source file: mills3.txt Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 17:07:22 +0200 Subject: Re: Kurzweil update rate, MIDI Tuning Dump Standard From: "jloffink" > The problem is also made more difficult by the fact that at least some > synths, Kurzweils included according to a K2500-user friend of mine, > service everything but note events only on a moderate-frequency interrupt > basis. The result is that you can have an unknown or semirandom amount of > time from note-on to pitch-bend. > The Kurzweil K2000 and K2500 update low level parameters at a 50 Hz rate, which is every 20 ms. Most other synths probably update at about half that rate. For that short a duration I doubt you'd hear anything unless the pitch bend was 50 cents or more. > > Beware that Pitch Palette does NOT support the MIDI Tuning Dump standard per > se! The standard is too slow for the on-the-fly retuning that their program > does. To retune takes 408 bytes or about 130 ms. which is much too slow. I > asked them about the Ensoniq MR rack which they do support. It retunes via > the MIDI Tuning Dump. Ensoniq in their superior wisdom designed the MR > series with a shortcut mode where you need only send one octave worth of > tuning data, 50 bytes or about 16 ms. Great, for octave repeating tunings. > > Even the MIDI Real Time Single-Note Tuning Change takes 8 bytes plus 4 bytes > multiplied by the number of notes to be changed. This might work but the > program would have the added complexity of having to select which notes need > to be retuned first in the context of the music. > > I went through all the trouble of looking for a sound card (Turtle Beach > Tropez+) that supports the MIDI Tuning Dump standard only to find that the > standard is flawed for many applications. Or is it MIDI in general that is > flawed for microtonal applications? > The MIDI Tuning Dump standard certainly has deficiences, probably because not many people contributed to its conception. The greatest limitation is the insistance on handling tuning dumps only on a full keyboard basis. This makes dynamic tuning programs like Justonic's almost impossible as the MIDI bandwidth can't support real-time updates. The other problem is the immediate updating of sustained notes. This is also a problem for real-time key modulations, especially for rapid paced music. One thing I've seen mentioned is the desire for tuning of better than 1 cent resolution. Manufacturers are not likely to incorporate such a feature, not because it is too expensive (it requires 4-8 bits more resolution in the oscillator/accumulator and any associated registers, something that would be almost trivial to add), but rather because all samplers and sample playback based synthesizers are lucky if their samples are tuned to better accuracy than this. This wouldn't be a problem in a non-sample based instrument. But most of the newer DSP-based analog modeling synthesizers are retro in one additional way -- they don't include tuning tables. The only exception is the Korg Prophecy. John Loffink SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: sejic@nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu Subject: Pop music PostedDate: 25-09-97 17:08:27 SendTo: CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH ReplyTo: tuning@eartha.mills.edu $UpdatedBy: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH,CN=Manuel op de Coul/OU=AT/O=EZH RouteServers: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=notesrv1/OU=Server/O=EZH RouteTimes: 25-09-97 17:08:13-25-09-97 17:08:14,25-09-97 17:07:18-25-09-97 17:07:18 DeliveredDate: 25-09-97 17:07:18 Categories: $Revisions: Received: from ns.ezh.nl by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA v1.1 (385.6 5-6-1997)) with SMTP id C125651D.00532216; Thu, 25 Sep 1997 17:08:02 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA30027; Thu, 25 Sep 1997 17:08:27 +0200 Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 17:08:27 +0200 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA30826 Received: (qmail 28956 invoked from network); 25 Sep 1997 15:08:20 -0000 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 25 Sep 1997 15:08:20 -0000 Message-Id: <199709250553.BAA34946@ufl.edu> Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu