showstack / compare / midi-vs-midi-2
MIDI 1.0 vs MIDI 2.0 / Universal MIDI Packet (UMP)
Is MIDI 2.0 worth it for show control yet? Below is every field we hold on both, side by side. Each one is sourced on the individual entry, and anything nobody could source is left blank rather than guessed.
Side by side
| MIDI 1.0 | MIDI 2.0 / Universal MIDI Packet (UMP) | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | audio-control | audio-control |
| Flow | Control — small, urgent, must arrive | Control — small, urgent, must arrive |
| Transport | midi-din | usb, other |
| Spec availability | open-free-registration | open-free-registration |
| Steward | MIDI Association (MMA/AMEI) | MIDI Association (MMA/AMEI) |
| Status | current | draft |
| Our confidence | verified | verified |
Both are control flows. Latency and loss on the messages that fire once. A repeating level survives a dropped packet; a GO does not. That applies equally to either, so it is not a discriminator here.
MIDI 1.0 only (63)
- Ableton Live Ableton AG
- Ardour Ardour Community
- ArKaos MediaMaster ArKaos
- Avolites Titan Avolites
- Bome MIDI Translator Pro Bome Software
- ChamSys MagicQ ChamSys
- Daslight Daslight (Nicolaudie)
- Depence Syncronorm GmbH
- DMXControl 3 DMXControl Projects e.V.
- dot2 onPC MA Lighting
- Eos Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC)
- Go Button Figure 53
- Hippotizer Green Hippo (an ACT Entertainment brand)
- Isadora TroikaTronix (Mark Coniglio)
- Lightkey Lightkey
- Max Cycling '74
- Medialon Control System Medialon (Barco)
- Millumin Anomes (Philippe Chaurand)
- Mitti Imimot
- Mixing Station David Giga
- Modul8 GarageCUBE
- Multiplay Da-Share
- Node-RED OpenJS Foundation
- Notch Notch (10bit FX Limited)
- ONYX Obsidian Control Systems
- Open Stage Control Jean-Emmanuel Doucet
- openFrameworks openFrameworks community
- Processing Processing Foundation
- ProPresenter Renewed Vision
- ProVideoPlayer (PVP) Renewed Vision
- Pure Data Miller Puckette and contributors
- REAPER Cockos Incorporated
- Show Cue System (SCS) Show Cue Systems
- Smode Smode Tech
- TouchOSC Hexler
- Ventuz Ventuz Technology
- vvvv vvvv group
- Alcorn McBride A/V Binloop HD Alcorn McBride
- Allen & Heath Avantis Allen & Heath
- Allen & Heath dLive S7000 Allen & Heath
- Allen & Heath SQ-6 Allen & Heath
- Analog Way Picturall Mark II Analog Way
- Avid VENUE S6L-32D Avid
- Avolites Arena Avolites
- Avolites Diamond 9 Avolites
- Avolites Tiger Touch III Avolites
- Behringer X32 Behringer
- ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M Stadium ChamSys
- Christie Pandoras Box Christie
- Crestron CP4N Control System Crestron
- DiGiCo Quantum 338 DiGiCo
- DiGiCo SD12 DiGiCo
- ETC Ion Xe 20 ETC
- grandMA2 full-size MA Lighting
- Medialon Showmaster Pro Medialon (Barco)
- Midas HD96-24 Midas
- Obsidian Control Systems NX4 Obsidian Control Systems
- AV Stumpfl PIXERA one AV Stumpfl
- SSL Live L550 Solid State Logic
- Yamaha CL5 Yamaha
- Yamaha DM7 Yamaha
- Yamaha RIVAGE PM7 Yamaha
- Zero 88 FLX S48 Zero 88
What goes wrong with MIDI 1.0
Classic 5-pin DIN MIDI runs at 31,250 baud (8-N-1 async serial) and is one-way per cable; most modern rigs tunnel MIDI over USB or Bluetooth LE instead of DIN.
MIDI Show Control and MIDI Time Code are message subprofiles of MIDI 1.0, not separate wire protocols, which confuses people troubleshooting compatibility.
Only 16 channels per port/cable, which limits large-scale device addressing without merge/split boxes or additional interfaces.
What goes wrong with MIDI 2.0 / Universal MIDI Packet (UMP)
Not wire-compatible with classic 5-pin DIN MIDI 1.0 - UMP is delivered over USB, network, or other digital transports rather than the original DIN connector.
Adoption in touring/theatre gear is still limited; most show-control rigs remain on plain MIDI 1.0 messages even on devices that technically support MIDI 2.0.
Sources
- MIDI 1.0 Detailed Specification - MIDI Association primary
- MIDI - Wikipedia
- Universal MIDI Packet (UMP) and MIDI 2.0 Protocol Specification - MIDI.org primary
- MIDI 2.0 - Wikipedia
Disagree with any of this?
Every claim above comes from one of the two entries and carries a source. If one is wrong, correcting it is a single file and it fixes this page automatically. Edit MIDI 1.0 or edit MIDI 2.0 / Universal MIDI Packet (UMP).