Midi 2.0

Don’t lose hope yet. Colin’s putting Ethernet and USB on the 2nd version of the Cirklon sequencer for host connection. He’s done that for MIDI 2.0, but I don’t know how far he’s gone with prototyping things yet. Worth keeping an eye on.

…but he has mentioned that it might be purely for a point-to-point connection, rather than for network connection.

I’m steering well clear of midi 2.0, not prepared to wear a radiation suit while synth-ing, besides they don’t do them in my colour :laughing:

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Thunderbolt!

Hahaha. Deal breaker for me too. Must have colours!

I received this link from the Midi Association.
(Core MIDI 2.0 specifications now available)

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while 32 bit cc, timestamps, 256 channels and automatic exchange of configuration data is nice, the loss of support for trs and din connections means, that midi 2.0 will mostly become relevant for software-controller-connections but not so much for connections inbetween hardware synths without computers. Or am I missing something?

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Most new features such as Capability Inquiry, Profile Configuration, Property Exchange, and Jitter Reduction Timestamp also work over MIDI 1.0 so they can be used when gear is hooked up using legacy serial TRS or DIN connections.

Both MIDI 1.0 as well as MIDI 2.0 are what’s called “transport agnostic”. However, even though sending MIDI 1.0 messages over various transports is well defined, there’s not yet a transport specification for MIDI 2.0!

They have however defined what they call a “Universal Packet Format” which should make specifying transports for MIDI 2.0 relatively straightforward. USB will most likely be the first transport over which you’ll be able to send and receive MIDI 2.0 messages.

Directional TRS or DIN links won’t be suitable as a transport for MIDI 2.0 messages. It’s also expected that most new gear will use MIDI 1.0 transports for a long time to come simply because it offers everything those devices need.

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You can bet some influencer will dub it Midi Emkaytwo :joy:

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Let wait till we can try it before we start getting upset

Upset? Who is upset?

good point!

as i understand the spec trs and din are also too slow for ump, because under midi 2.0 the smallest package is 4 bytes long where midi 1.0 used 3 bytes. and with only 4 kbyte/s every bit counts.

but is ump „necessary“ for midi 2.0, or just optional? because only midi CI is mentioned in the spec as necessary for midi 2.0.

but i might have to dig a bit deeper in the spec.

Not sure if this question has been asked, will Elektron devices like the Digitone and Ocatrack support midi 2.0? Its a protocol correct? So at least if a device which has a USB connection it should be possible to upgrade to midi 2.0.

In theory they could support it. But it would need new code to be written, which would almost certainly take up more memory on the device (because MIDI 2.0 is more complicated, with more features) which might mean no space for other features. It depends whether the firmware is already using all the available resources.

Which features of MIDI 2.0 would you like Elektron to implement in the Digitone and Octatrack?

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I’m looking forward to improved sync!

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Mainly the higher resolution midi note and cc control, its something like 14 thousand steps on midi 2.0, i see the Ocatrack doesn’t have midi over usb so that wont be possible.

Digitone it might be possible, love to know if that is correct.

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External polyphonic expression and better clock sync. Simplified parameter mapping in DAWs.

Guys just run your elektrons in Turbo mode! :alien::v:

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I really hope that when they eventually standardize Midi 2.0 on DIN, they add a high speed mode. There are plenty of contexts where USB isn’t necessarily the right answer, cabling-wise, but it’s trivial to support much higher data rates on the same cabling now. I’m betting there’s a fair bit of hardware made in the past decade that could have their DIN interfaces upgraded in software to support faster data.

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