Trautonium II

[Ingo Debus]

Martin Czech wrote:
> Yes, but now the problem is that you have a 14 bit value for each
> note, and you can't deal with that in a sequencer, in a way that means
> ccomposing things on the computer and then let go.

Did you have a look at the "Hyper Edit" editor in Logic?

> Perhaps one can combine usuall midi note on information with 14 bit pitch
> bend somehow.

One very basic problem is, MIDI pitch bend is monophonic. It affects all
notes played on one MIDI channel. Re-tuning the notes with pitch bend is
(almost) impossible on polyphonic instruments.

But there is a rather new standard, called "Universal MIDI Single Note
Tuning Change Message". Many older synths allow microtuning via sysex,
but this is manufacturer-independent. A message for one note consists of
12 bytes. If more than one note has to be re-tuned, there are additional
4 bytes per note. So re-tuning could be done on-line, while the music
plays.
There's a "Unversal MIDI Bulk Tuning Dump Message" to affect all 128
MIDI notes at once too.

> I think, this sticking to the usuall keyboard idea is one of the most
> sinfull things of the midi standard,

Yes, that's true. They should have called it KIDI (Keyboard Instrument
Digital Interface). :-)

Ingo