Darcy James Argue :
Finale, on the other hand, does not define pan in terms of derivation
from the center. Instead of center = 0, they use center = 64. 0 is
actually hard right. Now I understand why they are doing that -- it's
how the MIDI controller data is actually sent -- but it is *incredibly
confusing and nonstandard* to think of pan that way. Regardless of
whether someone has any experience with a mixing board or not, they will
naturally think of panning in terms of relationship to the center, and
Finale's way of doing things obscures that relationship. Instead of
thinking "Okay, I want Violin I panned far left, and Violin II panned far
right," someone instead has to think, "Okay, I need to enter a channel
value of 19 for Violin I and 109 for Violin II."
That's ridiculously bad UI.
Actually, the method Finale uses for specifying pan values was embodied in
the original MIDI 1.0 Specification as far back as 1982 and is still upheld
today in General MIDI standards 1 & 2 by the MIDI Manufacturers Association
(MMA). So this is not Finale's "way of doing things", it is the correct and
proper industry standard, which everybody who uses MIDI should be familiar
with.
http://www.midi.org/about-midi/rp36.shtml
http://www.midi.org/about-midi/rp36public.pdf
I agree a default centre value of 0, (with -64 for hard L and +64 for hard
R) would seem more logical, but numerical values of 42 or 108 are much more
user-friendly to me than the 33%L or 67%R you're suggesting. This seems
completely ambiguous. 67% of what?
But far more importantly, does Finale 2k6 at last have a usable method of
sending SysEx data? If so I will upgrade tomorrow.
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