MIDI Vs. other technologies
“MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a protocol designed for recording and playing back music on digital synthesizers that are supported by many makes of personal computer sound cards.” (MIDI: Definition, para.1). It is an interface between the computerized devices and electronic instruments. The interfacing can be done easily because MIDI uses digital signals. “Developed in the early 1980s, MIDI technology allows a keyboardist to kick off a drum synthesizer with one key or a computer to store a sequence of composed notes as a MIDI file, for example. The keyboard, drum synthesizer and computer all recognize the same set of binary code instructions.” (Pollick, para.1)
MIDI technology makes the creation, learning and playing of the music easier. Devices like cell phones, music keyboards, personal computers etc use MIDI. The playing of different notes in MIDI is controlled by MIDI messages. With MIDI device all the peripheral keyboards could be controlled with one master keyboard. “The software can playback MIDI messages upon all 16 channels with the same rhythms as the human who originally caused the instrument(s) to generate those messages.” (Sharu, para.2).
An advantage of MIDI over other technologies is that MIDI uses files of small size because only player information is represented here. MIDI is also efficient, compact, flexible and powerful. MIDI is easy to use and has low price than other technologies. Modern electronic music has developed mainly due to this technology. The older technologies were more complex and were accessed by only some people. Nowadays we have identified the effect of music on human body, which reveals that it helps to change the mood of an individual. Currently, music is generated by noticing the brain waves. That is, the response of the brain wave is noted with the help of EEG. Based on these collected data, we are generating the MIDI output. But the output will not create any health problem. Since MIDI is used for converting the waves into Music, the clarification of the output is high. But the quality of the sound depends upon the sound card quality. Transformation of the brain wave into the musical notes is done with the help of ‘Brain computer music interface for composition and performance.’ In this, the different frequency bands correspond to the piano notes and the complex signals correspond to the tempo. General MIDI standard 2 is common across people because it supports several channels, and is able to record the characteristics of the sound, such as tempo, decay time and vibrato. There are a number of uses for MIDI and also a number of people use this technology. Also setting up of a MIDI system is comparatively low considering its abilities. It has helped in the development of the musical systems. The music created by this neurofeedback helps improve the concentration of the people.
Brain Bay software Vs Bio Era
Brain Bay software is used to activate the sensory brain cells. It is open source software that is used in various applications. The ability of a person is determined by considering how he utilizes the two hemispheres of his brain. For that, all the cells of the brain are to be activated. The brain bay software makes the working of the brain as computers. The Brain Bay software is used to train the children of the age 5-14. “Brain Bay trains the children in mind racers. This module helps in activating both left and right part of the brain simultaneously. In mind racers children are made to speak, think, move the fingers, feel and hear at the same time without using any tool. Mind racers help a child perform hyper tasking.” (Focus ‘o’ Brain: Abacus, para.1). It contains sensor data, visual information, data acquisition, processing of signals, feature extraction, cursor control, biofeedback, device and commands. The bio signal amplifier and electrodes present helps in the measuring the electric signals of the body. It can be used in the measurement of brain waves, heart activity, muscle activity etc.
Bio Era tools are used for research, games, self exploration, entrainment, sound processing etc. In this, no programming skills are necessary to create the visual design, which represents the data flow from input to output. “BioEra is a visual designer useful for analyzing signals in real time. It can be used with any device that has ability to stream data to computer.” (Welcome to the Home Page of BioEra: What is BioEra?, para.1).
Important feature of BioEra are real time digital signal processing, Graphic visualisation, Perform wide range of mathematic transforms, Store data in files and databases (MySQL), retrieve data from files and from databases, give support to the hardware devices, Sound feedback, Sound and video recording and its synchronization with bio-signal recording, Logical operations like AND, OR, XOR, etc. “BioEra provides highest performance, flexibility and options not found in any other software. It can process dozens of channels simultaneously in real time, many types of biofeedback devices can be operated together all in the same time.”
(BioEra Software, para.1). BioEra can also be used to support the output of MIDI.
There are various reasons for choosing the Brain Bay technology. It helps to increase the IQ, EQ, and CQ levels of children. It also helps the children to handle many things simultaneously. And also this will help the children to increase their concentration, imagination, memory and grasping power. Through this training, the stage fear of the students is completely eliminated and leads to personality improvement.
EEG, MEG and other technologies
“Electroencephalography (EEG) is a neurological diagnostic procedure that records the changes in electrical potentials (brain waves) in various parts of the brain.“ (Electroencephalography: Definition, para.1). The EEG is a good diagnostic tool and is used for the diagnosis of different diseases of the brain like tumours, epilepsy etc. “Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a non-invasive technique for localizing and characterizing the electrical activity of the central nervous system.” (MEG Technology Measures Brain Function in Real Time: Technology Spotlight, para.1).
MEG helps in the measurement of brain activities. Accurate information about the functions of brain can be obtained with the help of MEG. EEG and MEG are similar. The difference is that in MEG the recording of magnetic field is also done for measuring electrical activity. Some other technologies similar to EEG and MEG are computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging etc.
For the research of neurofeedback pendent EEG is used because it is inexpensive and most portable. These devices can record and analyse the waves along with the possibility of transferring the data to the computer and subsequently to EEG analysis software.
EEG is more feasible compared to other technologies because of its cheap rate, fastness and it will not harm other parts of the brain at the time of examination. It is the safest method of checking the functions of different parts of the brain. Whereas in other technologies there can be side effects. Also there need not be any supervision in doing EEG. Another advantage of EEG is its infinite temporal resolution and very low spatial resolution.
Works Cited
BioEra Software. Future Health.org. 2009. Web.
Electroencephalography: Definition. Encyclopedia of Mental Disorder. 2009. Web.
Focus ‘o’ Brain: Abacus. The Brain Bay. 2009. Web.
MIDI: Definition. SearchCIO-MidMarket.com. 2000. Web.
MEG Technology Measures Brain Function in Real Time: Technology Spotlight. Med Compare. 2009. Web.
Pollick, Michael. What is MIDI?. Wise Geek. 2009. Web.
Sharu. Advantages of MIDI. India Study Channel.com. 2008. Web.
Welcome to the Home Page of BioEra: What is BioEra?. BioEra- Visual Designer for Biofeedback. 2009. Web.