OVERRIDING MIDI pt.II

[Steve]

>
>   It has been mentioned that VLSI chip manufacturing is often used in
>   synths, to where the MIDI interface and the synth's CPU are part of the
>   same chip. I did not think of this. Good point.
>
>Why do you think this matters?

I think his intention was the modding of existing synths to accept his
hypothetical new protocol.  My view of this approach is that if you want to
build a kangaroo, you don't start with a yak and then modify - you build
fresh.

>
>For instance, I think the biggest problem with MIDI is that it treats
>everything as note-on note-off messages, and for most types of real
>musical expression, say for example a sax player wailing, that's a
>pathetic representation of a musical event.

Well, you do have all of those continuous controllers, but a resolution of
0-127  is just vile.  Pitchbend is about right - if all cc's had an extra
byte of resolution, that would go a lot further toward modeling sax wail
subtleties.  If you have a MIDI processor or a program that does MIDI
processing (MAX, Logic) then you can do something like this.  If you take
the PB messages from unused channels (or from channels where PB isn't used)
and remap the two bytes to a pair of cc's ("coarse" and "fine"), then set
up your synth (if it allows for this) such that they both modulate the same
parameter, the "coarse" having 128 times greater modulation strength, then
you can get around the Insufficient Control Resolution MIDI headache.  The
Crappy Bandwidth headache remains, but hey, it's a start.

>
>So I'm all for replacing MIDI, but there haven't been much in the way
>of concrete proposals.
>

What about a multiport MIDI interface *on the instrument*?  That way, you
could maintain compatibility with MIDI while increasing throughput.  Want
to play 32nd note triplets at 300 bpm while modulating resonance at audio
frequencies?  Fiiiine.  Start with a pair of RS-422 serial ins so you can
plug your computer into this hypothetical workstation instead of into an
Opcode Studio 5 or similar.  Retain a single  MIDI in and thru just for
those poor souls still stuck in the Stone Age.  Offer multi-port MIDI outs
so you really *can* use it as an interface if you want.  Data controlling
the instrument could completely bypass the MIDI bottleneck, but there would
be no compatibility compromise.

Whaddya think, all?


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I just can't take myself seriously sometimes,
because seriously, sometimes I just can't take myself.
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