On 7 Jul 2005 at 0:22, Christopher Smith wrote:

> On Jul 6, 2005, at 11:39 PM, David W. Fenton wrote:

[]

> > Is your MIDI interface USB? If so, you may have something else
> > contending for the bandwidth of the USB interface, and that could be
> > the reason you're having the problem.
> 
> I have a USB MIDI interface (4 ports) plugged into one of two
> available USB ports, also a Logitech wireless mouse, and of course my
> computer keyboard, both plugged into my screen's USB port, as
> designed. I occasionally plug a SanDisk memory card reader, or a Cue
> Cat barcode reader (don't ask!) into the other port, but the problem
> is there even when neither one is plugged in.

Do you have a non-USB keyboard port? If so, I'd try getting the 
keyboard off the USB bus so that MIDI is on USB and the rhythmic 
values you're typing is *not* on USB. 

That actually could be the source of the problem. I'm not sure how 
USB prioritizes the order of data sent over the bus. In your case, 
the order is crucial, and if USB can't maintain that timing-wise, it 
may be entirely the source of your problem.

I have always felt that USB is not a very good technology. I prefer 
to have only one of my input devices on USB at a time (keyboard or 
mouse -- the computer I'm typing this on has a USB mouse and a non-
USB keyboard), and I don't think it's at all an appropriate 
technology for any kind of regular data access. That is, I'd never 
put any storage devices on it that were for any purpose other than 
backup or portability (i.e., I would never edit data resident on a 
USB-attached drive).

That's not to say I don't use it. My scanner is plugged into USB as 
are my digital camera interface and my Handspring Visor interface. 
But all of those are things I use only occasionally, and mostly while 
not doing something else. That's my rule of thumb -- USB is fine for 
non-continuous use (mostely) one device at a time.

But I don't know anything about the ports provided on a Mac, nor 
about OS X's implementation of USB support. I don't even know that 
USB is *not* designed to support real-time data transfer in order 
from various devices attached to the bus. But it would certainly be 
the first place I'd start looking to solve the annoying problems 
you're experiencing.

-- 
David W. Fenton                        http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
David Fenton Associates                http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc

_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale

Reply via email to