notes at the same time as you heard them played back, then you should experiment with values for MIDI device latency.

Note that MIDI In Latency differs from Playback Latency which is for correcting any delay between when you hear notes and when you see them highlighted on the score during playback.  You should try to correct any Playback Latency before adjusting MIDI In Latency.

For example, if recorded notes are appearing later in the in the score than they were played (in time with the metronome) then choose a starting value of say 100 (100 milliseconds) and retry recording.  Keep increasing the value until the notes recorded are allocated the correct time.  This is a trial and error process and is different for every MIDI system setup!