source file: mills2.txt Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 16:47:27 -0800 Subject: The Pitch Bend Saga From: asouter@scf.usc.edu (Andrew Souter) Friends, For those of you who have been following the pitch bend tuning saga, I received the following today from Tom White, the president of MMA, which confirms Gary Morison's previous suspicion: From: Tom White To: "'Andrew Souter'" Subject: RE: Pitch Bend Specifics Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 13:13:08 -0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 >For the last couple of weeks I have been trying to find out how >exactly the MIDI Pitch bend signal as specified by MIDI standards >effects the output frequency of a given synthesizer. The MIDI specification (for whatever reason) does not specify how a synthesizer should respond to pitch bend messages. This lack of definition is true for many areas of the specification, and as MIDI has become more popular as a "distribution medium" this has become a popular topic for discussion. The General MIDI specification was developed in response to these issues, and thus defines (more so than MIDI itself) some of the responses a synthesizer must make to MIDI messages (in a General MIDI system). However, even General MIDI may not go far enough for some people. Addressing just the pitch bend question, GM does define the _extreme_ ends of the pitch bend messages (2 semi-tones), but allows this to be changed using a well defined pitch bend sensitivity message. However nowhere is there any definition of the "response curve" .. which is apparently what you are seeking. I suspect the reason for this is that the nature and typical use of pitch bend gives little reason for that exactness. However, I have no doubt that you have a unique example which would invalidate my claim . Anyway, the most likely answer to your questions is that every manufacturer (and possibly individual products from the same manufacturer) pitch bends differently, but it is also likely that they either do a linear bend or some other "common" curve. Unfortunately, the only way you will ever know is to ask about every product .... Not much help? Oh well ... good luck on your search! - Tom White - President, MMA -andrew Safe Journey... Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Sun, 17 Nov 1996 17:45 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA14939; Sun, 17 Nov 1996 17:47:13 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA14622 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id IAA16473; Sun, 17 Nov 1996 08:47:10 -0800 Date: Sun, 17 Nov 1996 08:47:10 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu