Sound change with Stage 2

[anotherscott]

What I was alluding to was Yamaha MIDI XG and Roland MIDI GS which looked like a fight some time ago

Ah. Those were extensions to GM (General MIDI). GM was a patch numering scheme developed so that sequences would use the same sounds for the same parts on any GM-compatible hardware... i.e. piano is always sound #1, violin is always #41, banjo is always #106, and so on. It had 128 sounds defined, and yes, Yamaha and Roland both came up with their own "standards" for additional sounds beyond those 128 and some other functions. And as is often the case, when you have two standards, you end up with no standard.

Functionally, MIDI actually has changed over the years, new standard functions were indeed added (though, as discused, not program up/down)... and all of the new functionality does originate with the manufacturers of the gear... so I've struck out the line where I said that mfrs didn't try to get others to accept their additions, since really they were the source of all the changes! But it was typically done by working within the MIDI Manufacturers Association, rather than going their own way and expecting others to follow.

and of course little things like power over MIDI which isn't part of the standard as far as I know.

It is part of the standard, but it is not required that a manufacturer include it. The fact that it is part of the standard is why, if power IS supplied, it is always over the same pin.

[Mr_-G-]

Is this for the NS2? If you are really brave, you could rewire the cursor buttons out of the instrument and add footswitches in parallel to the panel switches. It won't go through all the programs, but it will go through all the 20 pages. Then by being careful about where you put your programs, it could work OK.

[cgrafx]

Or you could just get a Midi Up/Down pedal that simply sends program 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.... or 6,5,4,3,2,1 all on its own.