Network MIDI 2.0 (UDP) Overview
User Datagram Protocol for Universal MIDI Packets (aka Network MIDI 2.0) defines a standard way to connect MIDI devices (MIDI 1.0 and MIDI 2.0 protocol) via Ethernet and wireless LAN. […]
Tadao Kikumoto (菊本忠男) and Happy Accidents
Before we go into the details of Kikumoto-san’s career and his personal description of how both the TR-808 (the drum machine that has defined the sound of HipHop) and MIDI […]
CME Introduces the H4MIDI WC and U4MIDI WC
High-Performance MIDI Interfaces for Musicians and Producers CME is proud to announce the release of two cutting-edge MIDI interfaces designed to meet the needs of modern musicians, producers, and live […]
John Bowen-The father of factory presets
It is somehow fitting that in one of the most famous pictures about MIDI (the photo from the 1983 NAMM show where MIDI connected a Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 to […]
MIDI History Chapter 7- MIDI Associations (1983-1985)
MIDI in 1983 – It seems to work, but what’s next? In Chapter 6 of the History of MIDI, we started in 1981 when Kakehashi-san first went to Tom Oberheim with […]
MIDI History Chapter 6-MIDI Begins 1981-1983
In researching this article, we relied on many first person resources and accounts. We have spent a lot of time unpacking these stories from decades ago because we feel that […]
CES 2025 Booth 8578 LVCC, North Hall
We have received our CES Allied Association Booth for 2025 and want to invite everyone to come see us at Booth 8578 of Las Vegas Convention Center in the North […]
The History of MIDI -Chapter 5-Precursors to MIDI
Analog Synths, Drum Machines, and Sequencers In the last chapter of the history of MIDI, we covered the early history of electronic musical instruments, the period from 1900 to 1963. By the […]
The MIDI Association At NAMM 2025
MIDI Association NAMM Booth Events Thursday, January 23 MIDI Association Lifetime Achievement Awards 2025 Thursday, January 23 11:00 AM-11:45 AM 45 minutes (America/Los_Angeles) MIDI Association Booth 10302 (Hall A) In-Person […]
Lemonaide: The World’s First Fairly Trained AI MIDI Plugin
Lemonaide is a state of the art AI Company that creates MIDI and audio plugins that generate inspirational ideas (such as melodies and chord progressions in any key). They are […]
How I Made The MIDICard
I’m Alana Balagot, maker of The MIDICard. I’ve always been excited about music and technology. My piano teacher set up a simple MIDI studio in the 90’s, with a Dell […]
Ethics of AI MIDI
The ethics of AI music became a heated topic at industry panels in 2024, sparking debates around the notion of “fair use”. AI music tech companies have admitted to training […]
Audio Developers Conference 2024
Tickets to ADC24 Tickets to ADC24 are available for both in person and virtual attendance and range in price with discounts for Academics and Students. Click the button below to […]
Tokyo Gakki Expo 2024
We said we would be traveling the globe and promoting MIDI 2.0 around the world. Our friends from the Japan Programmers Association and Association of Musical Electronics Industry (AMEI) recently […]
Synthogy Releases Ivory 3 American Concert D
Synthogy has released Ivory 3 American Concert D, the 2nd virtual piano for its Ivory 3 platform. Ivory 3 American Concert D features their legendary recordings of a vintage New York […]
Music Tectonics features MIDI Association companies at Creators Fair
On October, 23, 2024, Rock , Paper, Scissors hosted a creators fair at the at the Annenberg Beach House in Santa Monica. Rock, Paper, Scissors has been working with The […]
Microsoft’s Major Moves To Make Making Music on Windows Easier
Pete Brown is both the MIDI Association Exec Board Chair and a Principal Software Engineer in the Windows Developer Platform team at Microsoft. He focuses on client-side dev on Windows, […]
Digishow-Jam With Everything
At the MIDI Forum, there were a number of technology presentations and one of the most fascinating was from Robin Zhang about the open source software he developed called Digishow. […]
Audio Modeling’s Experience at MusicChina 2024: Successes, Discoveries, and New Collaborations
The Music China 2024 edition was an extraordinary and opportunity-filled experience for us at Audio Modeling. In collaboration with the MIDI Association and in the MusicX area, we had the […]
Chinese Musical Instrument Association (CMIA), The MIDI Association and The Future Music Technology Committee
The MIDI Association and the Chinese Musical Instrument Association (CMIA) have always had a close and mutually beneficial relationship. We have met every year for over decade to discuss the […]
The MIDI Forum at Music China 2024
With the help of Geoffery Ge from Medeli and Yitian Zhao from CME Pro, Music China arranged for a MIDI Forum with experts from all over the world. The setup […]
MIDI Association Presentations on the Music China 2024 X Stage
Music China and the Chinese Musical Instrument Association (CMIA) have really stepped up their support for MIDI and digital music making and right next to The MIDI Association booth was […]
Music China 2024 (Set Up and Opening Ceremony)
Music China wrapped up on Sunday, October 13, but we wanted to capture our impressions of the show while they were still fresh. Wednesday, October 9 was set up day […]
SoundWithoutSight.com offers accessibility resources and monthly meetups
Jay Pocknell from the Royal Institute For The Blind, Soundwithoutsight.com website and a regular participant in The MIDI Association Accessibility Special Interest Group is a really busy guy. Sound Without […]
Music X at Music China
Explore a new realm of music, where technology and art meet. The Music X Future Museum is about to open, taking you to listen to the sound of the future […]
Music Tectonics Conference
Music Tectonics ConferenceOctober 22-24, 2024Los Angeles, CA Our friends at Rock , Paper, Scissors have announce that Tickets are on sale for the 2024 Music Tectonics conference! Music Innovators meet at […]
GeoShred Studio for MacOS Released
GeoShred introduces a new paradigm for musical instruments, offering fluid expressiveness through a performance surface featuring the innovative “Almost Magic” pitch rounding. This cutting-edge software combines a unique performance interface […]
AudioCipher Technologies has just announced the release of Version 4.0: The MIDI Vault.
Founded in 2020, the company has slowly made a name for itself as the only text-to-MIDI chord and melody generator on the market. Their latest plugin improves on the classic […]
Meet The Members of The Music Accessibility Standard SIG
We thought it was time to introduce the members who regularly attend these meetings so you can get to know their backgrounds and why they are passionate about making music […]
Synthfest UK
5 OCTOBER 2024 – THE OCTAGON, SHEFFIELDExhibition \\ Retailers \\ Education \\ Modular Meet \\ Seminars & DemosCome and see Keyboards – Desktop Synths – Modular – Software Synths and […]
The MIDI Association At Music China 2024
The MIDI Association has been actively involved with Music China for many years. You can read about that history in the articles at the bottom of this page. But in […]
Audio Developers Conference 2024
Announcing Audio Developers Conference 2024 The 10th Audio Developer Conference (ADC) returns in 2024 both in-person and online in a new city, Bristol, UK. The in-person and online hybrid conference […]
Caedence: browser-based music collaboration and performance software
Caedence is a browser-based music collaboration and performance software that allows people to sync and customize virtually every aspect of performances across devices – in real time – to help […]
InfoComm 2024 Show Report
The MIDI Association didn’t have booth at Infocomm 2024, but there were certainly a lot of MIDI Association members with booths at the show. We sent Athan Billias, Exec Board […]
Xinghai Conservatory of Music and The MIDI Association
Last year at Music China, Shanghai Intex who runs the Music China show arranged for The MIDI Association to have three brand ambassadors from Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou. […]
Seven Years After The Passing of Ikutaro Kakehashi
Ikutaro Kakehashi, Founder of Roland Ikutaro Kakehashi’s impact on music production is undeniable. He founded Roland and oversaw some of the most seminal MIDI products in history. When he passed […]
Fast Company on Music Accessibility
Fast Company interviewed Athan Billias and Scott Chesworth of The MIDI Association on the importance of accessibility of music. Learn more and check out the article.
Anthony Marinelli and the Arp 2600 at the MIDI Association Booth NAMM 2024
Reflections on the Arp 2600 and Alvin Lucier Before we get into Anthony’s presentation at NAMM 2024, I wanted to give a bit of insight about why what he did […]
The Music Accessibility Standard starts to take shape
MIDI Association members have joined with The Royal Institute for the Blind to discuss how MIDI 2.0 can make music accessible to everyone.
MIDI Association NAMM 2024 Booth Schedule
The MIDI Association booth (Booth 10302 at the front of Hall A) at Winter NAMM 2024 is very different than our booths in years past.
The MIDI Association Annual Meeting 2023
Every year we meet to review the year and plan for the next For many years, we met at the NAMM show in person, but recently we are really busy […]
The MIDI Association Plans for NAMM 2024
The MIDI Association is well under way with our plans for NAMM 2024. We have a 30 ft x 30 ft booth where one third of the space is dedicated […]
ShowMIDI: effortlessly visualize MIDI activity
ShowMIDI is a multi-platform GUI application to effortlessly visualize MIDI activity, filling a void in the available MIDI monitoring solutions. Instead of wading through logs of MIDI messages to correlate relevant […]
Music China 2023 Show Report
Music China is back after three years During the pandemic, Music China and The MIDI Association worked closely together to keep information and news about MIDI and MIDI products available in […]
Designing AI VSTs for Generative Audio Workstations
DAW plugins have been approaching a saturation point over the past decade. Reskinned VSTs seem to outnumber innovative music software by a margin of ten to one. How many new delay and reverb effect […]
The MIDI Association at Music China 2023
Music China and The MIDI Association continue to work closely together It may seem counter-intuitive, but the global pandemic actually brought Music China and The MIDI Association closer together. Because in-person events were […]
MIDI Innovation Awards Livestream Sept, 16, 2023
The 2023 MIDI Innovation Awards live stream event took place on 16 September 2023 at 10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern and 5 pm GMT. The live stream was hosted […]
The MIDI in Music Education Special Interest Group
The MIDI in Music Education (MIME) Special Interest Group has defined a MIDI Curriculum and a Certification Program Starting in 2021, Athan Billias (MIDI Association President), Denis Labrecque (former MIDI […]
Announcing the finalists in the 2023 MIDI Innovation Awards
On September 16 at 10 am Pacific, a Youtube livestream will showcase the entries of the 15 finalists of the MIDI Innovation Awards, and select the 5 category winners chosen […]
Happy 808 Day 2023
People all over the web are celebrating 808 Day We found a few favorites from MIDI Association members and friends we wanted to share with everyone. The cover image above […]
Microsoft Adds MIDI 2.0, Researches AI Text-to-MIDI in 2023
The MIDI Association has enjoyed an ongoing partnership with Microsoft, collaborating to ensure that MIDI software and hardware play nicely with the Windows operating system. All of the major operating […]
The MIDI@40 Exhibit at NAMM
The Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad is featuring a special exhibit dedicated to MIDI The MIDI Association, Dr. Jonathan Piper and Moldover worked together to create a special exhibition to celebrate the 40th […]
Celebrating Innovation: Voting Opens for MIDI Innovation Awards 2023
We are excited to announce that voting for the MIDI Innovation Awards 2023 is officially open. In the tradition of our past two successful years, we continue to celebrate innovation, […]
Turning MIDI Melodies Into Full Songs with Meta’s MusicGen
The popularity of generative AI software has reached an all time high this year, with music lagging behind other mediums like image and text. Nevertheless, two applications dropped in May […]
Detailed timeline of MIDI 2.0 developments since January, 2020
The core specifications for MIDI 2.0 were adopted by the AMEI and The MIDI Association in January of 2020. Since that time the MIDI Association and its members have been developing […]
Bome Software Released 3 Major Product Updates
To celebrate the last day of May is MIDI Month, we are happy to announce 3 major product updates. Florian Bomers (Founder of Bome Software) New BomeBox Firmware 1.5 As of today, Bome […]
Music Accessibility Standard Special Interest Group Youtube event
Music Accessibility Standard Special Interest Group kicks off with a Youtube Live Stream Members of the Music Accessibility Standard Special Interest Group (MAS SIG) outlined their vision for the future of […]
New Windows MIDI services Spring 2023 update
Check out Pete Brown’s post on the Microsoft Dev blog for important updates on MIDI 2.0 Pete is not just the designated representative to the MIDI Association for Microsoft, he is […]
The Evolution of MIDI Software and Hardware in 2023
The MIDI association hosted a live roundtable discussion last week, featuring 2022 MIDI Award winners Krishna Chetan (Pitch Innovations), Henrik Langer (Instrument of Things), Markus Ruh (MusiKraken), and John Dingley […]
MIDI In China
MIDI has grown in importance in China as Chinese companies expand in both domestic and overseas markets The MIDI Association is tasked with promoting and managing MIDI specification for MIDI in every […]
MIDI Innovation Awards 2022 Winners Webinar
Check out these in depth interviews with the winners of the 2022 MIDI Innovation Awards The MIDI Association invited the winners of the 2022 MIDI Innovation Awards to join this round table […]
MIDI In Music Education Webinar- Saturday, May 13, 2023
Hosted by MIDI In Music Education Working Group Chair, Lee Whitmore, VP of Education for Focusrite, the webinar featured virtual tours of several MIDI In Music Education institutions including Belmont […]
MIDI@40 Concert World Premiere
May 6 at 10 am Pacific on Youtube The world broadcast premiere is scheduled for Saturday. May 6 at 10 am Pacific. Click on the Youtube link below to watch the […]
MIDI Association Lifetime Achievement Awards at April NAMM 2023
At the 2023 April NAMM show, The MIDI Association honored the people who created the modern music production environment of synths, drum machines, and sequencers, including Bob Moog, Don Buchla, […]
The MIDI Showcase at April NAMM 2023
There was a lot going on for the MIDI Association at April NAMM 2023 so this is a part of the series of articles covering NAMM April 2023 MIDI Association events. 27 […]
HipHop@50 Events at April NAMM 2023
At the 2022 June NAMM show, MIDI Association Executive Board member Lawrence Levine and President Athan Billias were invited to sit at the Broadjam table by MIDI Association supporter Roy Elkins. Roy’s […]
MIDI@40 and Hip-Hop@50 Anniversary Celebrations Await at The 2023 NAMM
The 2023 NAMM Show will celebrate two of history’s most impactful musical innovations: the 40th anniversary of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) with MIDI@40 and the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, with Hip-Hop@50. […]
MIDI is about collaboration, not competition
All kinds of companies, all kinds of devices One of the things that has always made MIDI unique in the world of standards is that no one owns MIDI and the MIDI Associations […]
Tsutomu Katoh and Korg
Early History KORG’s founder, Tsutomu Katoh was born in Nagoya on August 28, 1926 (Taisho 15) to a merchant family that ran a livestock feed wholesale business along the Iida […]
Help Us Celebrate MIDI @40
Share what MIDI means to you on the 40th anniversary of MIDI We have lots of great events planned at the April NAMM show, but we wanted to give everyone here […]
MIDI Association Member Newzik Goes Beyond Sheet Music
Newzik is a Paris based MIDI Association member that has a unique approach to notation. They offer a range of notation products that focus on classical orchestral scores and are used by […]
The Interactive Audio Special Interest Group of The MIDI Association
The IASIG is an organization in partnership with the International Game Developer’s Association (IGDA) and MIDI Association (TMA) that brings together experts to share their knowledge and help improve the […]
MIDI at CES 2023
The MIDI Association and MIDI Association members were at CES in Las Vegas The MIDI Association has had a long relationship with CES as an Affiliated Association. CES helps to […]
2023 marks the 40th anniversary of MIDI
The April 2023 NAMM show is going to be a very special event for the MIDI Association.2023 marks the 40th anniversary of MIDI and we have been working closely with […]
Dave Smith and Sequential Circuits
Dave Smith, Bob Moog, Karl Hirano and John Bowen In 2023 at the 4Oth anniversary of MIDI, we gave MIDI Association Lifetime Achievement Awards to Bob Moog and Dave Smith […]
Roger Linn and Roger Linn Design
Roger Linn was born in Whittier, California in 1955. Roger learn to play guitar growing up in the 1960s and when he was in high school, he started messing around with electronics. Songwriter and Guitarist Roger went out […]
AudioCipher V3: The Word-to-MIDI Melody and Chord Progression Generator
MIDI Association partner AudioCipher Technologies has just published Version 3.0 of their melody and chord progression generator plugin. Type in a word or phrase and AudioCipher will automatically generate MIDI […]
Tom Oberheim and Oberheim Electronics
Tom Oberheim was born in Manhattan, Kansas in 1936. In junior high school, he started building HiFi amplifiers for friends probably based on the same articles in Popular Mechanics that his contemporaries Bob Moog (1934) […]
Dave Rossum, EMU, and Rossum Electro
Dave Rossum is another one of the founders of the modern music production ecosystem and had a unique relationship with several other key synth figures including Dave Smith and Tom […]
Alan R Pearlman and ARP Synthesizers
Alan Robert Pearlman was born in 1925 (9 years before Bob Moog and 12 years before Don Buchla although he would outlive them both) and grew up in New York City. Like many […]
Don Buchla-a different approach to sound and life
At almost the exact same time that Bob Moog was starting to make modular synths on the East Coast, Don Buchla was starting to make modular synths on the West Coast […]
Bob Moog- The Father of Modern Synthesis
If you were forced to pick one single person who is responsible for the creation of the modern music production environment, Bob Moog would be a good choice. He spans the […]
In praise of MIDI, tech’s hidden gift to humanity
The Register posted an article today about Firefox supporting Web MIDI. MIDI was created by a small group of American and Japanese synthesiser makers. Before it, you could hook synths, drum […]
2023 MIDI Innovation Awards Now Open for Entries
Are you exploring new ways for musicians to interact with digital musical instruments? Have an idea for an original electronic instrument or controller? Trying to raise investment or attract attention […]
Tapis Magique: A Choreomusical Interactive Carpet
Tapis Magique is a pressure-sensitive, knitted electronic textile carpet that generates three-dimensional sensor data based on body postures and gestures and drives an immersive sonic environment in real-time. Demonstrating an […]
Don Lewis: A Remembrance
Some of you may be aware that Don Lewis passed away the week of Nov 7, 2022. Don was a synthesis pioneer who created a hardware platform for controlling […]
Naada Collection I for GeoShred
MIDI Association members Wizdom Music and moForte are proud to announce the release of the new Naada Instruments for GeoShred. As with all GeoShred instruments, these are models of the physics […]
AMEI to Fund Open SourceMIDI 2.0 Driver for Windows
November 1, 2022 – The Association of Musical Electronics Industries (AMEI), the organization that oversees the MIDI specification in Japan, has committed to funding the development of an open-source USB […]
An Interview with GLASYS: Tugging on my Heartchips
GLASYS (Gil Assayas) was a winner of the MIDI Association’s 2022 Innovation Awards for artistic installations. He’s a keyboard player, composer, sound designer, and video content creator who currently performs live […]
CME introduces hybrid MIDI Thru box with built-in Bluetooth MIDI
CME Pro, the small-scale innovator and contributing board member of the MIDI Association, is pleased to announce the world’s first hybrid MIDI-thru-box with premium Bluetooth MIDI. Following the successful launch […]
Hans Zimmer says ““MIDI saved my life”
Hans Zimmer is one of the most famous and prolific film composer in the world. He has composed music for over 150 films including blockbusters like The Lion King, Gladiator, The Last Samurai, the Pirates […]
Introducing Bace: a Voice-to-MIDI Plug-in & Standalone App
Almost two years ago, we set out to build a tool that could capture an idea and turn it into workable music. After a long period of developing machine learning […]
3 Best AI Music Generators for MIDI Creation
A new generation of AI MIDI software has emerged over the past 5 years. Google, OpenAI, and Spotify have each published a free MIDI application powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence. The […]
MIDI – The Music Education Tool K-12 Can’t Live Without: New Benchmarks for Chromebooks
Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) is the technical standard for connecting electronic musical instruments and computers to record, edit, and playback music.Created in 1983 and 40 years later, it is […]
The MIDI Association at Synthplex 2022
Live events are starting to happen again after a long layoff and the MIDI Association is excited to be participating in Synthplex. October 27-October 30, 2022Los Angeles Burbank Airport Convention […]
MIDI Makes The Mainstream on Jeopardy
In April 2020, the United States Library of Congress selected MIDI.org for inclusion in the historic collection of Internet materials related to the Professional Organizations for Performing Arts Web Archive. […]
More Playful Products with MIDI at NAMM 2022
Join MIDI Association President Athan Billias, artiphon’s Emma Supica and Oddball’s Pasquale Totaro for a discussion of playful (and round) products that use MIDI from the June 2022 NAMM show Follow the bouncing […]
Playful Products with MIDI at NAMM 2022
Join MIDI Association President Athan Billias, Big Ear Games Aviv Ben-Yahuda , Playtronics’ Sacha Pas and Playtime Engineering’s Troy Sheets for a discussion of playful products that use MIDI from […]