Re: MIDI Still?

[roberto <roberto@nomade.worldonline.co.uk>]

on 23/8/01 2:22 PM, Todd Quincy at tquincy@sayhhi.com wrote:

> For all the really smart people out there.
> 
> A midi event or singal can be sent over data lines (the internet). But 
>how
> fast is it, and is a midi signal the fastest vehicle musicians have for 
>web
> jams...
> 
> I supposed there will always be a delay in audio, something like .004 
>ms. or
> something (anyone know for sure) This delay which is fine for phone 
>calls,
> but not a jam.
> 
> Is midi our best bet to beat the delay, won't it enable us to one day jam
> with others on line to a preset time code, swapping and sharing midi 
>evnet
> files from our repeater and edp in timecode?
> 
> (In the virtual world,  what is realtime to me may still be 4 seconds 
>behind
> you, but when you're sync'd to a clock what does it matter? As long as 
>the
> tempo stays the same for all involved.)
> 
I have been waiting (sure I'm not the only one) for the day live jamming
on-line will be possible. I'm afraid that day is still far.
However, for those who may be interested: a month ago at the Research 
Centre
for the Performing Arts of the Middlesex University in London (UK) we did 
an
interesting experiment (hopefully the first of a series).
We set up two performance spaces in the same building. Linked the spaces on
a network and placed video cameras and video projectors in both rooms. 
Using
a series of Macs with a software called Live Channell (Sorenson Broadcaster
would do the same) as well as a Stream Genie by Pinnacle we managed to
broadcast between the two rooms, so that the musicians and dancers in the
two spaces could interact live with each other's projection.
The resulting combination was simultaneously being broadcast on the web (at
a reasonable picture and sound quality).
At the beginning the time-lag was considerable and, before we managed to
optimise the settings, some of the artists discovered that they could
perform in one room, then run very fast to the other room and perform with
their own projection. Doing it a few times in a sequence would produce a
loop with the same dancer multiplying...
As long as we have to live with the delay we may as well find creative uses
for it...
Is this too off-topic? If so I may ask something about the Repeater...;-}

Roberto

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