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NIBI (Nusical instiument uigital inteiface) is a technology that
has completely ievolutionizeu the way music is composeu anu
cieateu in the mouein uay woilu. Fiist appeaiing in 198S, it is
now useu in one foim oi anothei within the majoiity of
technology we now use uay to uay, fiom smaitphones anu Tv to
Xboxes. Typically music cieateu with NIBI is uone so with an
electiic keyboaiu with NIBI equippeu (AKA a synthesizei).
This synthesizei geneially woiks with a BAW (Bigital auuio
woikstation) anu a sequencei such as Logic Pio. It's impoitant to
iemembei coiiect postuie anu waim ups when woiking at a
BAW, this incluues flexing fingeis anu wiists anu keeping back
fully stiaight, failuie to uo so coulu iesult in pains anu an ability to
play the instiument effectively. Exeicises such as scales aie a goou
way to piepaie youiself foi playing a keyboaiu.

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NIBI can also be useu foi a numbei of othei instiuments incluuing
uuitais, Biums anu Woouwinu instiuments.

In the eaily stages of NIBI, a S-pin BIN connectoi was neeueu to
connect the NIBI souice to a keyboaiu oi computei, now a 0SB
cable can connect the uevice to a computei, howevei the S-pin
BIN is still neeueu foi connections to anothei instiument.
NIBI is not useu exclusively foi music; it can be useu to opeiate
lighting systems at gigs anu clubs, as well as cieating visuals on a
scieen.


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The most impoitant thing to know about NIBI is not a sounu oi
anu auuio, it simply allows electionic instiuments anu computeis
to communicate with each othei. This comes in useful foi many
musicians as you can play a note on an instiument you'ie familiai
with but cieate the sounu of an instiument that you may not be
able to play. Foi example, if you play the piano but you want to get
the sounu of a uuitai, you simply play the note on the piano (e.g.
Niuule C) anu you will heai the same note on a uuitai.
When useu in conjunction with a sequencei, NIBI allows
unlimiteu fieeuom to compose anu manipulate music. Not only
can you play in anu mouify sounus, you can change the tempo of
what you've playeu to make it fastei oi slowei, quantize the notes
so they'ie all playeu in time, tianspose the notes so they'ie in
anothei key, coiiect mistakes you may have maue anu much
moie.
NIBI woiks by senuing messages to anu fiom othei mouules. Foi
example, if you weie to play Niuule C again on a keyboaiu, a 'Note
0n' signal telling the mouule to play Niuule C is sent. 0nce the
note is ieleaseu a 'Note 0ff' message is sent anu the note will stop
being playeu. velocity is also sent via NIBI so the uevice can pick
up on how haiu oi soft you want the note to be playeu.


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When a song oi piece of music is cieateu using a sequencei, it has
to be saveu to a file oi the woik will be lost, this woulu be a
pioblem without stanuaiu NIBI files as music cieateu on one
sequencei coulun't be vieweu oi woikeu on using anothei
sequencei. Thanks to SNFs music can be openeu anu playeu on
any sequencei as they all suppoit SNF files.

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0ne NIBI channel has the ability to communicate seamlessly with
up to 16 othei NIBI channels.

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Eveiy uevice which utilizes NIBI uoes so thiough communicating
by NIBI. In this mannei it is similai to sheet music except that the
instiument is the one ieauing the tempo, velocity anu pitch.





This is a scieenshot of Logic Expiess, Logic is a sequencei cieateu
by Apple anu is one of the most populai BAWs. 0f couise Logic isn't
the only sequencei available, theie is also Pio tools, Ableton,
Reason anu many otheis.


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NIBI uata is tianspoiteu between uevices using cables anu
connectois. Typically, NIBI connectois aie S pin male anu female
cables oi a stanuaiu 0SB cable.




















Nale Female
Back of a NIBI keyboaiu.

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NIBI keyboaius uiffei gieatly in peifoimance, piice anu
make. Some have extia gaugets that come in useful with a
BAW. Foi example, some have uium paus, these allow
anyone to play a full uium kit without even having a kit in
the ioom:



This paiticulai keyboaiu (Akai piofessional NK2S) costs
ioughly 2uu. An example of a cheapei keyboaiu is an Akai
LPK2S 0SB NIBI Contiollei:














Take note of the fact that this keyboaiu has no uium pau, oi
bus contiols, howevei it has the same amount of octaves as
it's moie expensive counteipait. This keyboaiu is solu foi
appioximately Su.

Bium
pau.

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NIBI is a tool which since it's conception has heavily
influenceu the way music is ciafteu anu heaiu. The majoiity
of musicians in the mouein woilu use NIBI in one way oi
anothei, whethei theie aie piouuceis, peifoimeis, B}s oi
composeis. Theie aie many ieasons why any musician
woulu finu NIBI useful, foi example the unlimiteu fieeuom it
pioviues when composing a piece of music. Imagine if
legenuaiy composeis of the past such as Nozait oi
Beethoven hau the technology available to us nowauays,
Beethoven's fifth symphony coulu have been cieateu using
just his computei anu a NIBI keyboaiu, he woulu have no
neeu to get a full oichestia to play his compositions. This
coulu be auvantageous, but on the othei hanu coulu not.
While he may have been able to cieate the full anu vibiant
sounu of the symphony, when the instiuments aie heaiu
singulaily it tells a uiffeient stoiy. While it's all well anu
goou foi NIBI to ieplicate the sounu of an electiic guitai oi
piano, it may not be able to uo justice to an instiument such
as a violin oi cello, as the instiuments have a ceitain timbie
to theii sounu which is haiu to iecieate using technology.
Conveisely, he may have cieateu his compositions in a fai
shoitei amount of time anu hau a ielatively similai sounu on
the finisheu piouuct.











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I have founu NIBI to be an incieuibly useful tool in my time
using it. The fact that anyone can biing theii musical iueas to
life so easily anu quickly woulu have been impossible
without the invention of NIBI. While it may not cieate the
full intensity of a live sounuing banu oi oichestia it uoes a
faiily uecent job of it.

Peisonally, I feel that NIBI anu music sequenceis come in
most useful foi people composing ceitain genies of music,
electionic sounuing music such as iap, uium & bass anu
uance aie peifectly suiteu foi this technology anu a vast
majoiity of the music in this genies is cieateu using it.

If NIBI weie to impiove in the futuie, I woulu hope that it
manages to iecieate the piopei sounu of goou acoustic
instiuments.