Greetings,
tl;dr: Does GP4 support MIDI 2.0?
Long form: Kong has just released a new pair of keyboard controllers, called the Keystage, that implement MIDI 2.0. This includes Property Exchange and MIDI Polyphonic Expression. And the keys themselves are are quite nice (tried the 61-key model at NAMM). I want to know if GP4 is compatible with this unit.
Thanks!
At least Polyphonic Expression is support since V 1.0 of Gig Performer
Very interested in this thread,since I’m currently sitting on the fence about ordering the Keystage for gigging. Currently I know that in theory MIDI 2.0. allows Keystage to communicate “both ways” and read which parameters its currently controlling, thus enabling it to show on its tiny screen the names of the controls below the knobs. But I haven’t yet grasped what does this require from the plugin or plugin host side in order to work properly.
Another thing that interests me especially as a synth nerd is the knob resolution: MIDI 2.0 should enable 4 billion something steps instead of 128 like in old midi-standard. But Korg seems to be pretty quiet about the knob resolution of the Keystage, I’m assuming it could be 32 but is it? And does this again require some patching from plugin developers or will the resolution simply be higher once you start using a MIDI 2.0. enabled controller?
and people can distinguish among all those values???
This is one of those “awesome in theory but of little importance in real life” at least for many use cases
Sigh
Not all people, and definitely not “all values”, so the jump in resolution won’t matter to most basic users of midi-gear. But I would argue that musicians who have spent significant amount of time playing and tweaking hardware synths will notice a difference in how some basic stuff like filter cutoff control responds to live tweaking (while playing a lead solo for example). While physical build-quality stuff will of course also have an effect, meaning a controller with very flimsy pots will feel flimsy no matter what the resolution, with even some pretty rugged midi-controllers (Soundforce comes to mind) the stepping in the response IS noticeable, at least if you like doing subtle dynamic stuff and tweaking with higher resonance values.
Plugins have come a very long way in emulating the sound of great analog gear and based on just recorded samples the best ones are pretty much indistinguishable from their HW counterparts, even for an expert. But put a blindfold on a seasoned synth wizard and let them do their magic with physical knobs; they will notice the difference between adjusting a MIDI CC control and adjusting an analog synth, no matter how great the plugin and how great smelling wooden panels the controller has (and I do like the SFC-5 for example, it is still a highly enjoyable little piece of gear, it’s not their fault the MIDI standard is 40+ years old).
I quess there will be many people thinking now I should consider switching snake oil to more nutritionally rich beverages. But I still think MIDI 2 is a very worthy step forward and upgrading the resolution will matter to more than just a few musicians (not even mentioning all the other upgrades in the new standard). Not that I’m not eternally amazed at and grateful for what Dave Smith and Ikutaro Kakehashi achieved; the good ol’ MIDI is impressive piece of engineering even by today’s standards. Digital gear just has progressed a lot, so why not let MIDI finally grow with it.
Does Window support MIDI 2.0 yet?
Pete Brown is a good source for Win MIDI info: Pete Brown, Author at Windows MIDI and Music dev
and the Microsoft MIDI repo: GitHub - microsoft/MIDI: Windows MIDI Services