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A project log for n00n - Real Time Music Sensor Streaming Protocol

MIDI is so outdated, welcome to the 20s and the 16-bit world !

yann-guidon-ygdesYann Guidon / YGDES 12/15/2022 at 22:560 Comments

Similarly to MIDI, N00N can use a model where the devices are chained, which creates a hierarchy and enforces some priorities. But this is not the only possible topology. This mostly depends on the type of physical transmission interface, and we suppose a unidirectional stream.

Each device should have an input and an output so it can be integrated in a chain, like below, otherwise it is forced to be at one end or another of the chain, which makes it harder to integrate smoothly.

"Hubs" or concentrators are also possible but they require enough CPU to resynchronise the incoming streams. This does not solve many issues and introduces more of them.

N00N over IP (UDP) is possible but this requires more complex methods to configure each device. Static or dynamic addresses are only one easy aspect, devices must also "discover" where to send their own stream... The LSB of the IP address then matches the device's ID. 10BaseT and 100BaseT have latencies in the millisecond range when taking all the OS overhead into account, and it's a big source of jitter... S/PDIF has a much lower latency because data are processed at sample speed, in very small chunks and with very short FIFO.

I was able to reach sub-millisecond latencies with Wiznet modules in a barebones configuration but I'm not sure it applies here.

It would be interesting to use RJ45+50ohms twisted pairs for connection between devices because the parts and cables are very widely spread, though there is always a risk of compatibility with other standards (and PoE could burn the devices). RCA and 75 ohms is used in some older video applications and is not expensive.

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Back to the daisy chain.

The simplest configuration is a source device (like a keyboard) directly connected to a sink device (an expander).

The chain can be expanded by adding more sources (more keyboards, more knobs) upstream, and more sinks downstream. The ends of the chain allow this addition, though there is the risk of breaking it in the middle.

Performance recorders can be added at the end of the chain to capture (and replay) the stream, there can be sequencers as well... But most probably, a computer will act as a DAW at the ends of the chain :

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