[sdiy] MIDI Sys Ex ID $$$?

[ChristianH]

On Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:50:02 -0700 "Speth, John" <John.Speth at coherent.com> wrote:

> > > In my case, I just picked 7F out of my rear, but I don't or haven't sold anything yet.
> 
> > Well, 7F is for Real Time Universal System Exclusive Messages, so you
> > might have problems with anyone using MIDI Time Code, Show Control, etc.
> 
> I don't think that your choice of 7F was random.  I think I recall that 7F was reserved for unassigned/hobby/whatever use before the MMA started to cram in more functionality than what MIDI was intended for.
> 
> I too picked 7F with my MIDI designs but I don't sell too.
> 
> My 2 cents: I love the idea where the user can pick the ID.  That would eliminate some compatibility problems for users that have problems.

If he is smart enough to do so. And - if he is smart enough to see that
his problems are due to an ID collision. I guess even quite a number of
programmers might spend some time to find out, but I wouldn't expect
that from some musician who just wants to make some music.

Maybe a more usable way is to "loan" an ID from a company that has gone
down years ago. But then, even the Sequential ID lives on (Dave Smith
still/again uses it).

Another possibility is to use the Roland scheme. Even though they have
something like family and model IDs, they have a pretty generic dump
protocol. It's just block move operations without predefined meaning,
using a virtual device space. Each model is described by its own address
mapping for patches, performances, system setup etc. That could be
applied to about any synth.

BTW, paying for a sysex ID isn't particularly new, as the original
poster seems to suggest. IIRC, it has always been that way.
In fact, I'm surprised it's only $200. I thought I had seen something
more prohibitive before. Might be that it also requires some nonsense
like mandatory MMA membership or whatever, don't remember.

Christian