MIDI does support non-Western music (was: Why can't i access /dev/dsp or /dev/snd on my XO)

[Albert Cahalan]

imm ian writes:
On 22 Jan 2008, at 4:11, Albert Cahalan wrote:

>> You don't need to abuse pitch bends. MIDI lets you
>> redefine the pitches of the notes. You can redefine
>> middle C to be 1234 Hz if you like.
>
> Mmm, well, yes, but...

No "but". You can redefine at will, for individual notes.

If you need a player, try timidity. If you have obsolete
equipment that can only do pitch bends, you can use Scalia
to convert a MIDI file. Scalia can also convert back.

> It's not so much the pitches that are the issue, it's the
> intervals, and MIDI kind of constrains what you can do about
> that, so you do kind of end up abusing pitch bend...

Nope. (not that abusing pitch bend is a tragedy though)

Since 1996, the MIDI tuning specification has allowed you to
set the pitch to within 1/16384 of a semitone.

Since 1999, the MIDI tuning extensions have made this a bit
more efficient.