[sdiy] MIDI isn't musical : Flame bait? Hells, yeah!

[Chris Randall]

> Obviously it would be dumb to take control information from an
> instrument and just use it to control the same instrument.

Wouldn't that statement more or less define the purpose of a sequencer,
hard- or software? I think that since that is what most people use MIDI for,
it may be obvious, but it certainly isn't dumb.

> The emphasis of commercial synths has mostly been on the note on /
note-off
> paradigm (which is why I have stayed with analog for most of my wind
> controller work). But there are some devices that allow a fair amount of
CC
> modulation that can be used for enhancing expression. The Yamaha VL
synths,
> for example.

The Yamaha VL series just make it obvious, to use your terminology. Most
synths nowadays are able to take advantage of a fair number of control
options, especially the knobby ones. I cite as an example the Kurzweil K2xxx
series, in which most every parameter of a sound or sample can be controlled
by whatever CC you choose to assign. Are you confusing the actual method in
which a device creates sound (VL being physical modelling, and with a nice
compliment of sounds specifically designed to take advantage of CC#2 data)
with what that same device spits out its MIDI port?

Define the fair amount of CC modulation that you need, please. The keyboard
itself, and whatever the manufacturer chooses to provide on the front panel
for controlling sounds, have little or nothing to do with the MIDI stream,
as far as playing that particular instrument in real time is concerned.
(Brings us back to the B3 again.) Hence the EWI / EVI analogy is moot, since
that is the panel and control surface that Akai (or whatever flavour you
use) decided to provide you, the wind instrument afficianado, with. The
controller interfaces directly to the unit. MIDI doesn't come in to the
picture until after the fact, when you decide to go out on a limb and
control another synthesizer or record your performance into a sequencer, bad
timing and lack of expression be damned.

So, what was the argument again?

-Chris Randall