[linux-audio-user] midi programming question regarding channels

Hi All,

What's the canonical way to play a "one instrument" chord
in midi?

Do I send multiple note-on events to the same channel?
Or, should I split them up into different channels, and
make sure that the used channels have the same program
(or patch-value?)?

My intuition says stack up the notes on the one channel.
That would be more analoguous to a band situation where
each channel is an instrument. But, in practice are most
midi synths able to handle enough multiple notes on a channel?

For example a "piano" channel should be able to take up to say
5 notes, and still play them distinctly. Or the same with
a guitar channel where a guitar chord is commonly plucked
on 5 or 6 strings.

I'm using a soft-synth in my developement/learning/experimenting,
but I hope to eventually use hardware midi modules, and not have to
modify my code.

So quick question recap...
"Should I stack up to 6 note-ons on one midi channel, or should
 I figure out how to split them up into multiple channels?"

I've been reading up up on general midi issues, but I haven't
seen any relevant docs about this.

thanks for any info/pointers/flames,

--
paul w