The term MIDI is an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is a communication protocol which was invented in 1983 and which allows to drive musical equipment by means of a controlling device.

As we have already mentioned, a protocol defines all communication aspects between two MIDI systems both in terms of hardware (sockets, cables, connectors, transmission modes) and software (MIDI commands).

To introduce this topic we need to define the terms master and slave. By master we mean a device that controls one or more slave devices. A master device can potentially control an infinite number of slave devices. Let's now take a look at the various kinds of configurations that can be created with MIDI systems.

As we hinted at, a MIDI message is made up of a series of bits arranged according to a scheme that is common to all messages.