lipi wrote:SoundInMotionDJ wrote:
There are no wireless based MIDI controllers that I have seen on the market.
That you've seen, maybe, but that's because you haven't looked, not because they're not there.
Googlification trivially yields, for instance:
True. I did only check Native Instruments, Pioneer, Akai, Numark, Denon, Behringer, and a few others. A "toy" controller is not a replacement for a MIDI keyboard (piano style), an "all in one" controller, or even a bunch of buttons to mash for the DJ.
Still, I do acknowledge that there are wireless based MIDI controllers in existence.
lipi wrote:Out of curiosity, what do you think USB (or USB2) can do that wireless cannot when driving a sound interface? I'm not arguing--just curious.
A wire provides an amount of reliability in the connection. While I am generally distrustful of the physical USB connector (given the lack of any latching mechanism), once established the connection is very stable in practice. That is something that bluetooth, wifi, and other RF based technologies can't yet claim.
A wire provides an amount of protection from cross-talk and interference. Wireless mics are good, but are still subject to drop outs and pops and interference from other transmitters in the local area. Given the limited protections offered to "consumer" level wireless frequencies by the FCC, this is not likely to improve significantly in the near term.
A wire provides a predictable amount of bandwidth. I use a four stereo channel external sound interface. I am actively driving four signals into that sound interface and mixing them externally. The available wireless technoloiges can not support the bandwidth needed to accomplish that without dropouts, etc. If I were using "control vinyl" or some other scratch interface and had four stereo inputs coming in at the same time, the bandwidth would be even more stressed.
A wire provides much lower latency than current bluetooth or wifi. The Windows OS has about 35-40ms of latency (on my computer, etc) to handle a MIDI note and produce the effect, the sound interface (with it's buffering) adds another 15ms to that. The USB 2 connection adds about another 5ms to that. My final "button push" to "sound out the speakers" latency is in the 55-60ms range. That is fast enough to allow for "finger drumming" or other controllerist techniques or for scratching with control vinyl. Bluetooth and wifi have about 150-200ms of latency (plus the OS, plus the sound interface). That is entirely too slow to allow for any "fine grain" control of the music.