How do I get mutiple banks of midi channe

Question

Is it possible to get 2 x sets of Midi channels i.e.total of 32 midi channels-tracks (with each track
supporting its own dedicated patch i.e. MIDI CHANNEL =Guitar MIDI CHANNEL b =organ
and so on... what I would like is 32 seperate channels with 32 different patches is it possible
on the Platingum..do I use Midi Instruments control?

Answer 1

MIDI itself only defines 6 channels, but the MIDI bus is capable of interconnecting more than a single device. If you have 2 MIDI synthesizers, you can use a sequencer program that knows how to handle more than one synthesizer and play them together, giving a total of 32 simultaneous channels, each capable of playing multiple notes together. That's up to 32 different instruments playing chords at the same time.
The SBAudigy PCI cards have a single 64-voice synthesizer, but they use this capability to give you what appears to be 2 MIDI synthesizers, named "A" and "B." Each of these provide 6 MIDI channels, which then share the 64 available voices. You can load different Soundfonts in each of these, but you can also load the same GM Soundfont in both, say, and then use a different set of instrument numbers in each. Using this is a matter of ) what Soundfonts you load using that control panel, 2) what synthesizer devices you tell your sequencer program to use for what, and 3) what instrument numbers you tell your sequencer program to assign to the MIDI channels on each synthesizer device.
Note that 6 channels can be used to play more than 6 instruments because you can change the instrument assigned to a MIDI channel. The limitation is about the number of instruments playing at the same time. However, one tends to use a specific ensemble of instruments for a piece, and the common practice is to assign specific instruments to specific channels for the duration of a piece.
Finally, there are also provisions for multiple banks of _instruments_, which is a different concept from having multiple banks of midi channels (as you expressed it). This gives you the ability to have more instruments to choose from, instead of one set of MIDI instrument numbers alternate bank numbers can be specified, so that you can select different actual sounds to use for instrument number , etc. These are usually organized into alternate versions of the same kind of instrument, so you could for example have a "rock" drumset and an "electric" drumset in different banks. The real motiviation for this is to have more built-in sounds come in a synthesizer. Soundfonts are a more open-ended mechanism, and another way to increase choice. You aren't restricted to the sounds that your synthesizer has; you can load another Soundfont with different sounds, limited only by the extent you can get or make them.
-Dave
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