What I don't understand is why you'd ∗want∗ to make MIDI act like TCP/IP...
TCP/IP messages are, if I understand / recall correctly, broadcast to all
machines on a network. You send a packet with a target address, that
message gets sent to ∗every∗ other machine connected to the net, and ∗each∗
machine must figure out whether it cares about the message. And if there's
a collision-- throw your hands up and try again after a random delay has
passed. And every machine on your network having a unique ID (which is
handled by the network card at present)...
I can just see it! You get your brand new Korglandsoniq Groteous2000, and
you want to have it control that old Memorymoof machine in the corner... but
damnit! What what the 'moofs ID again? {285a-829b-dc9a}? Or was it
{82b9-285b-dc9a}? (And you thought setup was a hassle NOW!)
MIDI is point-to-point. No collisions. No IDs. If a messages reaches a
target, it was intended to get there. You have a MIDI box to route messages
to targets. Its MUCH easier to centrally configure.
The big problem with MIDI isn't that its not distributed like TCP/IP-- its
that its ∗slow∗. Damned slow. Slow enough that it uses those crappy serial
interfaces on your computer. A faster version of MIDI is what's called
for-- still no collisions to worry about, and you could route to more
machines than possible today.
Besides, I don't want my toaster talking to my Waldorf Pulse. ;)
--PBr
> -----Original Message-----
> From:The Old Crow [SMTP:oldcrow@...]
> Sent:Friday, August 11, 2000 9:31 AM
> To:motm@egroups.com
> Subject:Re: [motm] MIDI sucks (get your attention?)
>
>
> Analog control woes notwithstanding, the main reason I view MIDI with
> some considerable criticism is that for a networking protocol, it ∗blows∗.
> I never will understand why they didn't go with some Manchester scheme to
> provide collision and drop error handling. It is not that difficult to
> implement: the Apple Desktop Bus used on Macs to this day (and nearly as
> old as MIDI) achieve it.
>
> These days, (starting in 1990 or so) plenty of sources of cheap MII
> transcevier chips to fashion ethernet connections exist: it would cost
> next to nothing to cram one in a keyboard and use a ∗real∗ network
> protocol like TCP/IP to run the show. You don't even have to abandon the
> MIDI message structure--just encapsulate it in the IP packets.
>
> I hope that one day a true network physical layer like ethernet makes it
> into new instruments. And for the millions of old instruments--an
> ethernet to MIDI-hardware adapter (which are cheap and easy to make, look
> at the dinky little thing from www.picoweb.net!) is no problem.
>
>
> --Crow, dreaming of the day they put real LAN hardware into the gear
>
> /∗∗/
>
>
>
>
>