Under MIDI 1, there was a piece of hardware in Pentium days called an Opcode 8 Port SE I owned and it could run 128 MIDI channels in and out simultaneously.
Look it up anyone who is interested. It ran from the Parallel port bi-directionally and had 8x 5pin DIN MIDI inputs - 8x16=128
It's MIDI latency simultaneously was ridiculously low, better than what I have now which is on paper better. It was unnoticeable, meaning I never felt like anything was lagging, almost instantaneous.

The point? - While I think there are a lot of intelligent comments here on what might happen with millions of velocity layers and more, I think we're all just jumping the gun a little bit. I do not believe they will officially release it where it will make everything recorded via MIDI that is in existence obsolete, or force 90% of users to upgrade their computers to use it. That would be release suicide.
Additionally, I would be amazed if someone does not make some hardware 1,000 times more advanced than the Opcode I mentioned above, with less inputs and outputs, that completely takes the load off a computer (which the Opcode did) and takes full advantage of every available feature in MIDI 2.

It makes sense to me anyway.

 

Last edited: Mar 16, 2025

In the latest Sound on Sound magazine, there is interesting article about Windows upcoming native ASIO driver and MIDI 2.0 along with MS Pete Brown interview

But those are first coming to ARM-PC and later on to x64, so probably another decade

 

The advantage of MIDI 2.0 is not the (ridiculously) high resolution. No one needs 16 bits for velocity, anyway.

The strength of MIDI 2.0 is the ability to integrate with modern DAWs. Things like e.g. sending parameter names and real world units and showing them on another device. Or, for example, automapping plugin's parameters on a hardware controller.

Citing Chat GPT:

"Property Exchange (PE):

• • MIDI 2.0 introduces the Property Exchange protocol, which allows devices to share metadata like parameter names, ranges, default values, and units.
  • This means a synthesizer or controller can send human-readable names for parameters (e.g., "Cutoff Frequency" or "Resonance") to another device.

• Universal MIDI Packets (UMP):
  • MIDI 2.0 messages use the UMP format, which supports structured and more extensive data communication, including text-based properties.

• Device-to-Device Communication:
  • If both devices support MIDI-CI and Property Exchange, one device (e.g., a controller or DAW) can request parameter names from another (e.g., a synth or effects unit).
  • The receiving device can display these names in its UI, making it easier to map and control parameters dynamically.

Use Cases:

• A MIDI 2.0-compatible controller automatically labeling mapped knobs when controlling a synthesizer.
• A DAW displaying plugin parameters with meaningful names instead of just numbers.
• A hardware sequencer sending track labels to a connected device."

This way MIDI 2.0 will kill all those crappy proprietary protocols based on wrappers, such as Native Instruments NKS.

 

Last edited: Mar 16, 2025

[double post removed]

 

The sad thing is... 40+ years ago the MIDI standard we know and use today was imposed on the whole industry by some of the largest synth manufacturers of that time (Sequential, Roland, Yamaha). It replaced all proprietaty solutions (e.g. by Roland or Oberheim) on day one.

Nowadays there is no technical obstacle to adopt MIDI 2.0 widely. But the largest (or most influential) companies not only do not support it, but they even act against it. NI forces their NKS crap, Akai tried to do the same with their VIP protocol (and failed, thank God), Nektar pushes Nektarine (although they had great wrapperless solution, which I use with Panorama P1 and Reaper). If they weren't so close-mindly greedy, they could successfully introduce MIDI 2.0 (or something of similar functionality) 5 or even 10 years ago. People like me beg for it, but they remain deaf.

My Panorama P1 automatically shows all synth parameter names and automaps them. It shows all their values in Hz, dB, % - whatever the plugin designer implemented. No wrappers. No compatibility issues. And this technology was introduced circa 10 years ago (I bought it in 2017). To this day every MIDI controller, every DAW and every plugin could support such a standard - if there only was the will to accept a common standard. But those greedy corporations like NI have only the vision to flood the market with their closed standards and abandon them as soon as it stops making money for them (as they did multiple times in the past).

Now, that NI's market postion is more and more weakened, they suddenly announced the initiative to license NKS to Akai (and other InMusic brands). This dead corpse stinks already, but they are still pushing it. I'm eager to see them fail, as they seem to be one of the biggest obstacles in adopting MIDI 2.0 widely.

 

Last edited: Mar 17, 2025

[double post again - removed]

 

A lot of people think they should leave MIDI alone. Your post sounds to contain almost conspiracy theories about not trusting NI and NKS, and others; but wanting to let the same group of manufacturers to come up with a new implementation of something that has worked for 40 years. Noone trusts them to not do the same thing and screw it up. Oh, your old gear does not function correctly anymore? Just buy something new from....the same companies we're going to trust to not do this? Maybe they can sell us some new convertor software, cables, etc while they are at it.

MIDI implementation works because they are all already stuck with it how it is. Until Apple, Steinberg, MOTU, etc. decide they are going to do anything with their DAW software; you can keep typing about it. I'm not.

 

midi 2.0 = I'll have more opportunities to f*ck up my music

 

midi isn't samples, its an interface language/command structure.

There are plenty of sources for information about MIDI 2.0’s technology, particularly at midi.org, The MIDI Association’s (TMA) free website. Registering with the TMA (which is also free) allows anyone to download the core MIDI specifications. So, let’s leave the rocket science to others and talk about what MIDI will mean to you now and in the years ahead.

Musicians often ask why it took so long for MIDI 2.0 to appear. Of course, part of that is because MIDI 1.0 was a forward-looking spec that remains relevant to this day. But, MIDI 2.0 did not come about haphazardly. Although the MIDI Manufacturer’s Association (MMA) and AMEI, the Japanese equivalent, are the most visible stewards of the MIDI spec, internally, there are multiple technical working groups that are responsible for making sure that everything “just works.” It took well over a decade to get where MIDI 2.0 is now; for example, the aspects of MIDI 2.0 that address higher resolution are based on the work of a group that spent years forging an HD (high-definition) element of the MIDI spec. MIDI 2.0 is the result of not only the efforts of the largest manufacturers of MIDI gear but also individual MMA members, no matter the size of the company

MIDI 1.0 was tied to a hardware-based serial interface that, by today’s standards, was slow and inefficient. MIDI 1.0 simply didn’t have the bandwidth to allow for enhancements like high-resolution controllers. Furthermore, a MIDI cable either transmitted or received data — it couldn’t do both. Specifying MIDI over USB was a definite improvement, but MIDI 2.0 finally turns MIDI from a monolog into a dialog. MIDI 2.0 gear will be able to talk to other MIDI gear over a variety of interface protocols, not just USB.

A key element of this dialog is MIDI Capability Inquiry, also known as MIDI-CI (fig. 2). The concept seems deceptively simple: MIDI gear can talk to other gear and find out about its functionality. But the implications are huge.



MIDI-CI is what allows for backward compatibility. A MIDI 2.0 device can ask another device if it speaks MIDI 2.0. If so, they can converse. If there’s no answer, the MIDI 2.0 device will fall back to using MIDI 1.0 with that device. Of course, this doesn’t allow the MIDI 1.0 device to acquire MIDI 2.0 magic powers any more than plugging a USB 2 device into a USB 3 port increases the USB 2 device’s speed, but it’s what lets your MIDI 1.0 gear function in a MIDI 2.0 ecosystem.

Another implication is the end of tedious MIDI mapping. For example, if you connected a hardware control surface with 16 faders to a synthesizer, the control surface wouldn’t know what it was controlling, and the synth wouldn’t know it was being controlled. If you were lucky, something like the ancient (but durable) Mackie Control protocol might be applicable to do the parameter mapping for you. But in a lot of cases, you had to do the work — and it was tedious to map, for example, the faders in Peavey’s cool PC-1600 fader box to control software faders for live performance. I look forward to leaving those days behind.

More at sweetwater

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/midi-2-0-what-actually-matters-for-musicians/

 

They already hired 2 ai's which fired the guys that hired them and everybody else.. easypeasy for an AI to sample 4 billion layers, though it will probably just steal them from another site, AI is a lot like musicians when it comes to creativity.

I watched an old movie called
Rhythm in the Clouds

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029482/

a gorgeous broke songwriter, moves into an accomplished songwriters apartment, while he's out of town.
she adds his name to her sheetmusic she's written, to get her foot in the door at a music publisher/agent/producer/advertising/radio show place.

show needs "original material" - they call the songwriter who is out of town's apartment, Girl answers, promise to bring material by in the morning. Producer has his "ears" listen to it. His "ears" says.

"its terrible, its not bach, brahms,mozart,beethoven. I've never heard anything like it, I can't tell where it was stolen from"

Show sponsor,says. "it must be original then, I'll take it"

hilarity ensues as apartment owner returns, girl songwriter goes to war with lyrcists neighbor, etc.

not a very good movie, but interesting stylistically 1930's art deco/modern. bad acting,poor plot and no name actors. but it does have a hawaiin slack guitar band in it and its only a hour long.

anyhow AI enjoys stealing material as much as most musicians...

 

Then an hour could be even too much...

 

well I wasn't really that into it, i was just passing time with a hangover, waiting for bed time..