Go to Table of Contents

## Sound and MIDI

If you make no changes at all when you launch Songworks, your sound output will be set to the built-in music synthesizer found on your computer. The Apple Macintosh even offers microtonal tuning, so that you can experiment with temperaments and tunings (see the Keyboard Info window for that). Both types of computers have the full set of 128 instrument sounds normally found in "MIDI" instruments. On both platforms you can also choose to hear the music at A440 or the early-music A415, sounding one half-step lower. That option is the Score Options (double-click in the music window or press command-i with nothing selected).

### MIDI in and out

"MIDI" means "Musical Instrument Digital Interface." If you would like to connect a MIDI keyboard for input and/or output you can cable it to your computer and then open Keyboard Info (click the info button at the left of the piano keys) and choose MIDI to select an input and/or output device.

Whether using built-in sound or MIDI, you can change the instrument for any staff by clicking info button at the left of the staff. MIDI channels are assigned automatically by the software, with percussion sounds using the standard channel 10.

A MIDI connection can give you higher-quality sounds - if you possess a MIDI instrument that has high-quality sounds - but for composition purposes the built-in sounds are OK.

Go to Table of Contents