Documentation confusion regarding MIDI.

[Hwaen Ch'uqi]

Greetings All,

I preface this by acknowledging that I know nothing about the
innerworkings of MIDI. In section 3.5.7 of the NR, which deals with
MIDI channel mapping, there appears to be a discrepancy in the wording
about channels and tracks. The third paragraph implies that channels
and tracks are synonymous, stating that LilyPond creates separate MIDI
tracks for staves, instruments, or voices depending on the value of
Score.midiChannelMapping. This is immediately followed by the
statement that there is no limit to the number of tracks. The
impression left is that layers upon layers of sound could be
generated. This obviously is not true. The Selected Snippet at the
bottom of that page states that only 16 channels are available per
track and then details ways of avoiding the running out of channels.
This page appears to need some clarification. I would offer
replacement text, but knowing nothing on the topic, I am hardly
qualified. I simply know from experience that midiChannelMapping
offers a bit of wiggle room in an otherwise restrictive situation,
especially for orchestral or other large ensemble context.

Hwaen Ch'uqi