I am increasingly using this blog to address points that come up in discussion on a certain forum I frequent. I don't know if that is good or bad... or just... something.
Anyway: Latest issue.

What is MIDI for?
I'm sure someone is arching their eyebrow right now. "Surely you must know what MIDI is for, Marc." Well, yeah... you're fucking right I do. Why do I know this? Because I was using MIDI before a lot of the people whom I talk to were born. MIDI was the digital extension of a CV (control voltage) philosophy which arose from voltage control in early synthesizers. A few famous fellows I won't name got together and invented a means of controlling synthesizers which grew out of the extended functionality that computers could bring to the equation. Computers allowed a high level of control which could not be provided from control voltages... it streamlined the process... made it metric... and easy. MIDI allowed the user to control vast chains of synthesizers from one master synthesizer... allowing a great deal of timbral diversity and parametric control.
This interface was a system developed for musicians who demanded more control than CV could provide.

At first, it was very exciting for musicians to play lots of synths at once, and the initial application of MIDI was for just that. It wasn't until standalone sequencers started popping up that it began to be a truly useful tool. At the onset of computer sequencing, MIDI became extremely important in regard to the computer controlling various aspects of the sound and sequencing of each synthesizer. It was then that the functionality that had basically lain dormant since the creation of MIDI was finally put to good use.

Okay, so there we are. MIDI is great for automatic parametric control of synthesizers. MIDI is a tool with which you can control the timbre, execution, and sequencing of any given synthesizer which is MIDI compatible. Duh.

So, what's wrong with that?

Nothing. I use MIDI in a number of ways in my own studio. When I do any scoring, I use a software MIDI sequencer to control my sampler. I use a MIDI controller keyboard to sequence the parts. I use MIDI.

So why do you complain so much about MIDI?
Well, I don't complain about MIDI. I complain about electronic musicians' dependency upon it. Every time a synth comes out, especially a modern analog, everyone has to whine "OH, MAKE SURE IT HAS MIDI. MIDI IS INDISPENSABLE."
But is it really? Again, what is MIDI for?
Um, Marc... we just went over that.
Yes, but... whereas MIDI WAS indispensible in the days of early sequencers and sequencing software, there have been some other developments... namely, EXTREMELY CHEAP and POWERFUL recording devices and recording software.
Why do you need automated control over the synthesizers you can effectively and easily control with your hands and record using powerful digital recording devices?

"MIDI allows me to do things that are not humanly possible."
Fair enough. But is it indispensable to you that you have something allows you to do things that are not humanly possible in every single song you write? Every bit of music? You and everyone else who does electronic music can only do that music when you have something that allows you to do that which is physically impossible? Um, right.
Let's be clear here... MIDI allows you to automate note events and timbral changes and etc. when you are physically incapable of doing them... whether they are humanly possible or not.
Namely: MIDI control is a crutch. It allows you to record music you couldn't normally record for lack of skill, creativity, or physical ability.
Why do I know this? Because I used to sequence all of my music. I used sequencing and MIDI control to make up for inadequacies in my physical and musical abilities. If cheap recording devices had existed before cheap sequencing devices, I would have been screwed. My music would have been lame because it requires skill, physical ability, and creativity to record music without the many benefits of sequencing and automated control.
Don't tell me MIDI is indispensable. It is TOTALLY dispensable. It is only indispensable to people who are unwilling to or incapable of learning how to artistically and expressively perform their own music. Its just that there is SUCH an immediacy in MIDI that there is NOT in learning to use your hands and ears.
Don't give me "my genre of music is dependent upon the aural characteristics of MIDI programmed and sequenced sound." Do you realize how long that has been going on? Isn't it time to try something new?

Okay, admittedly... I want people to follow in my footsteps. Does that sound arrogant? It's not meant to. It's just that I found something out:
When you use technology which has a specific intent and a design which aims at that intent, you tend to do with it only what it was designed to do. What creative/unique thing do you think you're going to achieve with a MIDI sequenced groovebox? Do you realize that those things are specifically designed for you to emulate the music you listen to? They are not truly creative tools (although they can be used creatively, with effort, certainly...).
When I realized this, I stopped sequencing. What do I need quantization for? So I can sound like New Order did WAY BACK in 1985? Quantizing is a crutch, and it is such a massive genre trap that you sound like dance music no matter what genre you're doing.

Okay, I am ranting.

Primarily: I stopped sequencing the music I didn't need to sequence. Years of playing and replaying parts ineptly into a sequencer actually TAUGHT me to play better (so there is a silver lining). Now, at least in my "popular music," I don't sequence at all... and I have discovered that there is a massive liberation in not playing the game by the rules of a programming device. I am free to invent my own grooves, my own style of performance. Your expression of yourself lies in how you express yourself musically. The way you separate yourself from the masses is by exercising your own unique flaws, strengths, and expressions... not by letting a device tell you how you will perform a given phrase of music. The amount of effort you go to to learn to program a groove is FAR more than finding your OWN groove.
Do I make mistakes? Yes. Do I leave them in? Yes, I do. Why? Because that is how my arms and brain and hands work... you are hearing what I do in my music. You are hearing my strengths, my flaws, etc. What is the benefit of that? My music sounds like ME. The sum total of my mind and body is expressed in my music... and it is a unique sound... even when I am adhering to one genre or another.
Bottom line: There is freedom and identity and creativity and VERY desirable uniqueness in breaking free from the procedural chains of MIDI sequencing.

So, when I say "WHY DO YOU NEED MIDI?" I am not criticizing your choice of style, your genre, or your technology. I am encouraging you to express yourself in a manner you never will with MIDI technology.
Believe me, it's a blast.

True expression does not reside in precision at all... it lies in what your body does to express itself. Sure, everyone is clumsy and sloppy in the beginning... but with a little bit of EFFORT, you'll find out that you have something unique to offer.