[A6] Re: NRPN Again

[Larry Pham]

Oh man, it looks like NRPN editing will take a while to get a firm grasp on.
Thanks for all the info guys. Just curious, which sequencer do you guys use?
Does it have NRPN editing capabilities? I have been told that with Sonar,
NRPN's can be drawn in just as easily as CC's. I use SX  and I will be
defineltey asking for NRPN editing capabilites for future updates.

L.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Protokol" <protokol13 at hotmail.com>
To: <a6 at code404.com>
Sent: Monday, July 07, 2003 10:26 AM
Subject: [A6] Re: NRPN Again


> > ... i actually wanted to reverse the sweep so it starts from open and
ends
> > in the closed position. Rather then have to setup another track and go
> > through the entire process again, I tried to just draw it in as it would
> > have been easier.
> >
>
> There's a lot of sequencers that can also reverse MIDI events as a
process,
> rather than actually going in and editing.
>
> NRPN editing is pretty nightmarish if the editor cannot translate between
> the format of MIDI, and the resolution needed.
>
> Although Robert gave a good rundown, I'm going to just revisit the topic
to
> reinforce it:
>
> I might be giving redundant information, but it's interesting stuff that
> maybe someone will find useful.  With 7 bits, you get 128 steps of
> resolution (2 to the power of 7).  But, NRPNs increase resolution by
> stacking bits, so instead of 7 you can get 14 bits.  With 14 bits, you get
> 16,384 steps of resolution.  Unfortunately, MIDI was built with the
> short-sightedness of using 7 bits, so those 16,384 steps need to be split
> into 128 discrete steps that in themselves hold 128 steps.  Almost like if
> you had a ruler with 128 meters, and then drew 128 lines between each
meter
> mark or line.  The Most Significant Bits (MSBs) would represent the meter
> marks in this example, and the Least Significant Bits (LSBs) would
represent
> the 128 lines between the meter marks.  It is common practice, as Robert
> mentioned, to use 2 MIDI bytes (using only 7 of the bits for data) for
> Pitchwheel.  The resolution is still 16384, but pitch goes up AND down,
> which leaves only 8192 steps for the UP and DOWN, which is 16384 divided
by
> 2.  Although the PitchWheel parameter is an RPN (Registered Parameter
> Number), because it is a common MIDI parameter that can be used among many
> MIDI instruments.  While an NRPN (Non-Registered Parameter Number) is not
> common and usually specific to that particular instrument.
>
> As you can probably see the system could allow further stacking of bits to
> achieve even higher resolution.  This is important, because I think the
> Andromeda uses 3 Midi Bytes for a non-standard NRPN.  I'm not exactly
sure,
> but the last time I recorded event information there were more than 2
> Controller messages being sent (and I cannot imagine Alesis using more
than
> 21 bits of resolution).  Having 3 Midi Bytes would be 128 steps * 128
steps
> * 128 steps = 2,097,152 steps... Wow!  Almost like you grabbed that Meter
> stick once again and drew 128 microscopic lines between all the original
128
> lines you drew between all the 128 meter lines.  Which, by the way, would
> probably take you over a month and a half if you drew them at a rate of a
> line every 2 seconds with no rest or sleep.  Maybe drawing lines is not
such
> a good idea come to think of it ;0)
>
> -proto-
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