Re: [LAD] Potential MIDI headaches?

2019-01-19 Thread Ralf Mardorf
On Sat, 19 Jan 2019 18:31:29 -0800 (PST), Len Ovens wrote:
>Being able to pitch change each note separately. Having many more CCs.
>Just to name a few. Guitar to MIDI can make good use of it.

I'm playing a Roland GR-55 guitar synth. It has got a MIDI input, but
it does not recognize note numbers. The rational for this might be
related to the way the synth is able to use the signals of the hex
pickup and that apart from the PCM tones, the patches could contain
modeling. Modeling doesn't just mean guitar and amp emulations, it's
also for modeling an analog synth. The MIDI output provides all MIDI
data, but that data can't compare to the data used by the synth. OTOH
the MIDI settings provide to turn chromatic output on and off, actually
it's turned off, but the output is chromatic, IOW I don't understand
this setting for the MIDI output. The chromatic switch for the PCM
tones is interesting. The tones are played in chromatic steps, even if a
string is bend, the pitch will change in semitones, when turned on. If
it's turned off, the PCM tones follow the real pitch of each string.
This is very cool, but hardly usable, since each noise a string does
produce has got impact, when turned off. Even the most accurate guitar
player can't avoid e.g. fret noise of new strings. IOW if the
sensitivity settings of the hex pickup are chosen to track nuances of
the guitarists playing, it requires to turn chromatic on, since if it's
turned off, it's nearly impossible to avoid unwanted notes. The current
generation of guitar synth does not allow practicable usage of all
provided abilities.

While MIDI 2 might be able to transmit the real data that is produced
when chromatic is turned off, it's not much usable and regarding
modeling MIDI anyway is the wrong interface.

To replace my keyboard by the guitar, MIDI 1 already does the job. At
the moment I play synth most of the times via a 12.9" touch screen,
usually just to produce regular MIDI 1 data. A touch screen could also
produce MIDI 1 incompatible data, but it's very seldom useful.

The MIDI we know has got several pitfalls and indeed some
improvements are very good, but all in all it already does everything a
musician does need. Yes, to control a mechanical monstrosity, such as a
robot piano MIDI isn't an adequate interface and I doubt that this
would change by a new MIDI standard.

A guitar synth does use the guitar as an input device, via a hex
pickup. It isn't a robot guitar, there are no stepper motors picking,
slapping, muting etc. the strings for playback.

It's not the MIDI standard that fails to play a robot piano, the
designers are idiots, if they use MIDI to control this kind of robot.

MIDI 2 could be useful for guitar synth, especially for guitar synth of
the next generation. A new MIDI standard could also be useful to get
rid of a few pitfalls, but it unlikely will become a robot interface.

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Re: [LAD] Potential MIDI headaches?

2019-01-19 Thread Len Ovens

On Sun, 20 Jan 2019, Ralf Mattes wrote:


In terms of velocity vs. amplitude I would guess that 127 levels at 1db
per level covers more than most ADC's would show. At .5db per level the
range is still probably wider than the dynamic range available in a nice
quiet studio/sound stage... so I would hope that the range of timbre
differences makes a wider range of velocities worth while. I would like to
see a blind AB test where the same performance is rendered by the same
synth in both MIDI 1 and MIDI 2.


Not what our piano teachers say ;-)


I believe you... That is hardly blind AB testing though. Mr. young tells 
us that remastering to 24bits/192k will bring out things in his earlier 
recordings originally recorded on tape too.


What I find interesting (funny) is that the one thing in MIDI 2 that would 
make the least difference to someone's performance is the one thing people 
want. The good things about MIDI2 in my mind are things like being able to 
have an untempered or variable scale. Being able to pitch change each 
note separately. Having many more CCs. Just to name a few. Guitar to MIDI 
can make good use of it. Some of the new stick like controllers might do 
well too. But keyboards? subtle at best I think.


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Re: [LAD] ?==?utf-8?q? Potential MIDI headaches?

2019-01-19 Thread Ralf Mattes
 
Am Samstag, 19. Januar 2019 23:40 CET, Len Ovens  schrieb: 
 

> 
> Cool. I do wonder where the sample sets are that actually have 127 samples 
> per note. 

No, those people don't use samples - we are talking full-size grand pianos here.
Those Disklaviers record and play back performances on actual concert 
instruments.
Think of it as a digital version of a Welte-Mignon player piano (the company 
has it's origins
here in Freiburg/Germany). The local museum does regular concerts with roles 
recorded by
famous soloist/composers from the first half of the last century.
IIRC the velocity resolution on those roles is higher than the 7 bits used by 
midi.
  
> Certainly Pianoteq might have a full range but most of the 
> electric pianos I have heard sound more like in "Bennie" than anything 
> that actually came from strings. I am talking about the people who walk 
> into a music store and buy an electric piano or other stage keyboard.
> 
> Now any of those people would prefer to sit down in front of an acoustic 
> piano, but none of them can afford (or are willing to afford) an electric 
> stage/home piano which actually sounds real. Remember that "most" people 
> would never think about using a keyboard controller to get sound from 
> their computer.

???
 
> In the case of keyboard synth combinations, where the signal path is 
> kb->midi->internal synth. MIDI 2 may show some improvements that even the 
> average person will notice. In time such an instrument may even be cheap 
> enough for "most" people. However, it seems to me that the synth in the 
> pianos I have seen does not even fully use the 128 velocity values 
> available now.

IIRC the Roli keyboards have better resolution and those are used quite often 
for
contemporary music performance.
 Some Casio E-Pianos seem to have high-resolution velocity values (14 bit), see
https://support.casio.com/storage/en/manual/pdf/EN/008/PX760_860_1500_160_AP260_460_MIDI_E_EN.pdf

> In terms of velocity vs. amplitude I would guess that 127 levels at 1db 
> per level covers more than most ADC's would show. At .5db per level the 
> range is still probably wider than the dynamic range available in a nice 
> quiet studio/sound stage... so I would hope that the range of timbre 
> differences makes a wider range of velocities worth while. I would like to 
> see a blind AB test where the same performance is rendered by the same 
> synth in both MIDI 1 and MIDI 2.

Not what our piano teachers say ;-)

Cheers, RalfD
 
> 
> --
> Len Ovens
> www.ovenwerks.net
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Re: [LAD] Potential MIDI headaches?

2019-01-19 Thread Len Ovens

On Sat, 19 Jan 2019, Ralf Mattes wrote:


Well, it all depends :-)
I my world there's a group of users for whose field  standard MIDI just does'nt 
work: teaching
and researching professional piano playing. The main obstacle is (the missing) 
velocity/volume/attack speed
resolution. So our teachers and researchers need to use the partly-proprietary 
Yamaha Disklavier.
So,for them, a modern MIDI 2 is appreciated.


Cool. I do wonder where the sample sets are that actually have 127 samples 
per note. Certainly Pianoteq might have a full range but most of the 
electric pianos I have heard sound more like in "Bennie" than anything 
that actually came from strings. I am talking about the people who walk 
into a music store and buy an electric piano or other stage keyboard.


Now any of those people would prefer to sit down in front of an acoustic 
piano, but none of them can afford (or are willing to afford) an electric 
stage/home piano which actually sounds real. Remember that "most" people 
would never think about using a keyboard controller to get sound from 
their computer.


In the case of keyboard synth combinations, where the signal path is 
kb->midi->internal synth. MIDI 2 may show some improvements that even the 
average person will notice. In time such an instrument may even be cheap 
enough for "most" people. However, it seems to me that the synth in the 
pianos I have seen does not even fully use the 128 velocity values 
available now.


In terms of velocity vs. amplitude I would guess that 127 levels at 1db 
per level covers more than most ADC's would show. At .5db per level the 
range is still probably wider than the dynamic range available in a nice 
quiet studio/sound stage... so I would hope that the range of timbre 
differences makes a wider range of velocities worth while. I would like to 
see a blind AB test where the same performance is rendered by the same 
synth in both MIDI 1 and MIDI 2.



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www.ovenwerks.net
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Re: [LAD] Potential MIDI headaches?

2019-01-19 Thread bill-auger
On Sat, 19 Jan 2019 13:26:55 -0800 (PST) Len wrote:
> While the 5pin din may be gone (not really, musicians like vintage
> gear)

i would not even denote the 5-pin DIN as "legacy" - it is still
the de-facto standard by the fact that nothing else has replaced it
within its niche (USB is a generic standard) - if you buy any of the
cheap-o MIDI controllers from amazon, walmart, ebay, etc, (i just did)
they come with a USB plug on one end of a 6-ft cord, and (2) 5-pin DINs
(in and out) on the other end
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Re: [LAD] ?==?utf-8?q? Potential MIDI headaches?

2019-01-19 Thread Ralf Mattes
 
Am Samstag, 19. Januar 2019 22:26 CET, Len Ovens  schrieb: 
> In my experience as a musician, I meet a lot of 
> piano players for whom the difference bewteen MIDI 1 and MIDI 2 is just a 
> number (like 192k ADC) and would not affect their performance. However, I 
> have 
> not met very many keyboard artists aside from those who work from their 
> bedroom 
> and who's music I only hear on youtube, soundcloud, etc. I do not know how 
> much 
> difference MIDI 2 would make for most of these people either. Epecially 
> concidering how many of them use either their qwerty kb to enter notes or a 
> one 
> or two octave unit without even velocity...
> 
> In fact MIDI 2 seems to be a thing mostly for non-kb instruments or computer 
> generated material (most of which is probably using CV instead of MIDI 
> anyway).
> 

Well, it all depends :-)
I my world there's a group of users for whose field  standard MIDI just does'nt 
work: teaching
and researching professional piano playing. The main obstacle is (the missing) 
velocity/volume/attack speed
resolution. So our teachers and researchers need to use the partly-proprietary 
Yamaha Disklavier.
So,for them, a modern MIDI 2 is appreciated.

 Cheers, RalfD
 
 
 
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Re: [LAD] Potential MIDI headaches?

2019-01-19 Thread Will J Godfrey
On Sat, 19 Jan 2019 13:26:55 -0800 (PST)
Len Ovens  wrote:

>In fact MIDI 2 seems to be a thing mostly for non-kb instruments or computer 
>generated material (most of which is probably using CV instead of MIDI anyway).
>
>MIDI 1 was huge, My DX7 supported MIDI before the spec was complete. It is 
>easy 
>to show off in the music store and sell. I expect the switch to MIDI 2 will be 
>a much longer road, very hard to show off from a keyboard.
>
>Well thats my opinion anyway.
>
>--
>Len Ovens
>www.ovenwerks.net

More details
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDyXDeLbmeE

I watched this earlier. It seems the MMA have indeed done their homework. MIDI
1.0 is definitely not going away. The new system will be fully backward
compatible, and will negotiate for the improvements, falling back to 1.0 if no
response is seen.

-- 
It wasn't me! (Well actually, it probably was)

... the hard part is not dodging what life throws at you,
but trying to catch the good bits.
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Re: [LAD] Potential MIDI headaches?

2019-01-19 Thread Len Ovens

On Sat, 19 Jan 2019, Will Godfrey wrote:


I've just been told about this.
https://www.midi.org/articles-old/the-midi-manufacturers-association-mma-and-the-association-of-music-electronics-industry-amei-announce-midi-2-0tm-prototyping?fbclid=IwAR3yojtbqXc52uTwrBV4uaUV7JdsMHMKIXA2NudhUH4mw8uPlmbxAPoDW3Q

Looks like we might have quite a lot of work to do :/


While the 5pin din may be gone (not really, musicians like vintage gear), MIDI 
1.0 is not dead. It apears it has taken a sledge hammer to get people to use 
VST3 and the MMA doesn't really have the same power. I think that MIDI 1.0 is 
going to be around for a long time yet and that all new controllers will have 
the abillity to send MIDI 1.0. In my experience as a musician, I meet a lot of 
piano players for whom the difference bewteen MIDI 1 and MIDI 2 is just a 
number (like 192k ADC) and would not affect their performance. However, I have 
not met very many keyboard artists aside from those who work from their bedroom 
and who's music I only hear on youtube, soundcloud, etc. I do not know how much 
difference MIDI 2 would make for most of these people either. Epecially 
concidering how many of them use either their qwerty kb to enter notes or a one 
or two octave unit without even velocity...


In fact MIDI 2 seems to be a thing mostly for non-kb instruments or computer 
generated material (most of which is probably using CV instead of MIDI anyway).


MIDI 1 was huge, My DX7 supported MIDI before the spec was complete. It is easy 
to show off in the music store and sell. I expect the switch to MIDI 2 will be 
a much longer road, very hard to show off from a keyboard.


Well thats my opinion anyway.

--
Len Ovens
www.ovenwerks.net
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Re: [LAD] Potential MIDI headaches?

2019-01-19 Thread bill-auger
On Sat, 19 Jan 2019 12:20:23 +0100 Ralf wrote:
> So if your app works well with the current MIDI, you don't need to
> migrate to MIDI 2.0.

oh, how true that resonates

i am just amazed at how many people are obsessed with novelty and would
disagree with that (perfectly reasonable and accurate) statement - to
many, the mere fact that v.N+1 exists, automatically renders v.N as:
"old cheese", with an imperative to discard it immediately (for no other
reason), as to avoid being accused of falling behind the cool kids on
the bleeding edge

for people who think that way, the merits of backward-compatibility do
not carry much weight in comparison to the sexier "disruptive" approach
- in fact it is more likely to be seen as ridiculous or irresponsible to
make use of any "old" thing that could potentially be replaced by
some newer and shinier thing, regardless of compatibility or any true
benefit (or lack thereof) in doing so

because after all, '2' is clearly better (and much more awesome) than
'1' :)
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Re: [LAD] Potential MIDI headaches?

2019-01-19 Thread Ralf Mardorf
On Sat, 19 Jan 2019 09:47:56 +, Will Godfrey wrote:
>I've just been told about this.
>https://www.midi.org/articles-old/the-midi-manufacturers-association-mma-and-the-association-of-music-electronics-industry-amei-announce-midi-2-0tm-prototyping?fbclid=IwAR3yojtbqXc52uTwrBV4uaUV7JdsMHMKIXA2NudhUH4mw8uPlmbxAPoDW3Q
>
>Looks like we might have quite a lot of work to do :/

"Backwards compatibility is a key requirement." -
https://www.midi.org/articles-old/midi-manufacturers-association-mma-adopts-midi-capability-inquiry-midi-ci-specification

So if your app works well with the current MIDI, you don't need to
migrate to MIDI 2.0.

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[LAD] Potential MIDI headaches?

2019-01-19 Thread Will Godfrey
I've just been told about this.
https://www.midi.org/articles-old/the-midi-manufacturers-association-mma-and-the-association-of-music-electronics-industry-amei-announce-midi-2-0tm-prototyping?fbclid=IwAR3yojtbqXc52uTwrBV4uaUV7JdsMHMKIXA2NudhUH4mw8uPlmbxAPoDW3Q

Looks like we might have quite a lot of work to do :/

-- 
Will J Godfrey
http://www.musically.me.uk
Say you have a poem and I have a tune.
Exchange them and we can both have a poem, a tune, and a song.
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