Midi and FastChords

Any Midi capable instrument connected to the computer can send and receive Midi messages to and from FastChords. However Fastchords will assume that all messages are coming from a piano or keyboard.

There is a multitude of Midi messages. But FastChords is only interested in two: note ON and note OFF. Every other message is filtered out of the input stream.

As such, FastChords is not a typical Midi sequencing program. Actually it is not a Midi sequencing program at all. The main objective of Fastchords is to help learning new songs with fake book using all the other features of the program, and midi is used in that context.

This is not the same as saying that the Midi implementation in FastChords is trivial. Far from it. With this Midi implementation you will be able to:

•	place your hands on the piano keyboard and instantly see what chord you are playing.

•	enter chords and melody lines with the keyboard directly in the chord table.

•	record your performance and playback with correct timing.

•	change the performance tempo

•	Single step through recorded midi messages and see on the keyboard what notes are active (playing) at any point in time.

•	save your performance to disk.

•	play your FastChords files through the instrument speakers.

A productive use of midi in FastChords is to record your performance of the songs entered from fake books using the chord, melody and player modes. These songs can then be played in two ways. One from the player mode exactly as entered into the program, and another from the midi more as recorded from your performance. See Midi and the Player.