Ableton/Live/UG/40 MIDI Fact Sheet/01 Ideal MIDI Behavior
- A DAW handles MIDI in three situations, each with an ideal:
- Recording — notes and controllers from hardware such as a keyboard are stored, ideally with timing as exact as an audio recording.
- Playback — stored MIDI goes out to a hardware synth, or is turned into audio by an instrument such as Operator, ideally as an exact reproduction.
- Playthrough — MIDI from hardware passes through the DAW in real time to a synth or plug-in, ideally feeling as immediate as a piano.