Bc2000 (for the BCF2000 & BCR2000)

Dan

Congratulations and thanks for reporting back.

You are right about MIDI.  It is a shining beacon of how cooperation between manufacturers on a common standard, provided the basis for a huge expansion of the sector (all the hardware MIDI synths and units of the 80s-90s).  There was a danger that it all could have gone differently.  roland had just implemented their own system, DCB, which was used to communicate between the Jupiter 8 and some hardware sequencers, I think.  Then the MIDI Manufacturers Association got together, pushed, if I remember correctly, by Dave Smith, then of Sequential (as in Prophet 5), now of DSI. And somehow (I don't know the story) everybody who was anybody got on board.

The MIDI standard still continues to serve well, 30 years after its birth, whether it be in hardware or software.

On the hardware side, they created a low-cost connection system (DIN MIDI leads/sockets) with an opto-isolator on every MIDI in, which avoids problems with ground loops and varying internal voltages in different hardware units.  On the software side, they created common messages for all (note on/off, program change etc) and scope for manufacturer/instrument-specific messages in NRPN and Sysex. This ability to combine both common and unique messsages was a stroke of genius.

Whne you look at some of technical/commercial battles which have taken place over the years, for example: VHS/Betamax, Blu-ray and what was it?, DXI and VST, Firewire/USB/Thunderbolt, iphone and android - it is really sad that manufacturers don't learn the lesson of MIDI.  Flexible standards are great for manufacturers and users, for decades.

Long live MIDI!

Rant over, Bill :)


--- In bc2000@yahoogroups.com, "dgreenvalda" <dgreenvalda@...> wrote:
>
> success!!!
> 
> I first pursued the option to control the sound module's individual drum sounds via nrpn messages to provide the filtering I wanted, since my preference is to not have a pc in the MIDI chain - and it worked!
> 
> a lot of ducks needed to be in a row here is a run-down:
> 
> the sc-88 pro manual did show what nrpn messages were required to change drum sound levels regardless of the note messages received - in this case 1a in hex, along with the drum sound number, eg. 24 in hex to control bass drum 1.
> 
> then it was a matter of setting up the bc to send this along with volume levels for toggle on and off. the bc parameter 1 is nrpn and I found the bc parameter 3 setting through trial and error with midiox was 3364 in this case to send the above hex values. to alter the levels of other drum sounds parameter 3 is changed. parameter 4 and 5 send the toggle values, ie. full volume and mute.
> 
> then the sc-88 pro just needed to have receive nrpn messages turned on for the MIDI drum channel 10.
> 
> next I will see if the akai z4 has similar abilities, and the manual suggests it is even easier on the z4 since you apparently can specify your own cc messages to control modulation. hopefully I can get the z4 to respond in the same way as the sc-88 and use the same bc presets.
> 
> I'm constantly impressed by the MIDI standard and how so many different devices implement it well to allow such flexibility and functionality.
> 
> thanks for all your help guys I learnt a lot.
>