Re:Malcolm Cecil, Synthesizer Pioneer, has died
by elihu on Tuesday April 13, 2021 @11:19PM
(#26802568)
Also, 7-bit precision can lead to audible stepping artifacts. (I think there's a way to do 14-bit CCs, but not all synths and controllers support it.)
Re:Malcolm Cecil, Synthesizer Pioneer, has died
by Slow_Hand on Wednesday April 14, 2021 @12:26AM
(#26802935)
Pitchbend in the MIDI protocol is a 14bit word by default.
The MIDI 2.0 protocol has finally been designed and is just now beginning to be implemented in new hardware and software, so this shortcoming is about to be a thing of the past.
Re:Malcolm Cecil, Synthesizer Pioneer, has died
by elihu on Thursday April 15, 2021 @04:38AM
(#26817734)
That's true, pitch bend was 14 bits from the beginning, but that's a special case.
I'm not terribly optimistic about MIDI 2.0; it has a lot of things to like, but I'm expecting the major synth manufacturers to be pretty slow about actually making MIDI 2.0 products, and even then they may just implement the parts they care about, leaving us with an incompatible mess.
Maybe I'm wrong and we'll have a new era of expressive electronic instruments-that-aren't-piano-like. We'll see.
But of course those have their downsides too: a panel of identical, nondescript, unlabeled knobs can be confusing during a live performance; some software doesn't react well to changing synth parameters mid-note; and I have found that, for whatever reason, my MIDI controller tends to have just enough latency to be annoying.
> Your digital counterpart will never have a spurious noise
Well, I've definitely had spurious noises with digital equipment...but software malfunctions don't exactly tend to sound magical.