16 Jan
2003
16 Jan
'03
4:01 p.m.
On Thursday 16 January 2003 18.39, Fons Adriaensen wrote:
[...]
2. A poly synth. Here normally 'a new note is a
new note', and
things like the effect described above are not possible because
the synth does not know the relations between the existing set
of notes and any new ones. Anther example, you play a 3-note chord,
and then a second one, and you want notes to slide individually
from the first chord to the second. Once your masterpiece is in
MIDI format it't impossible to find out which notes are related.
If course, if you try to play this on a keyboard, you can not even
express what you want, but that only a limitation of the the
interface, and should not imply that it can't be done.
Right. With a guitar synth, you generally have individual control of
6 channels, so that would be one controller you can use for this. A
tablet with two tools and/or using X and Y as two pitch controls
would be another alternative.
If you look
beyond the traditional 'pop' music scene, lots of composers are
using other means to enter their scores, such as scripts or even
algorithms.
Yes, that's a good point.
I also think it's important to note that score editors, piano rolls
and the like can make use of this rather easilly. The easiest way is
to have an optional feature that reuses the released VVID with the
closest pitch. You could also insert that information manually.
(Obviously, both methods work even if the data was recorded from a
keyboard or other controller.) In a piano roll, you could just link
notes with "rubber band" lines from the end of one note to the start
of the next, or something like that, to mark them as chained.
What should be clear from this, is that as a results
of the
limitations of MIDI, a poly synth is *not* the same thing as a set
of mono synths.
If you want that (polyphony by a set of mono synths) the only way
to get it is by abusing the channel mechanism. This forces you to
work in a way that is completely different from normal poly mode,
which is extremely unpractical.
Yes... Especially if you have a braindead sequencer that won't let
you edit multiple channels at once in the piano roll. :-(
Anyway channels are not meant for
this, they are meant to multiplex data intended for different
devices over a single cable.
Exactly. Using multiple channels with the same patch might even
result in significant waste of resources, unless the synth is smart
enough to share data internally. If the synth has internal channel
insert effects, you may not even be able to avoid running multiple
instances of any effects you use.
The explicit use of VVIDs would allow us to unify the
interface to
the 'normal' (in the MIDI sense) polyphonic synth, and the 'set of
of monophonic synths'.
Yes.
And it would indeed allow the player to take the
normally automatic
voice assignment into his own hands, but it does *not* force him to
do so.
Right. You have broken MIDI style polyphony (can't tell notes with
the same pitch apart), completely individual notes as well as chained
notes, all with the same interface.
//David Olofson - Programmer, Composer, Open Source Advocate
.- The Return of Audiality! --------------------------------.
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