The Procedures

MIDI compatibility

Knowing that many users will want to combine MIDI and CopperLan, the need for a smooth integration was part of the initial requirements.
CopperLan has been carefully crafted to be technically compliant with MIDI.

• CopperLan accepts any MIDI message - all MIDI messages are converted into CopperLan messages to travel the CopperLan network.
• CopperLan can emulate any MIDI message - despite CopperLan being a more precise and richer messaging system, there is a simple mechanism to convert CopperLan to MIDI: the extraneous part of the CopperLan information is rounded or dropped if there is no direct equivalent
• MIDI messages that have no meaning or use in CopperLan are nevertheless converted so that they can be carried through the network to a MIDI destination.
• Within CopperLan, MIDI SYSEX messages become addressed and packetized ; this allows having several SYSEX flows to be active simultaneously in one setup and simultaneously feed different or multiple destinations and output ports (where they will be reassembled into plain MIDI sysex).
• Incoming MIDI clocks are converted to CopperLan clocks - as they become labeled, several clocks can coexist in one setup and simultaneously feed different destinations and output ports (where they will become MIDI clocks).
• When they are sent to a MIDI output, high precision CopperLan clocks are phase-adjustable (in both time directions) as they become MIDI clocks. This could prove useful to counteract delays in old MIDI equipment.