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Developers & MIDI 2.0 Specifications
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When opening any MIDI-software (in my example Loopy Pro): Is it possible to read the current MIDI values/status of all parameters in a MIDI device?
BACKGROUND:
I have a digital mixer (Zoom LiveTrak L6 Max) that reads and sends various MIDI values for volume, mute, pan, etc.
If I make changes on the L6 Max, it is easy to read the status in Loopy Pro. Similarly, it is straightforward to send, for example, a volume value to the L6 Max.
CHALLENGE:
But the challenge is to extract the status of all MIDI values from the L6 Max so that Loopy Pro can be updated (for example, when I open Loopy Pro).
I can send a volume value (and similarly for all MIDI parameters) to the L6 Max so that Loopy Pro and the L6 Max are synchronized. But then the problem is that I have SENT (and changed) a MIDI value instead of RECEIVED it.
SOLUTION: ??
Posted : 02/01/2026 4:13 am
Hi, I am not sure if this works the way you want. Usually, you receive MIDI messages in form of an event. If no event occurs, you don't get the message.
MIDI version 2 allows bi-directional communication, but I think this more for MIDI CI.
Some mixing desks support Opensound Control by connection to a NIC, LAN or wifi.
Posted : 01/08/2026 11:34 am
What you're describing — "read the current status of all parameters at startup," rather than only
receiving changes as they happen — is precisely what MIDI 2.0's **Property Exchange (PE)** was
designed to provide. It's the part of MIDI-CI that lets one device ask another for structured data
(as JSON "resources") on demand: device info, the channel/program list, the list of controls, and —
the one you want — a resource describing the current parameter values.
Here's the honest catch, and it's really the whole state of PE today: **it only works if the target
device implements a PE responder**, and very few shipping devices do yet. So for your L6 Max →
Loopy Pro case specifically, it'll only help if Zoom built PE into that unit — which, like most
current gear, it most likely hasn't. In practice that leaves the usual workarounds (event-based
capture, or OSC if the device offers it, as mentioned above). Not the answer you were hoping for on
that exact box, but worth knowing the *standard* mechanism exists and where it stands.
Why I'm confident it's the right long-term answer: I've been building a proof-of-concept around this
exact gap. I wrote a PE responder that stands in for a sound generator, and it makes a hardware
controller auto-label its knobs with a software synth's real parameter names and drive them — two
products that were never designed to talk to each other. When a responder exists, the "query the
device for its parameters and values" experience genuinely works. It also makes very visible how
little of the ecosystem publishes this yet.
If it's useful to anyone here, I'm happy to share the implementation as a reference for building a PE
responder — and I'd be glad to compare notes with anyone who's implemented one, or who's tried to get
standard vs. vendor-specific resources talking to each other.
Happy to go deeper on the MIDI-CI / PE handshake if that'd help.
Posted : 06/08/2026 3:21 pm