Bank Large set of sounds that are stored together in a sampler or synthesizer. Each bank can contain up to 127 instruments. Bank select commands allow using patches from several banks at the same time. Baroque music ~1600-1750, following the Renaisance. Ornamentations and use of counterpoint as central elements. Composers: Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, etc. Cakewalk a) Most popular midi sequencer in the USA. Different versions depending on level of professionalism: From the rather simple 'Cakewalk Home Studio' to the complex 'Cakewalk Professional Audio'. The Pro Audio series has now been replaced by 'Sonar'. b) American couple dance from the early 20th century. Channel Data path available for carrying midi data. Each track has to be assigned to one of 16 available midi channels. Each Midi out Port on your sound device gives you another set of 16 independant channels that can be accessed by dividing up tracks between ports. Classical music Late eighteenth - early nineteenth century, following baroque music. Periodic and rather transparent structure, expanded and developed lenght, less importance of counterpoint with more emphasis on melodyic elements. Development of forms like Symphony, Sonata and Concerto. Composers: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. Concerto (****) a musical composition for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra, especially one conceived on a relatively large scale. Counterpoint (*) The art of combining two or more melodies to be performed simultaneously and musically. In counterpoint, the melody is supported by another melody rather than by chords. Major scale (****) Having intervals of a semitone between the third and fourth, and seventh and eighth degrees. Contrasted with minor. [...] Tending to produce a bright or joyful effect. Midi Musical Instrument Digital Interface. A standard for communication between musical instruments and computers. A midi file includes data that triggers sound patches, effects and influences other parameters of performance. The midi file itself does not include sound data and hence has to be sent to a synthesizer (ie a soundcard) that provides the necessary instruments. This means that performance of a midi file is largely dependant on the synth or soundfont that is used for playback. Midi controller Commands that allow changing certain aspects of a midi performance and its sound. Examples are volume, reverb, sustain pedal and pan. Not to be confused with hardware controllers such as keyboards with MIDI controller commands. Minor scale (****) Having intervals of a semitone between the second and third degrees, and (usually) the fifth and sixth, and the seventh and eighth. Contrasted with major. [...] Tending to produce a sad or pensive effect. Modern period Rapid changes produced a diversity of styles unseen before: Departures from common music practise resulted in discard of traditional harmmonic concepts and in the development of atonality, twelve tone and serial music. Styles range from extreme experimentation with dissonance and metric imbalance to a neoclassical approach. Later more and more once experimental techniques became accepted as common musical vocabulary and these opposite directions partially merged. Pan (**) To move a signal from the left to the right of a stereo field, or vice versa. Patch (**) Also variously known as programs, timbres, or voices. The name used for the sounds that can be generated by a MIDI device. Port Connectors for passing data into, out of or through a midi device (Midi In, Midi Out & Midi Through). Each Midi out port on a device provides 16 independant channels. Quantize (**) Rounding or truncating a value to the nearest reference value. In a sequencer, used to adjust recorded material so it will be performed precisely on a selected division of the beat. Romantic music Following Classical era and ending around 1900. Colorful & poetic. Great range of harmonic, dynamic, rhytmic & melodic expression with colorful instrumentation. Expansion of forms with long & complex compositions. Increasing use of discordant & atonal elements. Large ensembles. Followed by the modern period. Composers: Brahms, Chopin, Dvorak, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, Tschaikowski, Wagner, etc. SB Live! The Soundblaster Live! is the most popular SoundFont-compatible soundcard. Sequencer (**) MIDI software or less commonly, a hardware device that can record, edit and playback a sequence of MIDI data. Sonata form (****) A type of composition in three sections (exposition, development, and recapitulation) in which two themes or subjects are explored according to set key relationships. It forms the basis for much classical music, including the sonata, symphony, and concerto. Sound Blaster The most popular soundcard-family, produced by Creative Labs. The SoundBlaster Live! has become a standard because of its support for SoundFonts Sound Font (***) SoundFont banks (or SoundFont-compatible banks), as the sound samples are commonly referred to, in simple terms, are customized sounds that you can load into your computer to be used in your music. Just think of a SoundFont bank as something like a text font used in word processors. A SoundFont bank is designed to contain information in such a way that wavetable synthesizers (found in PC audio cards) can reproduce the exact same sound as was originally intended by the composer (this is of course dependent on the hardware's capability). Symphony (****) An elaborate musical composition for full orchestra, typically in four movements, at least one of which is traditionally in sonata form. Synthesizer (****) An electronic musical instrument, typically operated by a keyboard, producing a wide variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies. Unison (*) An interval of zero; i.e., the same pitch. Two instruments playing in unison are playing exactly the same notes. (*) Quoted from Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Glossary (**) Quoted from Cakewalk Desktop Music Handbook (***) Quoted from http://www.soundfont.com (****) Quoted from The New Oxford Dictionary of English, in Britanica 2001 Deluxe Edition CD-ROM. Copyright (c) 1999 by Oxford University Press