Start
of Distributed MIDI Standard to Open Creative Possibilities for
Musical Composition and Performance
Contact:
Phil Kerr, Chair, IEEE P1639 (TM) Working Group
44-141-330-5740, philkerr@elec.gla.ac.uk
or
Karen McCabe (732) 562-3824, k.mccabe@ieee.org
PISCATAWAY,
N.J., 4 Feb 2003 The Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers Standards Association (IEEE-SA) has begun work on a
standard to extend the reach of musical instrument digital interfaces
(MIDI) by allowing for MIDI transmission over Ethernet and IEEE
802.11 (TM) networks. This promises to give those in the music
field significant new creative possibilities for composition and
performance.
The new standard,
IEEE P1639 (TM), "Standard for Transmission of Musical Instrument
Digital Interface (MIDI) Data within Local Area Networks: Distributed
MIDI - DMIDI," should be finalized by the end of 2003. It
will retain backwards compatibility with existing hardware and
software under the original MIDI specification, which is now 20
years old.
"The
new standard will enable MIDI users to do more, do it faster and
do it with greater flexibility," says Phil Kerr, Chair of
the IEEE P1639 Working Group and Researcher at the Centre for
Music Technology, University of Glasgow, Scotland. "New software-based
MIDI applications introduced in the last decade have created almost
limitless creative musical control.
"Unfortunately,
this capability cannot not be realized fully because MIDI's limited
networking ability restricts how MIDI data can be intermingled
with data on local area networks (LAN). The new standard will
form a network-wide, distributed MIDI (DMIDI) interface to overcome
this. The standard will also greatly improve transmission speed
and addressing schema,
while retaining the bit resolution of standard MIDI messages."
The original
MIDI standard allowed for a transmission speed of 31.25 kbaud,
which was adequate for a musician to control a small number of
MIDI devices. DMIDI will use the current Ethernet-based networking
infrastructure to carry MIDI data at transmission speeds as great
as 10 Gbit/sec. This speed boost will allow for the full use of
such sub-protocols as DLS and MIDI Show/Machine control.
The new standard
will increase the number of addressable devices. The original
MIDI specification provided 16 channels for devices. DMIDI will
allow for nearly 16 million devices, each retaining the existing
16-channel MIDI structure. DMIDI also adds the ability to send
meta-messages for enhanced device control.
The standard
will optimize DMIDI for low-powered devices. It will specify communication
protocols for transmitting MIDI data in LANs and contain low-level
protocols and high-level addressing schema for interconnecting
MIDI-capable devices over LANs. It also will detail buffering
strategies, so traditional MIDI hardware can deal with the higher
transmission speeds and so software-based MIDI applications can
coexist in the same networking domain as MIDI hardware and still
run at full LAN speeds.
Anyone with
a technical and manufacturing interest in MIDI is invited to join
the IEEE P1639 Working Group. Other who might want to join include
those who seek to explore DMIDI's creative possibilities and those
with expertise in Ethernet-based and wireless LAN networking infrastructures.
IEEE P1639
is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society.
About the
IEEE Standards Association
The IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA), a global standards-setting
body, develops consensus standards through an open process that
brings diverse parts of an industry together. It has a portfolio
of more than 870 completed standards and more than 400 in development.
IEEE-SA promotes the engineering process by creating, developing,
integrating, sharing and applying knowledge about electro- and
information technologies and sciences for the benefit of humanity
and the profession. For further information on IEEE-SA visit:
http://standards.ieee.org/.
About the
IEEE
The IEEE has more than 380,000 members in approximately 150 countries.
Through its members, the organization is a leading authority on
areas ranging from aerospace, computers and telecommunications
to biomedicine, electric power and consumer electronics. The IEEE
produces nearly 30 percent of the world's literature in the electrical
and electronics engineering, computing and control technology
fields. This nonprofit organization also sponsors or cosponsors
more than 300 technical conferences each year. Additional information
about the IEEE can be found at http://www.ieee.org/.
P1639, 802.11
are trademarks of the IEEE. All other names or product names are
the trademarks, service marks or registered trademarks of their
respective holders.
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