OVERRIDING M.I.D.I.

[Arnim X. Sauerbier]

The bandwidth problems of MIDI were known from day 1.   Continuous 
controller and sysex data just compounded the problem.  Nowadays everyone 
wants their sounds to be continuously changing, whereas in the olden-days 
little more than key-on/off information was required.

To 'override' MIDI would make no sense with commercial instruments - 
you'd need to design an entire new interface. 

The standard solution is to parallelize where possible - i.e. get a 
multi-output MIDI box on your sequencer/computer and run one cord to each 
instrument/effect - do not daisy-chain them.  Of course, this will not 
solve the problem of sending too much continuous controller data to one 
instrument.

Another option would be to just use analog synths, get a bunch of MIDI-CV 
boxes, each with it's own physical MIDI line to your sequencer/computer.  
 This way you get very fast, sequencable control over every C/V-able 
parameter on your analog synth.

Oh yes, another tip...  Continuous controller data is not truly 
continuous, rather it's a series of discrete values.  Your sequencer 
stores many continuous controller values per second, and sending multiple 
controllers over one channel or line can easily cause overload.  In cases 
where you're trying to send too much controller data down a MIDI line, 
try reducing/quantizing the individual continuous controller values in 
your sequencer, if possible.

There is (was?) a proposal for a faster MIDI replacement called ZIPI.  
Anyone know what happened to this?

Arnim