MIDIField Guide

Reference

History of MIDI

Spec: The History of MIDI (MIDI Association)

MIDI is one of the longest-lived standards in computing. A protocol sketched in 1981 still connects instruments built four decades apart, and it has grown over time with files, timecode, General MIDI, USB, Bluetooth, the browser, and MIDI 2.0.

1980s

  1. The Universal Synthesizer Interface

    Dave Smith and Chet Wood of Sequential Circuits present a paper at the Audio Engineering Society convention proposing a Universal Synthesizer Interface, a common serial link between instruments from different makers.

  2. Industry collaboration

    Sequential, Roland and other US and Japanese manufacturers refine the proposal. Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi is a key advocate, and the result is named the Musical Instrument Digital Interface.

  3. First public demo at Winter NAMM

    A Sequential Prophet-600 and a Roland Jupiter-6, among the first MIDI-equipped instruments, are connected over MIDI and played together in Anaheim.

  4. MIDI 1.0 Specification published

    The MIDI 1.0 Specification is published. Its core message set (status and data bytes, 16 channels, 31.25 kbaud over 5-pin DIN) still works unchanged today. From here on, the US MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA) and Japan's JMSC (later AMEI) maintain the standard jointly.

  5. Yamaha DX7

    Yamaha releases the DX7 FM synthesizer. Its huge success puts MIDI ports in studios worldwide, and its SysEx patch format is still read by tools like Dexed.

  6. Roland MPU-401

    Roland's MPU-401 interface gives personal computers a MIDI connection. Its programming interface becomes a de facto standard that PC sound cards emulate for years.

  7. Atari ST ships with MIDI built in

    The Atari ST includes MIDI IN and OUT ports as standard and becomes a staple sequencing platform in studios.

  8. MIDI Time Code

    MIDI Time Code (MTC) is added to the specification. It carries SMPTE timecode over MIDI using quarter-frame and full-frame messages. How MTC works.

  9. Standard MIDI Files

    The Standard MIDI File format (.mid) is adopted, giving sequencers a common file for exchanging songs. SMF reference.

1990s

  1. General MIDI Level 1

    General MIDI standardizes 128 instrument sounds, a drum map on channel 10, and minimum polyphony, so a file sounds broadly the same on any GM device. General MIDI.

  2. Roland GS and the Sound Canvas

    Roland introduces the GS extensions with the SC-55 Sound Canvas, adding variation banks, drum kits, and SysEx-editable parameters on top of GM.

  3. Yamaha XG

    Yamaha launches XG, a further-extended GM format with many more voices and effects.

  4. General MIDI 2

    GM2 is adopted. It standardizes bank-selected variation sounds, more controllers and RPNs, and Universal SysEx for tuning and effects.

  5. USB MIDI device class

    The USB Implementers Forum publishes the USB Device Class Definition for MIDI Devices. Class-compliant USB-MIDI devices later work with no driver on every major OS. USB-MIDI.

2000s

  1. Core MIDI in Mac OS X

    Mac OS X ships with Core MIDI, a system-level MIDI service with inter-application routing. It later adds network MIDI and, in 2020, MIDI 2.0.

  2. RTP-MIDI (RFC 4695)

    The IETF publishes RFC 4695, an RTP payload format for MIDI with journaling for loss recovery. Apple's network MIDI implementation popularizes it as "AppleMIDI".

2010s

  1. RFC 6295

    RFC 6295 replaces RFC 4695 as the current RTP-MIDI specification. RTP-MIDI.

  2. A Technical Grammy for MIDI

    Ikutaro Kakehashi and Dave Smith receive a Technical Grammy Award for their roles in creating MIDI.

  3. Web MIDI ships in Chrome

    Chrome 43 enables the Web MIDI API by default, letting web pages talk directly to MIDI hardware. Try it here.

  4. MIDI over Bluetooth LE

    The BLE-MIDI specification is adopted, defining a standard way to send MIDI wirelessly over Bluetooth Low Energy. BLE-MIDI.

  5. MPE adopted

    MIDI Polyphonic Expression is adopted. It gives each note its own channel for per-note pitch bend, pressure, and timbre. MPE.

  6. TRS adapter standard

    The MIDI Association publishes a recommended practice for MIDI over TRS minijacks, which standardizes "Type A" wiring after years of incompatible adapters. TRS MIDI.

2020s

  1. MIDI 2.0

    After its announcement at NAMM in January, the MIDI 2.0 core specifications are adopted: the Universal MIDI Packet, the MIDI 2.0 Protocol, and MIDI-CI. They bring higher resolution, per-note control, and two-way capability negotiation. MIDI 2.0 & UMP.

  2. USB MIDI 2.0 and the first OS support

    The USB-IF publishes the USB MIDI 2.0 device class, which carries UMP over USB. Apple adds UMP APIs to Core MIDI in macOS 11 and iOS 14.

  3. Updated MIDI 2.0 core specs

    Revised specifications (UMP and MIDI 2.0 Protocol v1.1, MIDI-CI v1.2) move discovery and protocol selection into UMP Stream messages, add Function Blocks, and add Process Inquiry to MIDI-CI. MIDI-CI.

  4. MIDI 2.0 in Linux

    Linux 6.5 adds ALSA support for USB MIDI 2.0 and UMP.

  5. Network MIDI 2.0

    The MIDI Association adopts Network MIDI 2.0, a UDP transport for UMP with discovery and session management. Network MIDI 2.0.

  6. Windows MIDI Services

    Microsoft develops Windows MIDI Services in the open on GitHub. It is a new MIDI stack for Windows with multi-client ports, loopback endpoints, and MIDI 2.0 support.

Sources

Dates come from the MIDI Association's history of MIDI, the specification documents themselves, IETF RFCs, and vendor release notes. Where only the year is certain, only the year is given. Corrections with sources are welcome through GitHub.

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