Real-Time MIDI Control with Elixir

This talk focuses on the use of the Elixir programming language in conjunction with OTP (Open Telecom Platform) to interact with MIDI devices, specifically an analog synthesizer, allowing for real-time musical control. Geoffrey Lessel explains how MIDI, a technical standard that describes a protocol, digital interface, and connectors, permits different musical instruments and computers to communicate with one another. He highlights the historical importance of MIDI in the music industry and delves into the structure and capabilities of MIDI signals, as well as how they can be translated into Elixir data structures for effective handling and manipulation. Lessel illuminates Elixir's suitability for handling real-time events in music, leveraging OTP principles to manage state and concurrency in musical applications. An interesting aspect of the discussion involves visualizing the MIDI controlling system using Phoenix and LiveView to create a dynamic interface for demonstrating the ongoing music sequencing controlled by his Elixir application. This offers a live example of how Elixir can be bridged with user interfaces for interactive purposes. In conclusion, Geoffrey takes listeners through a practical demonstration involving an actual MIDI-enabled hardware device and a visualization through a web interface, underscoring the practical applications and robustness of Elixir in managing and visualizing real-time processes. It reflects the language's capability in an area outside of its traditional web development use case.