So, with all this music stuff going on, I am getting more and more into using MIDI as a means of working with software synthesizers and samplers. I've been doing this in two different ways.

One: I load a VST instrument, or VSTi, into my audio/midi sequencer, which in my case is Tracktion 2. The MIDI input from my USB keyboard (M-Audio Oxygen 8) is just data, containing no audio whatsoever, that tells the VSTi what to play. This way, I can change the sound of the instrument, or change the instrument entirely, without re-recording the midi data in the sequencer.


Two: I use Reason rewired into separate tracks in Tracktion 2, allowing Tracktion to control a separate "slave" program, in this case Reason, which is a software sampler/drum machine/synthesizer rack application. Rewire is basically a virtual patch cable that runs from one audio application to another.

Because of this technology, I now have access to More than just a guitar sound or six. I have pianos, strings, trumpets, drums, woodwinds, Moog synths, granular synths, etc. All on a laptop or desktop. Amazing shit, considering ten years ago I was recording demos on a Tascam Porta 7 cassette recorder.

I hope to get some sort of guitar to midi converter within the year, since I am a guitar player and that would make it far easier to input midi data to control the synths.