Re: [LAD] basic MIDI note-on/note-off questions

On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 9:29 AM, Clemens Ladisch <clemens@email-addr-hidden> wrote:
> James Morris wrote:
>> 1) Notes of zero duration?
>>
>> Are these legal MIDI?
>
> Yes.  There are synthesizers that can play percussion sounds at their
> natural length and ignore note-off messages, so, sometimes, note-off
> timing isn't available.
>
>> Do I send a note-on with simultaneous note-off?
>
> Yes.  Some standards say that each note-on must have a corresponding
> note-off.

I have the full MIDI spec in front of me. It states very clearly that
a sender MUST always send a note off for every note on, regardless of
whether a receiver pays any attention to it.

>
>> 2) note x ending simultaneously with note y beginning
>>
>> For example, a sequence of eighth notes, each an eighth in duration.
>>
>> As far as processing of these events goes, which should be processed first?
>
> This depends.  It is possible that a synthesizer plays these notes in
> legato for certain instruments, but only if the note-on of the second
> note is received before the note-off of the first note.  And it's
> possible that certain other notes are _not_ intended to be played legato.

there are 3 pages (minimum) of discussion of this behaviour in the
MIDI spec. there are at least 4 options for how a receiver can behave.
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Received on Fri Jun 25 20:15:12 2010