... I know that these things will create more complications than benefits to many people and only a few people will be interested. In any case, the question has a cultural value ...
This topic represents the other side of the topic "MIDI latency/jitter performance" at http://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13199 .
In the case mentioned we have talked about the problems associated with MIDI interfaces for windows, osx and linux. We observed several cases of extreme performance that no one would believe possible.
In this case we want to address the problem on the other side: the console MIDI encoder. This case is less problematic because there is no interference of complex operating systems. There are only microcontrollers that do one job and do it well with the physical limits of the historical MIDI standard.
I briefly recall the MIDI standard dates back to 1983 and that the serial transport layer network has a theoretical latency of 1ms to MIDI event (note-on). However it may happen that the final latency/jitter that comes to Hauptwerk is also 10 times higher mainly because of the MIDI interfaces connected to the computer. How kindly reminds Martin ( http://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13184 ), the Hauptwerk MIDI processing has no time limits(nonasecond) ... In practice, the major limitation is the operating system (especially Windows), the quality of the MIDI driver, the physical MIDI transport layer and obviously the raw keyboard quality.
It's been more than 30 years but no manufacturer is sensitive to this issue of the MIDI performance. Obviously we're talking about keyboards performance. The fingers and arms can stress significantly the traditional MIDI encoder: for example, a cluster trill between blacks and white keys played with the arms on coupled keyboards...a torture test!
My speech, however, does not want to just be tied to performance. There are also other aspects:
- Lower costs
- Greater integration
- Greater flexibility, scalability
- Higher performance
- Flexible software implementation
.
Basically I wanted to know if there may be an interest of the DIY users. The solution is based on an PCI(e) Digital I/O board to be installed on your PC or MAC, or a more traditional standalone solution where the console has its own encoder card based on Digital I/O PCI(e) board and communicates with the PC through a low-latency channel: ethernet, thunderbolt, ...
The Digital I/O board are typically used in industrial automation. Basically even the worst cards can do the job well. Market has produced an infinite number of models. You can also find a used electronic card for a few tens of dollars ...:
- Acces PCI http://www.accesio.com/go.cgi?p=../pci/pci_dio_120.html
- ADlink PCI http://www.adlinktech.com/PD/web/PD_detail.php?s&pid=1174
- ADlink PCI_Express http://www.adlinktech.com/PD/web/PD_detail.php?pid=890
- Sealevel PCI http://www.sealevel.com/store/i-o/digital-i-o/pci/8009-pci-96-channel-ttl-digital-interface.html
Anyone wishing to adopt this solution may choose between 2 options:
- "Insert the card into the console" instead of the traditional MIDI encoder with a fast PC communication channel, for example ethernet.
- Insert the card into the PC / MAC to the fullest possible integration. You do not need a Mac Pro to use a PCIe board (http://www.sonnettech.com/product/thunderbolt/index.html ).
.
I await your feedback and/or functional suggestions.
Thanks
This topic represents the other side of the topic "MIDI latency/jitter performance" at http://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13199 .
In the case mentioned we have talked about the problems associated with MIDI interfaces for windows, osx and linux. We observed several cases of extreme performance that no one would believe possible.
In this case we want to address the problem on the other side: the console MIDI encoder. This case is less problematic because there is no interference of complex operating systems. There are only microcontrollers that do one job and do it well with the physical limits of the historical MIDI standard.
I briefly recall the MIDI standard dates back to 1983 and that the serial transport layer network has a theoretical latency of 1ms to MIDI event (note-on). However it may happen that the final latency/jitter that comes to Hauptwerk is also 10 times higher mainly because of the MIDI interfaces connected to the computer. How kindly reminds Martin ( http://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13184 ), the Hauptwerk MIDI processing has no time limits(nonasecond) ... In practice, the major limitation is the operating system (especially Windows), the quality of the MIDI driver, the physical MIDI transport layer and obviously the raw keyboard quality.
It's been more than 30 years but no manufacturer is sensitive to this issue of the MIDI performance. Obviously we're talking about keyboards performance. The fingers and arms can stress significantly the traditional MIDI encoder: for example, a cluster trill between blacks and white keys played with the arms on coupled keyboards...a torture test!
My speech, however, does not want to just be tied to performance. There are also other aspects:
- Lower costs
- Greater integration
- Greater flexibility, scalability
- Higher performance
- Flexible software implementation
.
Basically I wanted to know if there may be an interest of the DIY users. The solution is based on an PCI(e) Digital I/O board to be installed on your PC or MAC, or a more traditional standalone solution where the console has its own encoder card based on Digital I/O PCI(e) board and communicates with the PC through a low-latency channel: ethernet, thunderbolt, ...
The Digital I/O board are typically used in industrial automation. Basically even the worst cards can do the job well. Market has produced an infinite number of models. You can also find a used electronic card for a few tens of dollars ...:
- Acces PCI http://www.accesio.com/go.cgi?p=../pci/pci_dio_120.html
- ADlink PCI http://www.adlinktech.com/PD/web/PD_detail.php?s&pid=1174
- ADlink PCI_Express http://www.adlinktech.com/PD/web/PD_detail.php?pid=890
- Sealevel PCI http://www.sealevel.com/store/i-o/digital-i-o/pci/8009-pci-96-channel-ttl-digital-interface.html
Anyone wishing to adopt this solution may choose between 2 options:
- "Insert the card into the console" instead of the traditional MIDI encoder with a fast PC communication channel, for example ethernet.
- Insert the card into the PC / MAC to the fullest possible integration. You do not need a Mac Pro to use a PCIe board (http://www.sonnettech.com/product/thunderbolt/index.html ).
.
I await your feedback and/or functional suggestions.
Thanks
Elia