By recording MIDI you can change the information before you render the performance as audio. You can change the sound the MIDI notes are playing, tidy up timing/velocity, bumb notes, add controller information... in fact edit every aspect of the performance, including the instrument that's playing it. You can change a piano to an electric piano, or to a choir or barrel organ if need be! You can also layer other instruments - I create pads from several synths, for example.

By recording as audio you are limiting yourself to the performance as it happens. That may be fine as far as it goes (and you will need to render it as audio at some point before the mix), but having the MIDI data lets you do a myriad of things to perfect the part before it becomes audio. If you were using pre-USB external hardware modules you wouldn't have much choice - it's MIDI or nothing!

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

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