7 bits directly coupled to a control of a filter cutoff, for example, will create a zip. I doubt any living pianists can present substantially more than 127 discrete velocity values, however.
Filter cutoffs are another example where 7 bits aren't enough, and if they linearly map to 20..20kHz, then even 14 bits isn't enough.
As for conscious piano velocities, there are ppp, pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff, fff, and you could maybe add pppp and ffff for 10. But those are velocity ranges, and you definitely will notice if every note within a passage is quantized to one of 12 or 13 velocity levels.
First of all there's the accent pattern of each measure where in 6/8 time you'd want 6 velocities. There's also expression within a chord and from note to note on a melodic sequence, where e.g. a note struck by the pinky might be expected to be just a little bit quieter. There are gradual crescendos that might last for more than 12 notes as well. And finally there's just the subtle randomness of the player and the instrument that makes things sound natural instead of artificial.
So for a piano piece to sound natural, you absolutely must have more than 128 velocity levels. Maybe 4096 would get you by. Boesendorfer's older CEUS computer piano system used more, but I never used it and it looks like they have switched to Yamaha's Disklavier.
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All that said, I think you do have a fair point that the jump in complexity is significant from MIDI1 to MIDI2. Each protocol seems to have been designed near the state of the art of its respective time period. Maybe in another 30 years it will be just as easy to drop a $1 microcontroller on a board and talk MIDI2.
Comments
7 bits directly coupled to a control of a filter cutoff, for example, will create a zip. I doubt any living pianists can present substantially more than 127 discrete velocity values, however.
Filter cutoffs are another example where 7 bits aren't enough, and if they linearly map to 20..20kHz, then even 14 bits isn't enough.
As for conscious piano velocities, there are ppp, pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff, fff, and you could maybe add pppp and ffff for 10. But those are velocity ranges, and you definitely will notice if every note within a passage is quantized to one of 12 or 13 velocity levels.
First of all there's the accent pattern of each measure where in 6/8 time you'd want 6 velocities. There's also expression within a chord and from note to note on a melodic sequence, where e.g. a note struck by the pinky might be expected to be just a little bit quieter. There are gradual crescendos that might last for more than 12 notes as well. And finally there's just the subtle randomness of the player and the instrument that makes things sound natural instead of artificial.
So for a piano piece to sound natural, you absolutely must have more than 128 velocity levels. Maybe 4096 would get you by. Boesendorfer's older CEUS computer piano system used more, but I never used it and it looks like they have switched to Yamaha's Disklavier.
----
All that said, I think you do have a fair point that the jump in complexity is significant from MIDI1 to MIDI2. Each protocol seems to have been designed near the state of the art of its respective time period. Maybe in another 30 years it will be just as easy to drop a $1 microcontroller on a board and talk MIDI2.