[sdiy] Dumb MIDI question

[ASSI]

On Friday 06 June 2003 00:02, jbv wrote:
> Well, it's a bit too early to describe the weird project
> on which I'm presently brainstorming...

A little bit less vague could help the answer a bit further along...

> As for MIDI tweaking, another idea just crossed my
> mind : using sysex would allow all kind of data coding,
> including pan, note on & off, real pitch (coded on more
> than 1 byte)...

Check out the MIDI status bytes and the encoding of the data. Basically 
MIDI distinguishes general (sysex and timing), channel (program and 
control change, channel pressure) and per note (on, off, aftertouch) 
messages. Sysex can always be used as "out-of-band" signaling as it can 
mean anything you care to define and it is transparent to other gear. 
If you want to stay compatible and you always have at least four or 
five bytes to send, go with sysex.  If you want to unbundle the events, 
CC might work better and if compatibility is of no concern, claim 
Humpty-Dumpty priviledge and misuse the available messages (like 
polyphonic aftertouch) as you see fit.


Achim.
-- +<[ Q+ & Matrix-12 & WAVE#46 & microQkb Omega sonic heaven ]>+ --

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