[linux-audio-user] midi programming question regarding channels

[Mark Knecht]

Multiple note on events to the same channel, up to the polyphonic
limit of the synth playing the stream. Note that if you exceed the
polyphonic limit the results are not defined. Some synths will kill
older notes while others will ignore the newest notes.

Hope this helps,
Mark

On 4/16/06, paul wisehart <listreader at lupulin.net> wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> What's the canonical way to play a "one instrument" chord
> in midi?
>
> Do I send multiple note-on events to the same channel?
> Or, should I split them up into different channels, and
> make sure that the used channels have the same program
> (or patch-value?)?
>
> My intuition says stack up the notes on the one channel.
> That would be more analoguous to a band situation where
> each channel is an instrument.  But, in practice are most
> midi synths able to handle enough multiple notes on a channel?
>
> For example a "piano" channel should be able to take up to say
> 5 notes, and still play them distinctly.  Or the same with
> a guitar channel where a guitar chord is commonly plucked
> on 5 or 6 strings.
>
> I'm using a soft-synth in my developement/learning/experimenting,
> but I hope to eventually use hardware midi modules, and not have to
> modify my code.
>
>
> So quick question recap...
> "Should I stack up to 6 note-ons on one midi channel, or should
>  I figure out how to split them up into multiple channels?"
>
>
> I've been reading up up on general midi issues, but I haven't
> seen any relevant docs about this.
>
> thanks for any info/pointers/flames,
>
> --
> paul w
>