I mean, is it just higher baud rate MIDI, or is there some kind of funky handshake going on? If I wanted to build MIDI equipment that supported Turbo mode, do I just send standard MIDI at 312500 baud or what?
afaik yes. have a look in the MIDI sysex appendix for the Machinedrum UW, there’s a few handshake commands. But I guess if you really going to do this, contact Elektron for further info…
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What is turbo actually for? Ive noticed it in the menus, never paid attention to it though
MIDI, but 10x faster between devices bi-wired together in>out out>in
so if there’s a dense packet of midi info some of it will arrive quicker, perhaps control info will be closer to the note on etc … perhaps there’s more, but the increased bandwidth allows things to work more smoothly (in principle)
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Nice one, that’s cool. Shame it’s not more common in that case
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A post was merged into an existing topic: Syncing Multiple Elektron Boxes with Multiple Turbo Midis?
Dear all,
could anyone briefly explain why the “Turbo Midi” protocol only seems available via AR MK2’s (physical) Midi ports?I am wondering if there’s a reason why I can’t seem to be using it when (midi clock-)syncing the AR with a computer via USB.
Which leads to a next question:
Is (clock-)synchronization more reliable (or “tight”) when using 8x turbo speed via Midi(-Plug) or when using normal (1x, 24PPQ) sync via USB?
Thanks!
Benni
Turbo MIDI requires particular hardware for DIN-MIDI ports. The speed of data transfer is greater over USB than over DIN-MIDI.
I don’t think that any difference would be noticeable. I don’t think that there’s even any advantage in Turbo speeds over regular MIDI for synchronization unless you are sending tons of other messages at the same time. But you should try it yourself if you are curious.
Turbo MIDI was primarily introduced to speed up sample dumps and SysEx backups to/from the MD and MM, which don’t have USB connectivity.
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Thanks for helping out, Peter!
Are you positive that that’s correct…? (see below)
To my vague understanding, turbo midi increased the frequency; not per se the “reliability” at which midi(-clock) bytes are sent.Usually midi is sent at 24PPQ (pulses per quarter note)… – if I understand correctly, using turbo midi, this frequency is increased (x2, x4…). Therefore you get a finer resolution for clocking. This is why I’m confused as for why it’s not available via USB…
I don’t think that’s a correct summary.
MIDI clock messages are sent at a rate of 24 per quarter note, as you appear to say. But Turbo MIDI does not change that.
What Turbo MIDI does is increase the overall rate at which all MIDI messages can be transmitted through hardware improvements (whose capability can be assessed by sending messages between the transmitter and receiver).
The basic period for a byte of MIDI data is 320 microseconds, within a tolerance of +/- 1 %, based on the minimum performance specification given in the original MIDI specification document. (This means about three bytes can be sent per millisecond.) What Turbo MIDI does is allow for faster-responding hardware so that large amounts of MIDI data can be transmitted faster. It does not increase the rate of transmission of MIDI clock messages.
This does mean that, in theory, clock messages on a crowded MIDI connection might be more reliably delivered. But I have never encountered this in practice: regular MIDI speed is reliable enough. But you should test this for yourself and your own needs.
Turbo MIDI’s main advantage over conventional MIDI is raw speed of delivery of data. As I mentioned, the primary beneficiaries were sample and SysEx dumps to and from the MD and MM, which don’t have USB.
USB-MIDI is part of the USB specification. As far as I understand, the minimum specification for USB-MIDI is to send (potentially very large) packets of MIDI data once per millisecond, in contrast to regular MIDI (about three bytes per millisecond) or Turbo MIDI (about thirty bytes per milliseconds at 10 x speed). This does limit the timing resolution for MIDI data transfer to 1 millisecond intervals, but MIDI clock is still MIDI clock (24 ppqn), which only needs to send a MIDI clock tick every 21 milliseconds for a 120 bpm tempo.
As always, you should try whatever works best for you to meet your timing needs, but I can’t see any particular reason why Elektron needs Turbo MIDI over USB.
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Hi everyone!
i have the trinity A4/AR/OT
I know its possible to make use of the turbo protocol (midi)
but is this really beneficial? when would you notice the benefits?
I must say things seem to work fine without it…
Thanks!
Previously on Elektronauts:
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