Read patch numbers?

I have never seen mention of such a command, and I'm not sure there is any point as it's such a trivial task to send midi data to set the channels of ANY device to whatever.

Some devices do set channels to specific instruments on startup or reset, but this is probably different for each device. This may be detailed in the respective manual.

The current setting, where this is stored, would be at a specific memory location in the RAM of the device, but this location will be different for each device. A SysEx command could probably be created to read (and return) this data as a SysEx data dump, but it would need to be different for each device.

As I suggested, the simplest solution would be to create a small midi file that does nothing but send the PC commands to set each channel to your preferred defaults, and 'play' that file before doing anything else. Then you KNOW what the settings are.

Geoff

MIDI 1.0 does not have this feature.

We are currently defining extensions for MIDI 2.0 and I'm reasonably certain that this will be a feature in the future.

So, the Midi 2.0 Spec may include such a facility.

Then manufacturers will need to implement this, so that devices will send something back.

Then software will need to recognise the data returned, and I assume display this in a useful form. And update this information on a real-time basis?

I wonder how long all this will take?

I didn't mention this before, because it's not really anything to do with the question as asked, but certain devices do NOW display the current setting on their little LCD screen - if they have one. For example, my Yamaha MU90r does this for each channel selected, so does my Korg NS5R. Other devices with a screen may do the same.

Geoff

Thank you all for your responses.
My application is for a foot controller for a guitar amp modeler. It sends +/- 1, 5, 20 patch increment (program change) commands.
It would be a nice feature if the controller could read the current patch number and start from there.

Mark