> This is correct but multiport interfaces don't add up those latencies:
Well, it still adds up as far as you use the individual ports. If have a single keyboard controller with modulation and pitch bend wheels connected to one port I don't think it's far fetched to say that the latency of the MIDI messages for some instant action can add up to >5 ms on its own. Might be hard to notice, but that's my point! At that latency you might as well be discussing how close you should sit to the speakers. If you're 1.72 m from your speakers, that adds +5 ms latency. I'll reach that distance if I stand up playing with a stage monitor at my toes.
That said, I think that 5 ms here and there does matter. For example, 5 ms vs 10 ms audio buffers on a PC felt like night and day to me. The total time from finger to ear was probably already twice that, but it seems that shortening the audio buffer crossed some threshold where it suddenly didn't feel like I needed to adjust my playing for the latency.
I agree that Ethernet would have made sense today, and I think that some manufacturers already support something like that.
Well, it still adds up as far as you use the individual ports. If have a single keyboard controller with modulation and pitch bend wheels connected to one port I don't think it's far fetched to say that the latency of the MIDI messages for some instant action can add up to >5 ms on its own. Might be hard to notice, but that's my point! At that latency you might as well be discussing how close you should sit to the speakers. If you're 1.72 m from your speakers, that adds +5 ms latency. I'll reach that distance if I stand up playing with a stage monitor at my toes.
That said, I think that 5 ms here and there does matter. For example, 5 ms vs 10 ms audio buffers on a PC felt like night and day to me. The total time from finger to ear was probably already twice that, but it seems that shortening the audio buffer crossed some threshold where it suddenly didn't feel like I needed to adjust my playing for the latency.
I agree that Ethernet would have made sense today, and I think that some manufacturers already support something like that.