Musical Instrument Digitial Interface (MIDI) is a "Standard specifications that enable electronic instruments such as the synthesizer, sampler, sequencer, and drum machine from any manufacturer to communicate with one another and with computers." - www.menc.org/publication/books/performance_standards/glossary.html
A note on a musical MIDI keyboard has 2 triggers - note on and off. Each trigger has a velocity value. How hard you press on the key determines what number the velocity is - between 1 and 128. There are also faders and rotary dials on some MIDI controllers with values 1 to 128 also. The good thing is more than 1 parameter could be manipulated simultaneously in real-time. We have ten fingers, why not use them all?
I have 9 faders and 11 rotary dials on my musical keyboard interface and it would be awsome to use them to:
- Model objects easier
How frustrating is making a 3D object with one pointing device? Wouldn't it be better to be making objects using faders, wheels and rotary dials? Even touch sensitive xy pads could be used! Want the object to be scaled up? Just turn the knob clockwise - voila!
- Move around in world more effectively
A foot pedal could be used to (for example) fly.
I could use my modulation wheel to determine how fast I walk/run (compared to binary walk/stop, run/walk)
I could turn one of my rotary dials to look left and right while using my pitch shift wheel to look up and down!
One thing I really want SL to have next is tilt left+right.
- Edit animations in world
I could program the playing of multiple keys to add elements to animations, making more complex daisy chains and further interactivity for people who have a MIDI controller
A combination of camera angles assigned to certain controls with other assigned controls for moving stuff around, would make the 2D to 3D experience a lot less hard and it would be more fun at the same time (much more interactive when manipulating the x y and z axises with your left hand for the camera while manipulating the x y and z axises for the object size and position with your right hand).
I envisage custom MIDI keyboards to be sold exclusively for the purpose of virtual reality animation and better interactive experience. There many MIDI controller devices being developed all the time -> a MIDI glove is already being sold, a MIDI body suit being sold for a significantly higher price, a MIDI sofa was developed as a university project (http://69.56.171.55/~midibox/forum/index.php?topic=4901.0)- imagine the possibilities! Lean left to turn, sit back to look up, 2 throttles to fly / run etc.
So you're all probably wondering what possible use could a musical keyboard's "note on and note off" triggers could have. You could customise a template and have an octave (12 white and black notes) play animations. You could setup velocity layers so that if you press the key softly it does something different. A practical example might be hit a key softly to smile, and hit that same key harder to laugh. My keyboard has 61 velocity sensitive keys (5 octaves). Infinite customisation would be available and the interface would be separated thus making the keyboard specifically for communicating, the MIDI musical keyboard specifically for gestures, animations and music making in world, and the MIDI musical keyboard's kool faders, wheels and dials specifically for moving around both objects and camera angles.
The separation of keyboard functionality will allow 2 people who are co-located to act as a single avatar. For example, one person does the moving around while the other does the talking. This way, ball sports could be introduced into SL. Running and calling out at the same time would be possible if two people worked together using separate keyboards on the one computer. They would be a single player in a team.
In fact, many sports that require accuracy and co-ordination would be enhanced by this interface.
Please add to this idea to help define the scope of this project.
My ultimate vision is collaborative real-time music production with no lag.