Is all midi structured essentially the same way?

[James]

I'm not sure if this is the right way to ask this, but I'll give it a shot.

A Creative soundcard has a synth A and a Synth B (ignoring the onboard midi
synth will sounds) to which you can assign midi banks/patches. As I
understand it, each synth has 16 channels, giving you a total of 32 channels
and various tracks can be assigned to each channel so that if you have
patches that are mapped to different areas of the keyboard, you could assign
multiple patches to the same channel without them stepping on each other.

Are all midi synths set up essentially this way? Are you always limited to
16 channels per synth? Creative cards have 2 synths, is there anything that
has more than 2 synths so you have more than 32 potential channels?

What about Gigastudio? How does its structure compare to this? Similar?
Totally different animal? How about others like Halion?

Thanks.

[James]

Post by James
As I
understand it, each synth has 16 channels, giving you a total of 32 channels
and various tracks can be assigned to each channel so that if you have
patches that are mapped to different areas of the keyboard, you could assign
multiple patches to the same channel without them stepping on each other.

I.e. - you could have multiple tracks on the same channel if the patches on
those tracks are assigned to different areas of the keyboard, is this
correct?

[Rob Aries]

Yes, multiple sounds on one channel work if their key ranges don't
conflict.

Also, I have an old Technics WSA synth with two midi inputs, so I have
32 simultaneous separate channels available. Not many hardware synths
have two midi inputs though.

A *multitimbral* synth plug-in should have 16 channels available for
each instance. Put up 4 plug-ins, get 64 channels of music.

Post by James
I.e. - you could have multiple tracks on the same channel if the patches on
those tracks are assigned to different areas of the keyboard, is this
correct?

[Ricky Hunt]

Post by James
I'm not sure if this is the right way to ask this, but I'll give it a shot.
A Creative soundcard has a synth A and a Synth B (ignoring the onboard midi
synth will sounds) to which you can assign midi banks/patches. As I
understand it, each synth has 16 channels, giving you a total of 32 channels
and various tracks can be assigned to each channel so that if you have
patches that are mapped to different areas of the keyboard, you could assign
multiple patches to the same channel without them stepping on each other.
Are all midi synths set up essentially this way? Are you always limited to
16 channels per synth? Creative cards have 2 synths, is there anything that
has more than 2 synths so you have more than 32 potential channels?
What about Gigastudio? How does its structure compare to this? Similar?
Totally different animal? How about others like Halion?
Thanks.

Some of this is because of the MIDI Spec itself. Other's depend on the synth
(sending and receiving) and how they function and interpret the incoming
MIDI data. For detailed answer ask at rec.music.makers.synth.

[Geoff@home]

Post by James
I'm not sure if this is the right way to ask this, but I'll give it a shot.
A Creative soundcard has a synth A and a Synth B (ignoring the onboard midi
synth will sounds) to which you can assign midi banks/patches. As I
understand it, each synth has 16 channels, giving you a total of 32 channels
and various tracks can be assigned to each channel so that if you have
patches that are mapped to different areas of the keyboard, you could assign
multiple patches to the same channel without them stepping on each other.
Are all midi synths set up essentially this way? Are you always limited to
16 channels per synth? Creative cards have 2 synths, is there anything that
has more than 2 synths so you have more than 32 potential channels?

No, not all MIDI is set up the same. MIDI in it's purest form is free-form
and set up whatever way the programmer/user prefers.

However GM or General MIDI is set up with a standard set of channels and
patch assignments. So in context of your question, then YES.

And one *is* limited to 16 channels per physical ( or logical) port.

geoff

[James]

Post by ***@home
No, not all MIDI is set up the same. MIDI in it's purest form is free-form
and set up whatever way the programmer/user prefers.
However GM or General MIDI is set up with a standard set of channels and
patch assignments. So in context of your question, then YES.

Thanks for responding. I understand you don't have to have banks and patches
set up according to GM - i.e. you don't have to have all 128 instruments,
and instrument 1 doesn't have to be piano, etc. but as far as general
stucture, are all midi synths set up so that you're always limited to 16
channels per synth?

Post by ***@home
Creative cards have 2 synths, is there anything that has more
than 2 synths so you have more than 32 potential channels?

Thanks.

[Laurence Payne]

Post by James
as far as general
stucture, are all midi synths set up so that you're always limited to 16
channels per synth?

A MIDI cable carries 16 channels. Whether it's a physical cable to an
external box, or a virtual cable to a software synth/sampler - one
cable, 16 channels.

But there's no logical reason why an external box shouldn't accept 2
or more MIDI cables. And there's nothing to stop you buying
additional boxes.

Same with softsynths. GigaStudio is configured as 4 MIDI devices. So
you can address 4 X 16 instruments at once. Other softsynths (like
Halion) allow you to run multiple instances of the program. Maybe each
instance is multitimbral, maybe not. No matter, virtual MIDI ports
are cheap :-)

CubaseFAQ www.laurencepayne.co.uk/CubaseFAQ.htm
"Possibly the world's least impressive web site": George Perfect

[s***@gmail.com]

Post by Laurence Payne
But there's no logical reason why an external box shouldn't accept 2
or more MIDI cables. And there's nothing to stop you buying
additional boxes.

Another thing is that it's pretty rare to have more than sixteen
different timbres sounding at once. Remember that you can change a
channel's voice on the fly, so there really isn't a limit to the total
number of instruments you can have in one performance.

[notejam]

You can not count on midi being the same on one keyboard to the next.
If you stick to just note on/ note off and pitch bend then it is pretty
standard from one midi device to the next.
But if you get into things like velocity, bank switch commands, program
change commands, etc., different manufactuers did not impliment things
the same.

The midi commands are standard, but how the gear responds unfortunately
is often enough not standard.

[Harald Schollmeyer]

Post by notejam
You can not count on midi being the same on one keyboard to the next.
If you stick to just note on/ note off and pitch bend then it is pretty
standard from one midi device to the next.

No, not even there. There are two types of Note Off messages, but most
devices understand both.

Harald

[Laurence Payne]

On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 14:11:46 +0100, Harald Schollmeyer

Post by Harald Schollmeyer
No, not even there. There are two types of Note Off messages, but most
devices understand both.

To be pedantic (as I suppose one must where computer data is
concerned) there's only one sort of Note Off message. But there's a
special case of Note On that has the same effect. Shall we explain
Running Status now? :-)

CubaseFAQ www.laurencepayne.co.uk/CubaseFAQ.htm
"Possibly the world's least impressive web site": George Perfect

[Harald Schollmeyer]

Hello,

Post by Laurence Payne

Post by Harald Schollmeyer
No, not even there. There are two types of Note Off messages, but most
devices understand both.

To be pedantic (as I suppose one must where computer data is
concerned) there's only one sort of Note Off message. But there's a
special case of Note On that has the same effect.

You got me ;-)

Post by Laurence Payne
Shall we explain Running Status now? :-)

Yes es es es es es es es es (ommited status byte).

Harald