Re: MIDIFY yer VORTICES!!!

["T.W. Hartnett" <hartnett.t@apple.com>]

>he MIDI data may be in the form of program change commands, or
>note data and the trigger signal may be a positive or negative, level,
>or pulse, the duration of which is user definable. With the addition of
>a suitable lead, the device will be able to control all the inputs on
>the Vortex. The full spec. is as follows...

I'd considered building a device which would transmit program step 
messages to the Vortex in an attempt to make it more programmable, but I 
ran into some conceptual problems, and based on the description of the 
very interesting KADI box, I'm afraid the problem might also apply.

Supposing you have a box with 32 switches.  Switch 1 corresponds to 
preset 1A, switch 2 to preset 1B, etc.  You turn on your rig.  The Vortex 
boots up to whatever it was last set to, say 7B.  If the hypothetical box 
doesn't have non-volatile memory, it probably comes up to 1A, since I 
don't believe there's any simple way to get the Vortex to send messages 
regarding it's status.  So, you either set the Vortex to match the box or 
vice versa.

This is where it gets difficult.  Say you're playing your first piece, 
and the first Vortex patch you want to use is 1A.  You're grooving along, 
until you get to a transition where you want to access, say, 9B.  You 
press the 9B button.  My understanding is that you have to send eight 
step-up signals, plus an A/B signal to get from 1A to 9B.  You can't just 
have a dumb button that sends eight up's and an A/B, since the number of 
signals depends on where you start.  So, unless there's something which 
can compare where you are and where you want to go, and calculate the 
correct number of steps and whether or not an A/B needs to be sent, the 
hypothetical controller won't be that useful.

I think this would be a very specialized piece of gear, and it doesn't 
look like the KADI box would fit the bill, wonderful as it may be for 
many other applications.  I'd love to be wrong on this, so if someone has 
a different way of doing this, please let me know.

Travis Hartnett