Not sure if this should be moved to “Announcements” or if it’s fine here.
As announced at the NAMM Show, assuming all proceeds as planned, Windows MIDI Services will start rolling out at the end of this week to retail supported Windows 11 builds (24h2, 25h2). This will be installed as a KB update, through Windows Update. If you do not have Windows Update enabled (LTS etc.) you likely will not get the new feature. There’s no support for previous OS versions.
It’s using our new-ish Controlled Feature Rollout (CFR) process, which phases the feature enablement to ensure stability. It takes 30 days to reach 100% enablement. Not everyone will have the feature enabled on day 1, and as best as I understand, there’s no way to force the enablement.
I’ve provided a command-line tool downloadable from About Windows MIDI Services - Windows MIDI Services which you can run from Windows Terminal and which will tell you if Windows MIDI Services is enabled. (Don’t just double-click it, you need to run it from the command line).
If you run into problems, I will try to answer questions here, but also on our dedicated Discord server at Windows MIDI / Audio . The more specific you can be with any problems, the better.
The one big known issue we have is around what we call “surprise removal”. If you unplug or otherwise remove a MIDI device, or plug in a USB MIDI device, after you have already started an application, the MIDI device may not work. We have a fix which will roll out through the same CFR process in February. The workaround is to plug in your MIDI devices before opening Cubase or other MIDI apps, and do not unplug them.
The tools for customizing MIDI (the MIDI Settings app, for example), creating loopback endpoints, MIDI Scripting, and the App SDK will ship later in February (current plan, subject to change). We want to make sure everything is running smoothly before we put out the optional bits.
Some notes on what to expect:
- Every MIDI port will now be multi-client, without you having to use third-party drivers (multiple apps can use the same port)
- If you are using WinRT MIDI in Cubase, your port names will now be synchronized with the “Windows MIDI” port names.
- The first time an app opens a MIDI port, there will be a small delay to start up the service, proportional to the number of devices connected. When you have the MIDI Settings app, you’ll be able to easily set the service to auto-start with Windows so there’s no delay.
- Some bug fixes in WinMM around SysEx data and a couple other found issues.
- If you have a MIDI 2.0 device (Waldorf synths, Montage M, MODX, Roland A88mk2, current Studiologic SL, etc.) set to MIDI 2.0 mode, you will be able to plug it in and have it work with current Cubase. We do the MIDI 1.0<>MIDI 2.0 translation in the service. Apps using the new App SDK will get high-resolution MIDI 2.0 data. Apps using MIDI 1.0 APIs will get the downscaled data.
Thanks.
Pete
Microsoft
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