Midi 2.0

Also hoping we see some tiny, power-over-ethernet 1.0<->2.0 bridges to bring old hardware into the new world, and that we start seeing synths offering PoE as an alternate connectivity/power option to USB.

my suspicion is very few existing (hardware) products will be upgraded to support any of midi 2.0.

for ‘legacy hardware’ , the position has always been midi 2.0 is backwards compatible, so you can carry on the way you always have.
( cue arguments, about when customers can ‘expect’ new functionality to old products :wink: )

I think, mainly, it’ll be used for the ‘next generation’, this is why we are caught in a bit of a chicken n’ egg situation for adoption - its hard to sell a midi 2.0 device, when theres not much around to make use of it - hence the push to get software vendors (e.g. daws) onboard asap…

if we are lucky, there might be a few interesting ‘bridging’ products e.g. a way to store midi-ci data for older synths, so you’ll be able to integrate them easier using 2.0 features.
simple things, like a daw ‘knowing’ CC x = filter cutoff and is 7bit.

perhaps I should be more optimistic (and I am generally optimistic about midi 2.0) , but I see this being quite a slow road to adoption… its taken years to agree the standard, and we have seen hardly any products to actually implement it so far.

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The semiconductor shortage isn’t helping either I’m sure.

All I’d like to apply to older gear is less jitter, solid sync. That alone is huge.

I hope that will include 1.0

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For recent stuff that’s still receiving firmware updates, I can see them getting the 1.0 compatible features added — that’s part of why I’m thinking a line rate negotiation feature would be nice, because a lot of modern hardware will have UARTs that could easily do it. I agree it’s still going to be a small set of stuff, though, and that it won’t happen unless we start seeing a push from DAWs/new hardware.

The MIDI Association is announcing at NAMM 2022, the addition of MIDI 2.0 capabilities to Analog Device’s A2B ( Automotive Audio Bus ).

A2B® is a high bandwidth, bidirectional, digital bus, capable of distributing 32 channels of audio along with MIDI control data plus clock and power over a single, low cost, unshielded twisted-pair wire.

Consider what this could mean in application if this is generally accepted and used. A network of devices could all be connected with a computer device as well.

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Me discussing the use of the A2B physical connection with MIDI 2.0.

Obviously there are similar capabilities with using USB. What might be hoped for would be improved real-time performance capabilities, and a shared standard that would improve communication of this data between devices between different manufacturers. ( I’d like to hear from anyone with greater insight on this. )

Can’t help but consider comparison to an Overbridge like standard, between devices from a variety of manufacturers.

That said there is a long ways to go from an announcement, to a powerhouse communication interface.

I wrote about the AmeNote ProtoZOA MIDI 2.0 development system in the Coding thread back on June 2nd.

The MIDI Association just did an update press release on that, reported about in Sonic State.

the more i encounter devices with varying degrees of USB MIDI and/or audio capabilities, the more I think ultimately MIDI data and audio signal really should be merged into a single, multichannel data stream. as it stands, trying to figure out what mixer will accept what types of input and then how it will output signal either to DAW or analog mixer path makes MIDI 1.0 look like a piece of piss.

Overbridge kind of seems like a move in that direction but so long as it’s a DAW-only output of the multiple audio channels, not really that helpful for those of us who want to route them into an external mixer (as far as i can tell)

is it too much to hope that someday there will just be one cord to rule them all? (with corresponding interface hubs to be backward compatible with old 1.0 gear)

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Is midi 1.0 vhs and midi 2.0 laserdisc?

Yes, this is the one true way

I have both running over that, but I gotta say, audio over that has been the bees knees for me

Now just imagine a world where everything ran on PoE, as well as supporting Dante and MIDI RTP…

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Even though I’m down to only a few cables, it’s still too many.
I was promised wireless power by now.

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hmm, somehow I have the feeling (on speed, decisions etc on their side), that MIDI 1.0 is like the first black and white photos, and MIDI 2.0 is 4:3 Television from the 90th.

TV eventually came to fruition…

I would suggest not listening to that person :wink:

You’re probably right. I’m sure the teleportation guy will come through tho

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I got a guy for that, I’m just not sure where, or I’d hook you up