some updates to the section on setting up MIDI

[ardour-manual] / _manual / 03_setting-up-your-system / 05_setting-up-midi.html

diff --git a/_manual/03_setting-up-your-system/05_setting-up-midi.html b/_manual/03_setting-up-your-system/05_setting-up-midi.html
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 title: Setting Up MIDI
 ---                        
-    
+
+<h2>What Can Ardour Do With MIDI?</h2>
+<p>
+  <dfn><abbr title="Musical Instrument Digital Interface">MIDI</abbr></dfn>
+  is a way to describe music data and to control music hardware and 
+  software. 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>
+<p class="note">
+  Ardour does not include a <dfn>synthesis engine</dfn> to produce audio 
+  from MIDI data, but relies on plugins or external hard- and software 
+  for the task. This can be a stumbling block for first time users who 
+  expect MIDI input to result in audio output by default.<br />
+  Please see the section on working with plug-ins for more information on
+  turning MIDI data into audio output.</p>
+
+<h2>MIDI Handling Frameworks</h2>
+<p>
+  MIDI input and output for Ardour are handled by the same "engine"
+  that handles audio input and output. Up to release 3.5, that means
+  that all MIDI I/O takes place via JACK. JACK itself uses the 
+  native MIDI systems of the operating system to receive and send
+  data which are:
+</p>
+
+<h3>OS X : CoreMIDI</h3>
+<p>
+  <dfn>CoreMIDI</dfn> is the standard MIDI framework on OSX systems. 
+  It provides drivers for MIDI hardware and libraries needed by MIDI
+  software clients. 
+</p>
+
+<h3>Linux : ALSA MIDI</h3>
+<p>
+  <dfn><abbr title="Advanced Linux Sound API">ALSA</abbr> MIDI</dfn>
+  is the standard MIDI framework on Linux systems. It provides drivers 
+  for MIDI hardware and libraries needed by MIDI software clients.
+</p>
+<p>
+  The <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>
+By default, JACK will not 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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