MIDI 2.0, first major overhaul to music interface standard from 1983
What will Midi 2.0 mean for musicians?<p>I suspect: frustrations with shit not working with other shit, like it used to with MIDI, and a big decrement in DIY hackability.<p>USB is in the mix! Pretty much `nuff said, but I will say it anyway. USB is a complex beast with documentation that is a good fraction of a foot high, if printed out in all its versions on standard letter sized laser paper. If you bring that into any standard, that is now part of your standard.<p>USB connectors do not have the optical isolation of MIDI current loops; USB interconnecting will bring in noisy ground loops that will have musicians and recording engineers pulling out their hair.<p>The clever thing in MIDI is that a device which sends messages over MIDI to another device drives current pulses (not voltage). These current pulses activate an octo-coupling device in the receiver such as a phototransistor. There is no galvanic connection between the devices; they don't share any ground or anything.<p>All sorts of talented musicians have done incredible things with MIDI. The resolution of MIDI has been just fine for people with real chops. MIDI 2.0 isn't going to solve the real problem: talent vacuum.