Re: Adding MIDI APIs to Audio WG Charter (was: MIDI enumeration (was: Re: getUserMedia use cases))

I put together a gist in the form of IDL of what MIDI in the browser could
look like, respective of MediaStreams Processing API and getUserMedia API.
Excuse my weak skills in IDL, I hope it suffices to introduce my idea. It's
also a bit incomplete, for example, it doesn't describe how to actually
push the midi stream to the MediaStreamProcessor, because I haven't thought
of a good way to do it yet. I also included an example usage.

https://gist.github.com/1752949

Feedback appreciated.

Jussi

On Mon, Feb 6, 2012 at 4:49 PM, Joseph Berkovitz <joe@noteflight.com> wrote:

> There is no single answer to this question. I don't disagree with the fact
> that *some* applications will not be sensitive to synth consistency, but it
> is absolutely the case that others will require it.
>
> At the same time, any prospective MIDI API need not provide a
> guaranteed-consistent synthesizer.  It's fair to ask any application that
> wants this level of consistency to provide its own JS-based synth (and the
> viability of doing so, on top of the Web Audio API at least, is proven).
>
> By the way, it is not the case that any JS-based wavetable synth is
> fundamentally flawed idea as per Marat's previous post.  It is not a good
> decision for every application but if one is willing to live within certain
> constraints and also make use of local storage, it can definitely be done.
>
> ...Joe
>
>
> On Feb 6, 2012, at 4:51 AM, James Ingram wrote:
>
> Robert O'Callahan said
>
> Other people want to be able to manipulate real-time MIDI streams and
> synthesize output from them. Where do those applications come down on
> system synthesizer vs consistent synthesis?
>
>
> I don't think its important to guarantee that exactly the same audio
> results from playing a particular MIDI stream on different systems.
>
> Many more application scenarios are possible if browsers allow their users
> to decide which of their installed MIDI output devices they want to use, by
> listing them in a preferences dialog. On Microsoft OSs the "Microsoft GS
> Wavetable Synth" would appear there, and would be the default synthesizer.
> But if I've got a better piano installed, then I want to be allowed to use
> it. If I want to link up with a lighting system, then I want to be able to
> do that. If I've got the Vienna Philharmonic installed, I may want to use
> that.
>
> So even if there was a common default synthesizer across all browsers,
> there's no guarantee that users would actually be using it.
>
>
>
>
> Marat Tanalin said
>
> It makes sense to take into account that GM standard itself defines just
> set of general timbres and does not regulate their exact sounding, so
> different sounding depending on specific GM device is perfectly acceptable
> for GM. If _some_ web-applications need 100% consistency across browsers
> and platforms, authors of that applications are free to implement their own
> pure-script synths _simultaneously_ with having ability to use universal
> system GM synth in all other, more general usecases.
>
> Exactly.
>
> I don't think its too much to ask of an operating system, that it should
> supply a default software synthesizer in the way that Microsoft does.
> Perhaps Microsoft could  be persuaded to make their's open source... :-)
>
> James
>
>
>
>
>
> ... .  .    .       Joe
>
> *Joe Berkovitz*
> President
>
> *Noteflight LLC*
> 84 Hamilton St, Cambridge, MA 02139
> phone: +1 978 314 6271
> www.noteflight.com
>
>