Everywhere you turn, you're likely to hear music made with a computer.
From the concert hall to the local club, to radio, television and the
movies, desktop music can be found all around. Today, making music with
a computer is easier and more exciting than ever, and the capabilities
you can have are equal in great part to those found in professional
recording studios. We've written this primer to help you get going.
It looks at the two main music applications found on the desktop today,
MIDI and digital audio. Together, these two applications account for
the vast majority of sounds in the popular music world, and also have
far-reaching applications into many other areas of multimedia. Though
it can't cover every subject in great detail, we hope that the primer
will give you a good basic understanding of the topics, and will get
you started in the right direction. We'll go through the basics of MIDI
first, then proceed to digital audio, then conclude with a discussion
of how you can combine the two. You'll also find an extensive glossary
that covers all the terms mentioned here and many more. There's lots
to cover, so let's get started.
