15 Jan
2003
15 Jan
'03
5:57 p.m.
Steve Harris wrote:
;-) OK, I'll chime in. None of this is directed at you! Truly.
MIDI doesn't play notes. MIDI synths play notes. All MIDI does is send
instructions to a device. The device then implements what it wants as a
response.
Some MIDI devices can play multiple notes at the same pitch on the same MIDI
channel. Manny cannot. I use GigaStudio. It can play 160 copies of the same
sample at the same time if you want it to. Not very interesting, but it does
have it's uses.
XAP doesn't ignore MIDI, its totaly midi
compatible (for input), but it
can do things that MIDI can't (eg. playing overlapping notes at the same
pitch).
MIDI can't play overlapping notes at the same pitch? I was wondering
myself, what the defined behavior was if you have two sucessive note
on's on the same pitch (with two matching note-off's later, of course).
Again, the answer is somewhat different if these two notes are on the same
channel or on different channels.
Is this really illegal in MIDI?
Don't know. That's a spec question.
And what about this common situation:
Sustain-on, note-on, note-off note-on (same pitch), note-off,
Sustain-off>?
It depends on the capabilities of the synth. In many synths this is the way
they operate. In many samplers they can operate differently.
I had always assumed that, since I have never read anything in the MIDI
spec concerning this, that it was up to the device how to interpret such
things.
I believe this is true.
I would be mildly surprised however, if the common
behavior was
to turn off the last note and then immediately start the new one (when
the second note-on is received). I've always assumed that every box I
have would start a new note at the same pitch (but then I'm not sure if
the note-off's are handled last-note-first or last-note-last).
Not every box I have!!
Does anybody know what the most common behavior is, or if indeed this is
addressed in the MIDI spec?
I do not know the most common behavior.