I'm working on my first serious BIAB project. I'm exporting files to my DAW (Reaper). All that works fine.

But it raises some questions. I have 3 tracks, drums, bass, and piano, that are RealTracks. However, I am able to drag MIDI over to my DAW for all three of these.

My main question is, are the MIDI data actually created at the time of recording and therefore represent what was really played by the musician, or are the MIDI just a transcription for notation purposes?

I was under the impression they were just transcriptions for notation purposes. But, the piano seems spot on, with every grace note and glissando in it. It just sounds too good. When I use the Addictive Keys VST, it sounds great. A bit different than the real tracks, but good.

I haven't listened as closely to the bass and drums, but they sound pretty good using just MIDI.

If in fact, the MIDI is recorded as played, is everything digital (drum , piano, bass synths). Or where acoustic instruments used and somehow MIDI data captured?

And perhaps, does this vary from style to style. I happen to be using the "Jazz Swing Poll Winners" _JPLMDSW style.

One last things. In BIAB, I cannot see piano roll info for the drums. Which I assumed meant there wasn't any MIDI drum data. Yet I could export MIDI drum data. This makes no sense to me. Any idea?