PPQ differances among sequencers, and it's revalance.

Mattman04

Kit Ramsey's brother
I've heard that midi cannot quantize ppqn any faster than 96ppqn.
If true why would any company waste extra processing power to use more?
I know there has to be a method to this, right?
The source I heard this from was Michael form www.midicase.com in a thread at ughh.com a few years back.
He seems very knowlagable, and is well respected so I'll take his word unless I can see some reputable proof otherwise.
My thinking is that it's purely marketing for a sequencer to have 480-960ppqn timing.
 
well id guess if youre using a sequencer with 480-960ppqs then youre gonna have real accurate timing and you most likely wont be quantizing very much, and usually sequencers with that high ppq will give you a % option, you change the strength of the quantization, im sure the more ppq your sequencer has the more finely detailed you will be able to quanitze your drums, i think
 
I'm not entirely sure if 96 ppqn is the highest available for MIDI.

"A MIDI command is typically two or three bytes sent serially at a baud rate of 31250 (bits per second)."

So, the slower your tempo, the more resolution-per-beat you will have (as far as MIDI goes). In an example with all 3-byte commands, at 90 bpm, that's approximately 868 MIDI commands per quarter note.

PPQN is just a measuring stick used for the capabilities of a sequencer. Even if the ppqn of a particular sequencer exceeds the capabilities of the MIDI connection, it may not exceed the precision of its internal sound engine (eg. MPC4000).

96 ppqn meets the needs of most people (and if you're quantizing, even 48 ppqn or lower would be sufficient for you).

I hope that clarified things a bit.
 
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