Dumb MIDI question

[J. Larry Hendry]

> From: WeAreAs1 at aol.com
> You're "relatively certain" because of Roland's confusing use of the
words 
> "MIDI Channel" on the MPG-80 front panel.  If you dig into the detailed
MIDI 
> spec, you'll find that what that rotary switch *really* did was change
the 
> Unit ID byte.  However, back then (1984), the MIDI landscape was still
the 
> wild west, and most people didn't yet know what a Unit ID was (including
some 
> manufacturers, even).  Roland set up their instruments to automatically 
> internally change their Unit ID number to correspond with their current
MIDI 
> Channel number.  Yamaha did the same thing on the DX/TX series.  Thus,
when 
> you set your Super Jupiter to recieve on Channel 1, its Unit ID is 
> accordingly set to Unit #17.  Changing to MIDI Channel 2 changes the Unit
ID 
> to #18.  I think they chose numbers 17 through 32 in hopes of avoiding 
> confusion.  Hah!

Those lousy SOBs, fooling us like that. <g>  Thanks Michael for setting me
straight on that.  Of course, now, I have to go turn that knob, capture the
sysex and examine this quirk for myself.  Yes, Roland did a fine job of
avoiding confusion there.  Do you suppose the same person had the same
great idea for that bas**rd handshaking routine that requires and
acknowledge from the storage device between every 4 patches before the MKS
will continue to spill its guts?

> Anyway, that "MIDI Channel" knob on the MPG-80 is really "Unit ID".  Keep
in 
> mind, sysex messages don't normally have channel ID's, and the MPG-80 
> transmits sysex, and nothing else.

You have to help me here again.  I assumed (there's the problem) that all
sysex messages carried a channel ID.  I know that sysex memory dumps
usually do.  Is there some easy catagorization between those that do and
those that do not?
 
> BTW, you can emulate the 
>
impossible-to-find-and-impossible-to-afford-if-you're-lucky-enough-to-find-o
ne
>  MPG-80 with one of those Peavey PC-1600's.  It'll control pretty much 
> anything else in the same way, too.  Without a doubt, the best thing that

> Peavey ever made!  (although their Classic 30 amp is pretty darn nice...)

I am lucky enough to have a MPG-80.  However, I can see all the other
possibilities of the PC-1600.  I may have to get me one.  I suppose if
anyone is attempting this emulation and having difficultly getting a
particular sysex string to work, I could "capture" the output of the MPG-80
for a particular knob function, if that would help.

Thanks Michael for sharing your inside knowledge of this fine beast with us
all.

Larry Hendry