[sdiy] Atari latency, was:Camel*ont* soft Da synth!

[Dave Kendall]

My 2 pence worth ...:-)

I was once given some advice that has seemed to work pretty well ever since
- this was during the Cubase+SMP2/24 days.
IIRC, Midi Time code takes up to about 10% of the Midi bandwidth . Dunno
about Midi BBC and SPPs....maybe a bit less bandwidth perhaps....?
With a multi-output  midi interface, run MIDI timing info down a separate
discrete output port to your drum machines, and other clocked items. Run
note/controller data out of the remaining ports, and spread the load
according to the job.
You can run a load of monophonic note/gate-only synths quite tightly off one
midi output socket, but if you want big polyphony, either single or multi
channel, or lots of CCs, then  choose  spare outputs.

For the record, doing this with an expanded 4 Meg 520 STE/SMP2 gave
musically very useful results, with quite satisfactory timing.

I don't recall getting noticeable or annoying latency problems, by that, I
mean Midi input into the Atari, then simultaneously out to hearing a sound
from a module in "loop through" mode.

Midi protocol will of necessity put certain events in front of others -
maybe someone knows exactly how this works, but I suspect that it may be
device dependent - a midi transmitter device will have its own way of
prioritising events,  as will the receiving device.
Any info and opinions on this would be welcome.
For quite a few people I suspect......

Dave (who still has 2 Ataris in the loft...)