title: Setting Up MIDI
---
- <h2>What Can Ardour Do With MIDI?</h2>
-<p>MIDI is a way of both describing musical data and controlling musical hardware\software. MIDI doesn't actually create any audio but rather describes the audio in order to control hardware/software. Ardour can import MIDI data, record MIDI data and allow MIDI data to be edited in a variety of ways. Also, MIDI can be used to control various things withing Ardour. This allows for the most flexible work flow with regards to MIDI. What Ardour doesn't have is any built in synthesis to turn the MIDI data into audio. Rather, this is handled through the use of plug-ins and external hardware/software. While this makes MIDI a powerful tool it can also be a stumbling block for first time users who expect MIDI input to result in audio output by default. Please see the section on working with plug-ins for more information on turning MIDI data into audio output with Ardour.</p>
-
- <h2>MIDI Handling Frameworks</h2>
-<p>Below is a list of various MIDI Frameworks for getting MIDI data into and out of Ardour in order to work with MIDI aware software/hardware.</p>
-<h4>CoreMIDI</h4>
-
-<p> CoreMIDI is the standard MIDI framework to comunicate with MIDI
-hardware on OSX systems. It provides drivers and libraries needed by
-MIDI clients. These ports do not show up in qjackctl</p>
-
-<h4>ALSA MIDI</h4>
-
-<p> ALSA MIDI is the standard MIDI framework to comunicate with MIDI
-hardware on Linux systems. It provides drivers and libraries needed by
-MIDI clients. These ports show up under the "ALSA" tab in qjackctl</p>
+<h2>What Can Ardour Do With MIDI?</h2>
+<p>
+ <dfn><abbr title="Musical Instrument Digital
+ Interface">MIDI</abbr></dfn> is a way to describe musical
+ performances and to control music hardware and software.
+</p>
+<p>Ardour can import and record MIDI data, and perform a variety of
+ editing operations on it. Furthermore, MIDI can be used to control
+ various functions of Ardour.
+</p>
-<h4> JACK MIDI</h4>
+<h2>MIDI Handling Frameworks</h2>
+<p>
+ MIDI input and output for Ardour are handled by the same "engine"
+ that handles audio input and output.
+</p>
-<p> JACK MIDI is a framework used to comunicate between JACK MIDI
-software clients. It provides zero jitter and a fixed latency of 1
-"period" (the same latency that exists for audio). These ports show up
-under the "MIDI" tab in qjackctl.
+<dl>
+<dt>OS X</dt>
+<dd> <dfn>CoreMIDI</dfn> is the standard MIDI framework on OSX systems.
+</dd>
+<dt>Linux</dt>
+<dd>
+ <dfn><abbr title="Advanced Linux Sound API">ALSA</abbr> MIDI</dfn>
+ is the standard MIDI framework on Linux systems.
+</dd>
+<dt>Windows</dt>
+<dd>
+ <dfn>There is no single standard MIDI framework on Windows,
+ but Ardour can work with ASIO and others.
+</dd>
+
+</dl>
+
+<p class="note">
+ On Linux systems, <dfn>QJackCtl</dfn> control software displays ALSA MIDI
+ ports under its "ALSA" tab (it does not currently display CoreMIDI
+ ports). By contrast, JACK MIDI ports show up under
+ the <kbd class="menu">MIDI</kbd> tab in QJackCtl.
</p>
-
+
+<h2>JACK MIDI Configuration</h2>
<p>
-Various ways of "bridging" between the native MIDI framework
+By default, JACK will <strong>not</strong> automatically detect and use existing MIDI
+ports on your system. You must choose one of several ways
+of <dfn>bridging</dfn> between the native MIDI frameworks
(e.g. CoreMIDI or ALSA) and JACK MIDI, as described in the sections
below.
</p>
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