Dumb MIDI question

[jbv]

Byron Jacquot  :

> Just a quick check: does the sequencer allow you to start/stop and continue
> playback normally, while outputing MIDI clock info?  Than it may be that the
> start/stop/continue messages are in there implicitly.
>
> Most sequencers won't let you add them to the tracks, but they'll be
> transmitted whenever you hit the control buttons.
>
> >A - is it the same with other sequencers ?
>
> Not really...depending on the sequencer, somewil lrewind to the start
> automatically, and send a start message every time they start up.  Others
> will let you pick up from where you hit stop with a continue message...but
> they'll all have 'em tucked away in there, and they'll send them automatically.

Yep, that's exactly what happens.

>
>
> It may be that you're misinterpreting these messages meanings a little.

No, I don't. But the thing is that , in my application, there is basically no
contradiction with the fact that
these messages are sent automatically by the sequencer, AND also included in a
separate track.
I mean that the machine will respond in the same way, no matter "who" generates
these messages.
The only difference is that when they are sent automatically, all MIDI devices
that are connected will
respond to them, while only my machine should respond to them when they're
included in a MIDI track.
Besides, these real-time are very handy in software development, coz they require
only 1 byte...


> For starting/stoppling/continuing events within a track, some other message
> should be used.

Yep, I guess so...
But that means that my machine will have to respond to the automatic
Start/Stop/Continue, AND ALSO
to the other kind of messages I'll choose for this function... Which means more
code to write and, above
all, more processing time (which is not always a good thing in real-time
processes...)

> My suggestion would be to use a NRPN, and select 3 ranges for
> values:  say param # 3 (the lowest undefined one...3 is easy to remember for
> the user!), with 0-50 for start, 51-100 for stop, and 100-127 for continue.
>
> Since NRPNs are each discrete messages, a start/stop between messages
> wouldn't kill anything, and it's entire range is defined, too.  A range is a
> lot easier to set with a mouse than, say, EXACTLY 0,1 or 2.  Also, other
> synths that dont use it wont puke on it's use.
>

That's an idea. I'll think about it and make some experiments.

The Dark force of dance :

> So I'd suggest just using some of the non committed MIDI controllers.

That's another idea. The only thing is that my machine will already input / output
lots of controllers
(min 32 at a time), and I'm afraid to overload the system, especially because
controllers require 3 bytes...


wyatt tuzo :

> since sysex messages are
> proprietary, it would requre a lot of programming. i wouldnt even attempt
> it. of corse ther might be a way i dont know of but...

BTW, here is something I've been wondering about for years : since sysex messages
are proprietary,
how is it possible to use my own sysex messages in a home-made device ? Simply by
ignoring the 2nd
byte (manufactor code) of the message ?

jbv