Midi track vs audio track

[karthiks25]

What is the difference between a MIDI track and an audio track?

 

[SeaGtGruff]

An audio track is a recording of actual sound or audio.

MIDI data isn't sound or audio data; it's more like a set of instructions that tell a hardware or software instrument what notes to play, when to play them, how loud to play them, how long to hold them, what sounds to use to play them with, etc.

You might think of it in terms of the sheet music for a song versus a recording of the song.

A MIDI track is a recording of MIDI data that's like a computerized version of sheet music. The notes are usually viewed in a piano roll editor that sort of resembles notes punched into a roll of music for a player piano (hence the term "piano roll"). However, some DAWs also have other types of editors, such as notation views that look more like standard sheet music, or guitar chord views, or guitar tablature views, or percussion notation, etc. Also, a MIDI track can have additional "lanes" of data for recording things like control changes, program changes, pitch bend events, etc.

Some DAWs distinguish between two different kinds of MIDI tracks, depending on whether the MIDI data is controlling a virtual instrument inside the DAW or an external instrument. If the track is controlling a virtual instrument inside the DAW then they call it an "instrument track." But if the track isn't connected to a virtual instrument then they call it a "MIDI track." But other DAWs just call it a MIDI track in both cases.

 

[karthiks25]

An audio track is a recording of actual sound or audio.

MIDI data isn't sound or audio data; it's more like a set of instructions that tell a hardware or software instrument what notes to play, when to play them, how loud to play them, how long to hold them, what sounds to use to play them with, etc.

You might think of it in terms of the sheet music for a song versus a recording of the song.

A MIDI track is a recording of MIDI data that's like a computerized version of sheet music. The notes are usually viewed in a piano roll editor that sort of resembles notes punched into a roll of music for a player piano (hence the term "piano roll"). However, some DAWs also have other types of editors, such as notation views that look more like standard sheet music, or guitar chord views, or guitar tablature views, or percussion notation, etc. Also, a MIDI track can have additional "lanes" of data for recording things like control changes, program changes, pitch bend events, etc.

Some DAWs distinguish between two different kinds of MIDI tracks, depending on whether the MIDI data is controlling a virtual instrument inside the DAW or an external instrument. If the track is controlling a virtual instrument inside the DAW then they call it an "instrument track." But if the track isn't connected to a virtual instrument then they call it a "MIDI track." But other DAWs just call it a MIDI track in both cases.

Thanks for clarifying the juxtaposition..