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Connect Through MIDI

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Submitted By: Tobi Hunke / AbletonDrummer

Elevator Pitch

Connect Through MIDI

Product Description

Connect Through MIDI

ConnectThroughMIDI is a software (prototyped in MAX) that transforms MIDI into a tool for real-time musical interaction between people. It allows musicians to share control, trigger sounds, and influence each other’s setups with simple or advanced gear — including joysticks, drum pads, and keyboards. Designed for inclusive creativity, it supports professional collaboration, music therapy, education, and accessible music-making.

How It’s Innovative

ConnectThroughMIDI builds on the power of MIDI to make real-time collaboration between musicians more accessible and intuitive. It simplifies the process of linking instruments, effects, and controllers — allowing creative connections across different setups. Even low-cost MIDI gear like joysticks or single-button pads can trigger harmonies, modulate effects, or interact with other players. By supporting MIDI 2.0 features like Property Exchange (implementation in progress), it can automatically discover available parameters and make them easy to map. The innovation lies in making MIDI collaborative, accessible, and human-centered — opening creative possibilities for pros, beginners, and inclusive ensembles alike.

See MIDI Innovation In Action

Most Inspiring Use Cases

Music educators can set up collaborative sessions using ConnectThroughMIDI — linking professional musicians or even pre-recorded MIDI clips from a DAW with participants of different abilities. For example, one participant might use a joystick to arpeggiate the keyboardist’s chords in a different sound within a music app. Another could trigger rhythmic textures using a single-button pad. A third might adjust effects like delay or reverb using a MIDI controller adapted to their movement ability. With affordable MIDI gear and intuitive mapping tools, educators can prepare the entire experience in advance — no coding required. During the session, all participants respond to each other’s input in real time, creating an expressive, evolving piece together. It’s a powerful way to make musical connection accessible and meaningful for everyone involved.

Expansion Plans

ConnectThroughMIDI is designed to grow through collaboration, community feedback, and evolving MIDI standards. Future development will focus on refining the user interface, adding deeper support for MIDI 2.0 features and incorporating additional MIDI message types for richer interaction.
Scalability is central — from 2 player set ups to large group sessions across networked environments. Planned features include multi-user session templates, cloud-based preset sharing, and integrations with popular DAWs and performance tools.
Another key direction is creating educational content and workshop materials that help educators, therapists, and musicians use ConnectThroughMIDI creatively and confidently. These resources can also serve as a foundation for partnerships with institutions or hardware makers.
As more MIDI 2.0-capable gear becomes available, ConnectThroughMIDI will adapt to offer smarter, more intuitive mappings and automatic parameter discovery — making advanced interaction possible even for users without deep technical and MIDI knowledge.

Commercialization

Commercialization Plans
ConnectThroughMIDI is currently in the prototype stage, developed in Max. The goal is to release it as a standalone application or Max runtime version to ensure broad accessibility and ease of use.
The initial target audience includes music educators, music therapists, and forward-thinking professional musicians who value real-time creative collaboration. To lower barriers to entry, the plan is to offer preconfigured resources and presets that work with affordable MIDI gear — without requiring advanced technical knowledge.
At this stage, engaging with users from these communities is essential to better understand their needs and workflows. Keeping the commercialization model flexible creates space for collaboration and co-development. Instead of committing to a traditional software sales approach, alternative paths are being explored — including grants, workshops, educational initiatives, and partnerships with MIDI hardware companies.
For example, hardware brands could sponsor the creation of presets for their devices, supporting development while offering added value to their users. By remaining open to a range of models, ConnectThroughMIDI can grow in a way that remains inclusive, sustainable, and community-driven.

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