Re: [fluid-dev] MIDI commands for reverb/chorus parameters

[Element Green]

Hello Peter,

I often reflect on how unfortunate it is for the MMA to operate as such.  I reflected on that years ago when I was adding DLS2 support to Swami.  This format would have likely been a lot more popular if the specification was more open, such as what Creative Labs did with SoundFont.

At any rate, it seems like using the NRPN portion of MIDI is OK, which could potentially be used for adding reverb and chorus parameters (beyond the basics).

In regards to Sysex, I wonder what happens when a company stops paying the yearly fee?  Beyond the red "suspended" text in the manufacturer's ID table online, I can't see what other consequence there would be.  Not that I'm suggesting anything in particular ;-)

Best regards,

Element

On Sat, Jul 9, 2016 at 12:03 AM, Peter Billam <address@hidden> wrote:

Greetings.  Element writes:
> Seems like the MIDI standard doesn't really have a "unregistered"
> manufacturer ID though for Sysex which makes things awkward and
> I don't think it is worth trying to buy our own ID for $200/yr.

I keep dreaming that something like the Free Software Foundation
will register as a "Manufacturer" then allow various open-source
project to construct their sysexes, identified by project-name
(eg: "fluidsynth") right after the initial magic FSF-bytes and
followed by a space or some other delimiter.  But it's most
unlikely that the MMA would tolerate such a break-out :-(

The cost of writing feral SysExes could be very high; you can
get sued by some vast global manufacturer who claims your sysex
caused one of its synths to upgrade its OS to garbage, and sues
you for reputational damage, up in the multi-Bn$-range ...

There is an vary out-of-date list of manufacturers at:
  http://www.blitter.com/~russtopia/MIDI/~jglatt/tech/midispec.htm
scroll the left frame to System Exclusive Manufacturer IDs and it says:
  Educational Use  0x7D     ( = ascii "}" )
  This ID is for educational or development use only,
  and should never appear in a commercial design.
which does not mention open-source software designs, but Clemens
Ladisch in comp.music.midi reckoned don't mess with it except in
very strictly in-house files, it's asking for trouble;  become a
MMA member instead. (I can't find the posting where he said this...)

I wrote:
>   http://www.midi.org/techspecs/index.php
>   http://www.midi.org/techspecs/midimessages.php
Those URLs are out of date;  the specs are now only offered by
the MMA in PDF form, and you have to "register" or "join":
  https://www.midi.org/specifications/

Peter

http://www.pjb.com.au      address@hidden     (03) 6278 9410
"Follow the charge, not the particle."  --  Richard Feynman
 from The Theory of Positrons, Physical Review, 1949