Let's not forget there are still around 16000 RPNs and the same number of
NRPNs, each with a 14-bit value, already in the MIDI spec.

Richard Dobson wrote:
> 
> Paul Barton-Davis wrote:
> 
> > and here is the crux of the matter. what we have here are two control
> > methods that both affect the same target (a Csound instrument/voice),
> > but have totally different goals. MIDI as you point out enables one
> > instrument to control another; Csound scores allow compositional
> > control over things that cannot be played on any particular (or even
> > any possible) physical instrument.
> >
> > this difference is very significant, and it makes it clear that one
> > should probably consider them as parallel control techniques, not
> > substitutes for each other.
> 
> I agree completely.
> 
> > >My though for a Csound sequencer then is something which (somehow) not
> > >only supports the arbitrary pfield system, but also full polyphonic
> > >legato per instrument. With careful design, even this could be handled
> > >in real-time, though almost certainly not via MIDI.
> >
> > i don't see how any real-time event stream can even supply note
> > duration ...
> >
> 
> It could be done by design - a message tells an instrument to port to a
> named note (pitch, ideally), over a given time. To keep the protocol
> simple, the instrument would have to decide on the ~style~ and
> particular timing of the port according to the voice used. it could
> probably be done as a four or five--byte MIDI message:
> 
> 
> representing the time would be the fiddly bit. some portamento styles
> (especially voices) can take over a second to execute a slide, whereas
> slding-finger portamento on a violin is much faster (most people don't
> even notice it). So a delta-time in msecs is probably needed, and a
> 14bit number (as used for pitchbend) would just about be enough. The
> flaw with this, as I mentioned before, is that it is still predicated on
> note-numbers, not on voices. So NOTE_OFF will still have to refer to the
> original note, not the new one.
> 
> Of course, duration ~could~ be represented in a MIDI-like stream, it
> just isn't, and there are probably not enough eight-byte codes left to
> add such things. it would perhaps be possible using Universal
> System-Exclusive.
...
-- 
Greetings,
Michel
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