I need a complete idiot's guide to Midi

[scsm]

I have done several searches here and on Google and I am still completely confused.

The situation is I have been playing a little bit with two people that and we want to get some live shows with my guitarist friend and a drummer. A lot of their music has parts that we don't have musicians for - keyboard, sound effects, violin, etc and we don't want to add anymore members for logistics reasons. Finding time to practice with five people is hard enough and we'd have to find a decent keyboard player.

So what would be the easiest way to play sample parts on stage?

Off the top of my head I'd be great if I could

1. Hit a button at the top of a song and it would play a keyboard part
2. Hit a couple different buttons on the start of each measure in some verses to play some different effects.
3. Play a whoosh sound at the end of a song.

I know this is possible but I need someone to really dumb down what I need to do. I know I need a midi footswitch, if I get one with only 4 buttons could I program it so if I turn some knob or something the buttons change what they do?

It would be great if I could keep this on the cheap too.

 

[felix.jbasscstm]

not an expert or anything but for playing sounds and stuff i've heard that if you have Ableton Live running for that kinda stuff its good....

or a drum pad or something that you can set the sounds.

 

[scsm]

Drum machine might work but I'd like to have a footswitch.

 

[JackANSI]

I'd go with Ableton live with a behringer fcb1010 (can do note triggers as well as everything else). That should get you everything you seem to want at around $600...

There might be free programs that would work too (don't know of one off-hand), so it could be as cheap as the fcb1010.

 

[Monomer]

I'd go with Ableton live with a behringer fcb1010 (can do note triggers as well as everything else). That should get you everything you seem to want at around $600...

There might be free programs that would work too (don't know of one off-hand), so it could be as cheap as the fcb1010.

Rosegarden, in linux.


it's JUST like ableton, and is free.