Jeff McClintock wrote: >> From: David Olofson <[email protected]> >> > > >> These issues seem orthogonal to me. Addressing individual notes is just a >> matter of providing some more information. You could think of it as MIDI >> using >> note pitch as an "implicit" note/voice ID. NoteOff uses pitch to "address" >> notes - and so does Poly Pressure, BTW! >> > > Not exactly note-pitch. That's a common simplification/myth. > MIDI uses 'key-number'. E.g. key number 12 is *usually* tuned to C0, but is > easily re-tuned to C1, two keys can be tuned to the same pitch yet still be > addressed independently. > It's a common shortcut to say MIDI-key-number 'is the pitch', it's actually > an index into a table of pitches. Synths can switch that tuning table to > handle other scales. > > A MIDI note-on causes a synth to allocate a physical voice. That physical > voice is temporarily mapped to that MIDI-key-number so that subsequent note > control is directed to that voice. The mapping is temporary. Once the note > is done the mapping is erased. Playing the same key later will likely > allocate a different physical voice. > The MIDI-key-number is therefore an 'ID' mapping a control-source to a > physical-voice. > > >> Anyway, what I do in that aforementioned prototyping thing is pretty much >> what >> was once discussed for the XAP plugin API; I'm using explicit "virtual >> voice >> IDs", rather than (ab)using pitch or some other control values to keep >> track of notes. >> > > I agree that addressing notes unambiguously regardless of pitch (or any > other arbitrary property) is the ideal. I wish more sequencers were not > locked into a narrow 'western pop music' mode of operation. > But many MIDI alternatives have been proposed without looking deeply > enough to realise that MIDI already supports very flexible note control. > > MIDI's significant flaw is it's grossly outdated 7-bit resolution, the > underlying voice model is sound. > > >> Virtual voices are used by the "sender" to define and >> address contexts, whereas the actual management of physical voices is done >> on the receiving end. >> > > You have re-invented MIDI with different nomenclature ;-). > > Best Regards, > Jeff McClintock
Indeed, even low cost sound modules support different tempered scales. A good example for the mapping are percussion modules. For percussion it's more common to have non-western tempered scales. _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-dev mailing list [email protected] http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-dev
