Re: MIDI bug - re-attacking a note

[Yuval Harel]

On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 01:46:26 +0200, Han-Wen Nienhuys <address@hidden>  
wrote:

> Yuval Harel wrote:
> > Hello,
> >  When a note is attacked while it is already playing, no MIDI event is   
> > generated. This occurs often in piano notation.
> > Here is an example:
>
> I think that correct MIDI behavior isn't well documented. IIRC, some  
> midi players will not let notes stop if you restart them without  
> stopping them first. (I could be mistaken though).

I wouldn't think so. I don't have the MIDI standard available, but I  
experimented with this a bit.
I played the following MIDI sequence with my Creative Sound Blaster Live  
synthesizer and with a Roland ep-75:

        note-on, note-on, note-off, note-off
        (all in the same pitch and on the same MIDI track)

Both synthesizers play the second note-on. The Roland also seems to  
release the first note first
when playing a piano, but not when playing other instruments. I'm not sure  
whether the Creative
also releases the note for the piano, because the release is not very  
pronouced there (sounds
like a simple fade-out).
For non-pianos, both synths double the note after the second note-on.

The first note-off causes the Sound Blaster synth to stop both notes,  
whereas the Roland
only stops one of them, stopping the other on the second note off.

I would guess the Roland's behavior is more standard. Simply outputting a  
note-on for every note
attacked and note-off for every note released seems like the right  
behavior for such instruments.
In any case it's probably better than putting nothing in the output.


Yuval