viking@silver.bacs.indiana.edu (Jon W. Backstrom) (08/29/89)
Rethinking Visualization ------------------------ In article 25132, viking@silver.bacs.indiana.edu (Jon W. Backstrom) writes: > >One complaint I have about Patchbay is that when two modules are >connected straight across the bay, but at an angle, the connections >are visually crossed. For example: > >Angled across...visual crossing of 'patchcords'... > > MIDI > ------------------+ +-- < SimpleKey >Driver < ------------------|-+ (Merged / > | | Input) | > | | \ > +-|-----------------+-- > MIDIArp > +-------------------- < > >When you get a lot of merged inputs and cross-connections, it gets >harder to figure out what's going on. I would suggest that Apple >should use a non-crossing visualization scheme for showing patchcord >connections across the patchbay. > >Angled across...*no* visual crossing of 'patchcords'...why not? > > MIDI > --------------------+ +-- < SimpleKey >Driver < ------------------+ | (Merged / > | | Input) | > | | \ > | +-----------------+-- > MIDIArp > +---------------------- < By exploring further, I find that I may have embarrassed myself in that I can unscramble the mess simply by rearranging the modules within the patchbay: SimpleKey > ---------------- (Merged Input) \ +---------------------- > MIDIArp | +-------------------- < | | | | MIDI > -----------------+ | Driver < -------------------+ I can grant that it's probably too much of a programming hassle to implement a visual unscrambling scheme, covering all cases where patchcord connections might cross, but the ideal would be to minimize crossing *wherever* the modules happened to be placed in the Patchbay. All Notes Off - possible bug? ----------------------------- >Finally, the "All Notes Off" button, from the MIDI Driver Settings >dialog (you get there by double-clicking the Driver icon in Patchbay), >seems to send an all notes off message (B0 7B 00), followed by 128 >individual note off messages (80 nn 40 ... nn being 0-127), for *every >MIDI channel*! (1-16) As mentioned, a large stream of data seems to be produced...an "All Notes Off" channel mode message (Bn 7B 00) followed by 128 individual "Note Off" messages...for each MIDI channel. (6192 bytes, in theory) I assume that individual "Note Off" messages are used for those synths that might not respond to the Channel Mode "All Notes Off" message. Is this true, Apple? (Is all this data *really* necessary and would you consider toggling this behavior in the next implementation of the MIDI Driver?) I tried to describe how I physically looped the MIDI OUT to the MIDI IN (using an external MIDI cable) and then used SquidCakes (the simple MIDI event recorder) to look at the output after the "All Notes Off" button from the MIDI Driver Settings dialog was pressed. My results were inconclusive, however, due to the inherent slowness of the MIDI recorder. SquidCakes records data for channel 1, 2, and the first part of 3...sometimes missing the initial channel mode "All Notes Off" message (B0 7B 00). Spurious data appears in the recorder at the end of each burst and the "MIDI Communication Error", produced on my Roland D-50 when 'listening' to this "All Notes Off" message in OMNI mode, makes be suspicious. Has anyone looked carefully at the output of the Apple MIDI Driver's "All Notes Off" command? Does it actually send 6192 bytes of data? Are all the MIDI messages legal, or does the data stream contain bogus packets? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jon W. Backstrom "Yah sure...we gonna have fun, you bet!" Institute for Digital Arts P.O. Box 176 Internet: viking@silver.bacs.indiana.edu Bloomington, IN 47402-0176 UUCP: {ames,rutgers,att}!iuvax!silver!viking -------------------------------------------------------------------------------