And they danced to an electrified orchestra of stringed things, everyone glowing in the light of lasers timed to the beat. They could see violins and cellos, but nothing they heard sounded like either. Indeed, many did not sound like musical instruments at all. The violas sounded like bassoons and the basses like xylophones, but there were underwater voices and Caribbean rhythms and the sounds of laser blasts bouncing back and forth from speakers on all sides . . . .

Prom night in the year 2525? Nope, just a few of the musical possibilities string players are experimenting with right now, for those brave enough to boldly go where MIDI technology can take them.

MIDI, or musical instrument digital interface, has been around since 1981, but for years it rarely was glimpsed in action outside recording studios or keyboard rigs. String players who knew about the stuff sneered at it: it didn’t seem like real music if little computers were doing all the work. There were other reasons, too. It cost a lot, didn’t always work very well, and the technology was scary. But now, thanks to the latest musical styles, cool sampler synths, and improved technology, MIDI stringed instruments are starting to look and sound better.

“People are more and more accepting,” says Gregg Kozak, president of Zeta Electric String Instruments and a pioneer in the field.

World of Possibilities
MIDI starts with a crazy idea: a violin does not have to be a violin. Nobody even has to hear it. Instead, it can be what’s called a controller. A MIDI-violin controller is connected to a digital converter that breaks its sounds down into numbers that represent the pitch and loudness of notes as well as the individual strings. The numbers can go straight through a special cable and control synthesizers, telling them to play the same notes as the MIDI violin. That way, when the violinist plays A B C#, A B C# comes out of the synthesizer that the converter’s hooked up to.

MIDI strings can play any sound, or patch, that a keyboardist can play on a synthesizer, from “brass” to “banjo” to “burp.” A MIDI violin can be digitally tuned down to notes lower than a cello’s, and a MIDI cello can be programmed to hit even higher notes than a piccolo. The effect can get pretty intense, especially if individual strings are set to different tunings and patches. Then, if the synthesizer is plugged into a stereo sound system, the strings of a single MIDI fiddle can sound like an entire choir with the E-string generating synthesized sopranos on one side of the room and the D-string producing synthesized tenors on the other.

For anyone who has secretly wanted to play drums, or even program DJ dance remixes on the side, this is just the beginning. The same electronic numbers that whiz through the cable between the converter and the synthesizer can also be used to control stuff that sounds nothing like the original notes. For instance, a controller can trigger the playback of samples, or pre-recorded sounds. That way, a cellist who plays A B C# on his MIDI instrument could trigger Afro-Cuban percussion loops, or pre-recorded musical patterns, like drummers walking on stage one by one. Or, the congas can start when it’s played softly, but when the cellist digs in, out come the maracas!