[LAU] An atrocity committed with PD (MIDI Spec)

[Folderol]

On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 12:43:15 +0100
"Steve McConville" <mcconville.steve at gmail.com> wrote:

> > I am curious - has there been any move to modernize the MIDI
> > connectivity standards to include USB or Ethernet?
> 
> There has been - there is a midi over usb standard.
> 
> Midi is a poor starting point for modernisation not just beacause of
> the pragmatic compromises mentioned above but also because it is
> wholly unlayered (the spec covers everything from the physical up to
> the presentational layer), and has it's expansion room squeezed into
> the SysEx ghetto. Midi over ethernet would be even less pleasant, and
> less logical, than doing RS-232 over ethernet.
> 
> OSC has fixed these problems and should have been built into
> everything since the mid-90s but so many people have invested time in
> learning MIDI that they wouldn't countenance working with anything
> else. It looks like RESTful web services may eventually replace both,
> however.

I can't help thinking there is also an element of 'if it aint broke
don't fix it'.

This is true for me. MIDI does everything I want without significant
problems OUTSIDE my computer, and once inside, it becomes largely
irrelevant.


-- 
Will J Godfrey
http://www.musically.me.uk