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The main paradox of MIDI is that this protocol is completely mute. It transmits not an audio signal, but the dry mathematics of performance: note pitch and key velocity. Using 7-bit numbers from 0 to 127 (and a 14-bit scale for the pitch bend wheel), the protocol simply records the mechanics of playing: which key was pressed, with what force, and when it was released. The keyboard became merely a controller, fully delegating sound generation to external modules.

Prior to 1983, hardware electronics resembled the Tower of Babel: due to proprietary standards or capricious CV/Gate interfaces, instruments from different brands refused to work together. MIDI became a rare act of corporate truce: via IN, OUT, and THRU ports, devices could be daisy-chained, allowing multiple instruments to be controlled from a single master keyboard.

MIDI proved to be especially important for computers. Instead of a heavy audio signal, they worked with a compact stream of numerical data that was easy to record, edit, and play back. This led to the emergence of sequencers like Cubase and algorithmic composition environments like Max, where music could be programmed as a sequence of events. The basic MIDI standard proved so robust that it still allows a modern laptop to control a 1980s synthesizer today.