MIDIField Guide
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Community

Forums, chat & mailing lists

98 places where people who build and play with MIDI hang out, from spec questions to firmware, plugins and live rigs. Every link is checked automatically.

Getting good answers

Say what you're using (device, OS, DAW or library and versions), what you expected and what happened. For MIDI bugs, the raw bytes help most: capture them with the Web MIDI monitor and paste them, or decode them first with the message decoder.

Forums

42

Long-form questions and answers. Search before you post: most MIDI questions have been asked before.

  • MIDI.org forum

    The MIDI Association's official forum for questions about MIDI specifications, products and connections.

    midi.org/community

  • KVR Audio forum

    A large, long-running forum covering plugins, hosts, hardware and music software.

    kvraudio.com/forum

  • KVR: DSP and Plugin Development

    KVR's subforum for audio DSP, plugin formats and MIDI handling in plugin code.

    kvraudio.com/forum/viewforum.php

  • KVR: Bitwig Controller Scripting

    KVR's subforum for writing Bitwig Studio controller scripts that map MIDI hardware.

    kvraudio.com/forum/viewforum.php

  • Gearspace

    A large pro audio forum with boards for electronic music instruments, production and music computers.

    gearspace.com/board

  • Elektronauts

    The Elektron user community, with frequent discussion of MIDI sequencing, sync and multi-device setups.

    elektronauts.com

  • lines (llllllll.co)

    The monome community forum for norns, grid, crow and other open, scriptable music tools.

    llllllll.co

  • ModWiggler

    The modular synthesizer forum formerly known as Muff Wiggler, including MIDI-to-CV and Eurorack discussion.

    modwiggler.com/forum

  • LinuxMusicians

    A forum for making music on Linux, including ALSA MIDI, JACK and PipeWire routing.

    linuxmusicians.com

  • JUCE forum

    The official JUCE forum for plugin and audio app developers, including MIDI and MPE APIs.

    forum.juce.com

  • iPlug2 forum

    The official forum for the iPlug2 C++ audio plugin framework.

    iplug2.discourse.group

  • Cycling '74 forums

    The official forums for Max, MSP, Jitter and Max for Live.

    cycling74.com/forums

  • VCV Community

    The official VCV Rack forum for patching, module development and MIDI integration.

    community.vcvrack.com

  • Ableton Forum

    Ableton's forum for Live, Push and Max for Live users.

    forum.ableton.com

  • Cockos REAPER forums

    The official REAPER forums, including MIDI editing and scripting discussion.

    forum.cockos.com

  • Ardour discourse

    The official forum for the Ardour digital audio workstation.

    discourse.ardour.org

  • Pure Data forum

    A community forum for Pure Data patching, externals and MIDI I/O.

    forum.pdpatchrepo.info

  • scsynth.org

    The official SuperCollider forum for users and developers.

    scsynth.org

  • Csound forum

    The Csound community forum, which also hosts a read-only mirror of the Csound mailing list.

    forum.csound.com

  • Bela forum

    The forum for the Bela embedded audio platform, including MIDI and sensor projects.

    forum.bela.io

  • MOD Audio forum

    The forum for MOD Audio devices and their LV2 plugin ecosystem.

    forum.mod.audio

  • PJRC (Teensy) forum

    The Teensy microcontroller forum, a common place to ask about USB MIDI devices.

    forum.pjrc.com

  • Arduino Forum: Audio

    The Arduino forum's audio category, where many DIY MIDI controller questions land.

    forum.arduino.cc/c/other-hardware/audio/24

  • Daisy Community

    Electrosmith's official forum for the Daisy embedded audio platform, covering firmware, DSP and MIDI on Daisy hardware.

    community.daisy.audio

  • MIDIbox Forum

    The long-running forum for the MIDIbox DIY platform, with boards for MIDIbox SEQ, controllers and builds.

    forum.midibox.org

  • Zynthian Discourse

    The official forum for Zynthian, the open Raspberry Pi based synth and MIDI processing platform.

    discourse.zynthian.org

  • Mixxx: Controller mappings

    The official Mixxx forum category for writing and sharing MIDI controller mappings for the open-source DJ app.

    mixxx.discourse.group/c/controller-mappings/10

  • Renoise Forums

    The official forum for the Renoise tracker DAW, including MIDI, Lua scripting and tool development.

    forum.renoise.com

  • Steinberg Forums

    The official Steinberg forums for Cubase, Nuendo, Dorico and other Steinberg software.

    forums.steinberg.net

  • Steinberg Forums: VST 3 SDK

    Steinberg's official developer category for questions about the VST 3 SDK, including note expression and MIDI mapping.

    forums.steinberg.net/c/developer/vst-3-sdk/105

  • FL Studio forum: MIDI Controller Support

    Image-Line's official subforum for MIDI controller setup and support in FL Studio.

    forum.image-line.com/viewforum.php

  • Apple Developer Forums: Core MIDI

    Apple's developer forum tag for Core MIDI questions on macOS and iOS.

    developer.apple.com/forums/tags/core-midi

  • in_thread (Sonic Pi)

    The official Sonic Pi community forum for sharing code, asking questions and live coding with MIDI and OSC.

    in-thread.sonic-pi.net

  • Uzu (Tidal Club)

    The TidalCycles and Strudel community forum, formerly Tidal Club, for learning and sharing patterns.

    uzu.lurk.org

  • TOPLAP forum

    The forum of TOPLAP, the live coding organization, for ideas, events and tools across live coding languages.

    forum.toplap.org

  • MIDI.org forum: Developers & MIDI 2.0 Specifications

    The MIDI Association forum board for hardware and software developers with questions about MIDI 2.0 and the other specifications.

    midi.org/community/midi-specifications

  • Sound On Sound forum

    The forum of the recording magazine Sound On Sound, covering recording, music technology, DAWs and gear.

    soundonsound.com/forum

  • Cakewalk Discuss

    The official Cakewalk by BandLab forum, with sections for instrument definitions, drum maps and articulation maps.

    discuss.cakewalk.com

  • Synthstrom Audible forum

    The community forum for Synthstrom Audible, maker of the Deluge sampler and sequencer.

    forums.synthstrom.com

  • KVR: Roger Linn Design (LinnStrument)

    The LinnStrument forum hosted on KVR and linked from Roger Linn Design's support page, a hub for MPE controller questions.

    kvraudio.com/forum/viewforum.php

  • MuseScore forum

    The official MuseScore notation forums for support, playback, SoundFonts and development.

    musescore.org/en/forum

  • Steinberg Forums: Dorico

    The official Dorico notation forum, including expression maps that turn notation into MIDI playback.

    forums.steinberg.net/c/dorico/8

Reddit

18

Active subreddits for gear, production and audio programming. Check each one’s rules first.

  • r/midi

    A subreddit for questions and discussion about the MIDI specification and its implementations.

    Its rules ban requests for and sharing of song MIDI files.

    reddit.com/r/midi

  • r/synthesizers

    A large subreddit for hardware and software synthesizers.

    reddit.com/r/synthesizers

  • r/WeAreTheMusicMakers

    A general subreddit about the process of making music.

    reddit.com/r/WeAreTheMusicMakers

  • r/edmproduction

    A subreddit for electronic music producers.

    reddit.com/r/edmproduction

  • r/musicprogramming

    A subreddit for links and discussion on programming for music making.

    reddit.com/r/musicprogramming

  • r/AudioProgramming

    A subreddit for audio DSP coding with C++, JUCE, Max and more.

    reddit.com/r/AudioProgramming

  • r/synthdiy

    A subreddit for building, modifying and repairing synthesizers, including DIY MIDI hardware.

    reddit.com/r/synthdiy

  • r/linuxaudio

    A subreddit for audio and music on Linux and other free operating systems.

    reddit.com/r/linuxaudio

  • r/MaxMSP

    A subreddit for Max/MSP users.

    reddit.com/r/MaxMSP

  • r/puredata

    A subreddit for Pure Data users and patch sharing.

    reddit.com/r/puredata

  • r/supercollider

    A subreddit for SuperCollider code and sound.

    reddit.com/r/supercollider

  • r/modular

    A subreddit for modular synthesizers.

    reddit.com/r/modular

  • r/vcvrack

    A subreddit for VCV Rack users.

    reddit.com/r/vcvrack

  • r/ableton

    An unofficial subreddit for Ableton Live, Push, Max for Live, Note and Move.

    reddit.com/r/ableton

  • r/Bitwig

    A subreddit for Bitwig Studio users.

    reddit.com/r/Bitwig

  • r/arduino

    An unofficial subreddit for Arduino projects, including MIDI controllers.

    reddit.com/r/arduino

  • r/musictheory

    A large subreddit for discussing music theory, harmony and analysis.

    reddit.com/r/musictheory

  • r/musescore

    A subreddit for the MuseScore notation software and its online score-sharing site.

    reddit.com/r/musescore

Discord

23

Real-time chat. Only servers with an invite published on the project’s own site are listed; the source is linked for each.

Mailing lists

9

Developer and user lists, with public archives that are often the best record of how things work.

  • linux-audio-user

    The mailing list for people using Linux for audio and MIDI work.

    lists.linuxaudio.org/postorius/lists/linux-audio-user.lists.linuxaudio.org

  • linux-audio-dev

    The mailing list for developers of Linux audio and MIDI software.

    lists.linuxaudio.org/postorius/lists/linux-audio-dev.lists.linuxaudio.org

  • ALSA mailing lists

    The ALSA project's guide to its lists: linux-sound for kernel work, alsa-devel for user space and alsa-user.

    alsa-project.org/wiki/Mailing-lists

  • alsa-devel

    The ALSA developers' list for alsa-lib, the sequencer API and other user-space work.

    mailman.alsa-project.org/postorius/lists/alsa-devel.alsa-project.org

  • pd-list

    The main Pure Data mailing list, open to beginner and advanced questions.

    lists.iem.at/postorius/lists/pd-list.lists.iem.at

  • pd-dev

    The Pure Data developers' mailing list.

    lists.iem.at/postorius/lists/pd-dev.lists.iem.at

  • Csound mailing list

    The long-running Csound users' and developers' list, with archives back many years.

    listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa

  • livecode

    The TOPLAP live coding mailing list, linked from TOPLAP's home page.

    we.lurk.org/postorius/lists/livecode.we.lurk.org

  • lilypond-user

    The main LilyPond mailing list, where users of the text-based notation program help each other.

    lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user

Other communities

6

Q&A sites and code-sharing hubs.

  • Stack Overflow: [midi] tag

    Programming questions about reading, writing and routing MIDI in code.

    stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/midi

  • Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange: [midi] tag

    Musician-focused questions about MIDI gear, setups and workflows.

    music.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/midi

  • sccode.org

    A community site for sharing SuperCollider code snippets and patches.

    sccode.org

  • Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange

    A question-and-answer site for musicians on theory, practice, notation and performance.

    music.stackexchange.com

  • Mixxx Zulip

    The Mixxx DJ software project's chat, where its developers and community follow development and news.

    mixxx.zulipchat.com

  • MIDI2.dev

    A MIDI 2.0 developer collaboration site with open-source libraries, the MIDI 2.0 Workbench and a mailing list.

    midi2.dev

Missing a community? Suggest it on GitHub with a link to the page where its invite or sign-up is officially published.