8 MIDI 2.0 is an extended protocol for providing higher resolutions and
9 more fine controls over the legacy MIDI 1.0. The fundamental changes
10 introduced for supporting MIDI 2.0 are:
12 - Support of Universal MIDI Packet (UMP)
13 - Support of MIDI 2.0 protocol messages
14 - Transparent conversions between UMP and legacy MIDI 1.0 byte stream
15 - MIDI-CI for property and profile configurations
17 UMP is a new container format to hold all MIDI protocol 1.0 and MIDI
18 2.0 protocol messages. Unlike the former byte stream, it's 32bit
19 aligned, and each message can be put in a single packet. UMP can send
20 the events up to 16 "UMP Groups", where each UMP Group contain up to
23 MIDI 2.0 protocol is an extended protocol to achieve the higher
24 resolution and more controls over the old MIDI 1.0 protocol.
26 MIDI-CI is a high-level protocol that can talk with the MIDI device
27 for the flexible profiles and configurations. It's represented in the
28 form of special SysEx.
30 For Linux implementations, the kernel supports the UMP transport and
31 the encoding/decoding of MIDI protocols on UMP, while MIDI-CI is
32 supported in user-space over the standard SysEx.
34 As of this writing, only USB MIDI device supports the UMP and Linux
35 2.0 natively. The UMP support itself is pretty generic, hence it
36 could be used by other transport layers, although it could be
37 implemented differently (e.g. as a ALSA sequencer client), too.
39 The access to UMP devices are provided in two ways: the access via
40 rawmidi device and the access via ALSA sequencer API.
42 ALSA sequencer API was extended to allow the payload of UMP packets.
43 It's allowed to connect freely between MIDI 1.0 and MIDI 2.0 sequencer
44 clients, and the events are converted transparently.
50 The following new configs are added for supporting MIDI 2.0:
51 `CONFIG_SND_UMP`, `CONFIG_SND_UMP_LEGACY_RAWMIDI`,
52 `CONFIG_SND_SEQ_UMP`, `CONFIG_SND_SEQ_UMP_CLIENT`, and
53 `CONFIG_SND_USB_AUDIO_MIDI_V2`. The first visible one is
54 `CONFIG_SND_USB_AUDIO_MIDI_V2`, and when you choose it (to set `=y`),
55 the core support for UMP (`CONFIG_SND_UMP`) and the sequencer binding
56 (`CONFIG_SND_SEQ_UMP_CLIENT`) will be automatically selected.
58 Additionally, `CONFIG_SND_UMP_LEGACY_RAWMIDI=y` will enable the
59 support for the legacy raw MIDI device for UMP Endpoints.
62 Rawmidi Device with USB MIDI 2.0
63 ================================
65 When a device supports MIDI 2.0, the USB-audio driver probes and uses
66 the MIDI 2.0 interface (that is found always at the altset 1) as
67 default instead of the MIDI 1.0 interface (at altset 0). You can
68 switch back to the binding with the old MIDI 1.0 interface by passing
69 `midi2_enable=0` option to snd-usb-audio driver module, too.
71 The USB audio driver tries to query the UMP Endpoint and UMP Function
72 Block information that are provided since UMP v1.1, and builds up the
73 topology based on those information. When the device is older and
74 doesn't respond to the new UMP inquiries, the driver falls back and
75 builds the topology based on Group Terminal Block (GTB) information
76 from the USB descriptor. Some device might be screwed up by the
77 unexpected UMP command; in such a case, pass `midi2_probe=0` option to
78 snd-usb-audio driver for skipping the UMP v1.1 inquiries.
80 When the MIDI 2.0 device is probed, the kernel creates a rawmidi
81 device for each UMP Endpoint of the device. Its device name is
82 `/dev/snd/umpC*D*` and different from the standard rawmidi device name
83 `/dev/snd/midiC*D*` for MIDI 1.0, in order to avoid confusing the
84 legacy applications accessing mistakenly to UMP devices.
86 You can read and write UMP packet data directly from/to this UMP
87 rawmidi device. For example, reading via `hexdump` like below will
88 show the incoming UMP packets of the card 0 device 0 in the hex
91 % hexdump -C /dev/snd/umpC0D0
92 00000000 01 07 b0 20 00 07 b0 20 64 3c 90 20 64 3c 80 20 |... ... d<. d<. |
94 Unlike the MIDI 1.0 byte stream, UMP is a 32bit packet, and the size
95 for reading or writing the device is also aligned to 32bit (which is 4
98 The 32-bit words in the UMP packet payload are always in CPU native
99 endianness. Transport drivers are responsible to convert UMP words
100 from / to system endianness to required transport endianness / byte
103 When `CONFIG_SND_UMP_LEGACY_RAWMIDI` is set, the driver creates
104 another standard raw MIDI device additionally as `/dev/snd/midiC*D*`.
105 This contains 16 substreams, and each substream corresponds to a
106 (0-based) UMP Group. Legacy applications can access to the specified
107 group via each substream in MIDI 1.0 byte stream format. With the
108 ALSA rawmidi API, you can open the arbitrary substream, while just
109 opening `/dev/snd/midiC*D*` will end up with opening the first
112 Each UMP Endpoint can provide the additional information, constructed
113 from the information inquired via UMP 1.1 Stream messages or USB MIDI
114 2.0 descriptors. And a UMP Endpoint may contain one or more UMP
115 Blocks, where UMP Block is an abstraction introduced in the ALSA UMP
116 implementations to represent the associations among UMP Groups. UMP
117 Block corresponds to Function Block in UMP 1.1 specification. When
118 UMP 1.1 Function Block information isn't available, it's filled
119 partially from Group Terminal Block (GTB) as defined in USB MIDI 2.0
122 The information of UMP Endpoints and UMP Blocks are found in the proc
123 file `/proc/asound/card*/midi*`. For example::
125 % cat /proc/asound/card1/midi0
130 EP Product ID: ABCD12345678
132 Protocol Caps: 0x00000100
136 Block 0 (ProtoZOA Main)
137 Direction: bidirection
142 Block 1 (ProtoZOA Ext IN)
146 Is MIDI1: Yes (Low Speed)
149 Note that `Groups` field shown in the proc file above indicates the
150 1-based UMP Group numbers (from-to).
152 Those additional UMP Endpoint and UMP Block information can be
153 obtained via the new ioctls `SNDRV_UMP_IOCTL_ENDPOINT_INFO` and
154 `SNDRV_UMP_IOCTL_BLOCK_INFO`, respectively.
156 The rawmidi name and the UMP Endpoint name are usually identical, and
157 in the case of USB MIDI, it's taken from `iInterface` of the
158 corresponding USB MIDI interface descriptor. If it's not provided,
159 it's copied from `iProduct` of the USB device descriptor as a
162 The Endpoint Product ID is a string field and supposed to be unique.
163 It's copied from `iSerialNumber` of the device for USB MIDI.
165 The protocol capabilities and the actual protocol bits are defined in
169 ALSA Sequencer with USB MIDI 2.0
170 ================================
172 In addition to the rawmidi interfaces, ALSA sequencer interface
173 supports the new UMP MIDI 2.0 device, too. Now, each ALSA sequencer
174 client may set its MIDI version (0, 1 or 2) to declare itself being
175 either the legacy, UMP MIDI 1.0 or UMP MIDI 2.0 device, respectively.
176 The first, legacy client is the one that sends/receives the old
177 sequencer event as was. Meanwhile, UMP MIDI 1.0 and 2.0 clients send
178 and receive in the extended event record for UMP. The MIDI version is
179 seen in the new `midi_version` field of `snd_seq_client_info`.
181 A UMP packet can be sent/received in a sequencer event embedded by
182 specifying the new event flag bit `SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_UMP`. When this
183 flag is set, the event has 16 byte (128 bit) data payload for holding
184 the UMP packet. Without the `SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_UMP` bit flag, the event
185 is treated as a legacy event as it was (with max 12 byte data
188 With `SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_UMP` flag set, the type field of a UMP sequencer
189 event is ignored (but it should be set to 0 as default).
191 The type of each client can be seen in `/proc/asound/seq/clients`.
194 % cat /proc/asound/seq/clients
198 Client 14 : "Midi Through" [Kernel Legacy]
199 Port 0 : "Midi Through Port-0" (RWe-)
200 Client 20 : "ProtoZOA" [Kernel UMP MIDI1]
201 UMP Endpoint: ProtoZOA
202 UMP Block 0: ProtoZOA Main [Active]
204 UMP Block 1: ProtoZOA Ext IN [Active]
206 UMP Block 2: ProtoZOA Ext OUT [Active]
208 Port 0 : "MIDI 2.0" (RWeX) [In/Out]
209 Port 1 : "ProtoZOA Main" (RWeX) [In/Out]
210 Port 2 : "ProtoZOA Ext IN" (-We-) [Out]
211 Port 3 : "ProtoZOA Ext OUT" (R-e-) [In]
213 Here you can find two types of kernel clients, "Legacy" for client 14,
214 and "UMP MIDI1" for client 20, which is a USB MIDI 2.0 device.
215 A USB MIDI 2.0 client gives always the port 0 as "MIDI 2.0" and the
216 rest ports from 1 for each UMP Group (e.g. port 1 for Group 1).
217 In this example, the device has three active groups (Main, Ext IN and
218 Ext OUT), and those are exposed as sequencer ports from 1 to 3.
219 The "MIDI 2.0" port is for a UMP Endpoint, and its difference from
220 other UMP Group ports is that UMP Endpoint port sends the events from
221 the all ports on the device ("catch-all"), while each UMP Group port
222 sends only the events from the given UMP Group.
223 Also, UMP groupless messages (such as the UMP message type 0x0f) are
224 sent only to the UMP Endpoint port.
226 Note that, although each UMP sequencer client usually creates 16
227 ports, those ports that don't belong to any UMP Blocks (or belonging
228 to inactive UMP Blocks) are marked as inactive, and they don't appear
229 in the proc outputs. In the example above, the sequencer ports from 4
230 to 16 are present but not shown there.
232 The proc file above shows the UMP Block information, too. The same
233 entry (but with more detailed information) is found in the rawmidi
236 When clients are connected between different MIDI versions, the events
237 are translated automatically depending on the client's version, not
238 only between the legacy and the UMP MIDI 1.0/2.0 types, but also
239 between UMP MIDI 1.0 and 2.0 types, too. For example, running
240 `aseqdump` program on the ProtoZOA Main port in the legacy mode will
241 give you the output like::
244 Waiting for data. Press Ctrl+C to end.
246 20:1 Note on 0, note 60, velocity 100
247 20:1 Note off 0, note 60, velocity 100
248 20:1 Control change 0, controller 11, value 4
250 When you run `aseqdump` in MIDI 2.0 mode, it'll receive the high
251 precision data like::
253 % aseqdump -u 2 -p 20:1
254 Waiting for data. Press Ctrl+C to end.
256 20:1 Note on 0, note 60, velocity 0xc924, attr type = 0, data = 0x0
257 20:1 Note off 0, note 60, velocity 0xc924, attr type = 0, data = 0x0
258 20:1 Control change 0, controller 11, value 0x2000000
260 while the data is automatically converted by ALSA sequencer core.
263 Rawmidi API Extensions
264 ======================
266 * The additional UMP Endpoint information can be obtained via the new
267 ioctl `SNDRV_UMP_IOCTL_ENDPOINT_INFO`. It contains the associated
268 card and device numbers, the bit flags, the protocols, the number of
269 UMP Blocks, the name string of the endpoint, etc.
271 The protocols are specified in two field, the protocol capabilities
272 and the current protocol. Both contain the bit flags specifying the
273 MIDI protocol version (`SNDRV_UMP_EP_INFO_PROTO_MIDI1` or
274 `SNDRV_UMP_EP_INFO_PROTO_MIDI2`) in the upper byte and the jitter
275 reduction timestamp (`SNDRV_UMP_EP_INFO_PROTO_JRTS_TX` and
276 `SNDRV_UMP_EP_INFO_PROTO_JRTS_RX`) in the lower byte.
278 A UMP Endpoint may contain up to 32 UMP Blocks, and the number of
279 the currently assigned blocks are shown in the Endpoint information.
281 * Each UMP Block information can be obtained via another new ioctl
282 `SNDRV_UMP_IOCTL_BLOCK_INFO`. The block ID number (0-based) has to
283 be passed for the block to query. The received data contains the
284 associated the direction of the block, the first associated group ID
285 (0-based) and the number of groups, the name string of the block,
288 The direction is either `SNDRV_UMP_DIR_INPUT`,
289 `SNDRV_UMP_DIR_OUTPUT` or `SNDRV_UMP_DIR_BIDIRECTION`.
291 * For the device supports UMP v1.1, the UMP MIDI protocol can be
292 switched via "Stream Configuration Request" message (UMP type 0x0f,
293 status 0x05). When UMP core receives such a message, it updates the
294 UMP EP info and the corresponding sequencer clients as well.
297 Control API Extensions
298 ======================
300 * The new ioctl `SNDRV_CTL_IOCTL_UMP_NEXT_DEVICE` is introduced for
301 querying the next UMP rawmidi device, while the existing ioctl
302 `SNDRV_CTL_IOCTL_RAWMIDI_NEXT_DEVICE` queries only the legacy
305 For setting the subdevice (substream number) to be opened, use the
306 ioctl `SNDRV_CTL_IOCTL_RAWMIDI_PREFER_SUBDEVICE` like the normal
309 * Two new ioctls `SNDRV_CTL_IOCTL_UMP_ENDPOINT_INFO` and
310 `SNDRV_CTL_IOCTL_UMP_BLOCK_INFO` provide the UMP Endpoint and UMP
311 Block information of the specified UMP device via ALSA control API
312 without opening the actual (UMP) rawmidi device.
313 The `card` field is ignored upon inquiry, always tied with the card
314 of the control interface.
317 Sequencer API Extensions
318 ========================
320 * `midi_version` field is added to `snd_seq_client_info` to indicate
321 the current MIDI version (either 0, 1 or 2) of each client.
322 When `midi_version` is 1 or 2, the alignment of read from a UMP
323 sequencer client is also changed from the former 28 bytes to 32
324 bytes for the extended payload. The alignment size for the write
325 isn't changed, but each event size may differ depending on the new
328 * `SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_UMP` flag bit is added for each sequencer event
329 flags. When this bit flag is set, the sequencer event is extended
330 to have a larger payload of 16 bytes instead of the legacy 12
331 bytes, and the event contains the UMP packet in the payload.
333 * The new sequencer port type bit (`SNDRV_SEQ_PORT_TYPE_MIDI_UMP`)
334 indicates the port being UMP-capable.
336 * The sequencer ports have new capability bits to indicate the
337 inactive ports (`SNDRV_SEQ_PORT_CAP_INACTIVE`) and the UMP Endpoint
338 port (`SNDRV_SEQ_PORT_CAP_UMP_ENDPOINT`).
340 * The event conversion of ALSA sequencer clients can be suppressed the
341 new filter bit `SNDRV_SEQ_FILTER_NO_CONVERT` set to the client info.
342 For example, the kernel pass-through client (`snd-seq-dummy`) sets
343 this flag internally.
345 * The port information gained the new field `direction` to indicate
346 the direction of the port (either `SNDRV_SEQ_PORT_DIR_INPUT`,
347 `SNDRV_SEQ_PORT_DIR_OUTPUT` or `SNDRV_SEQ_PORT_DIR_BIDIRECTION`).
349 * Another additional field for the port information is `ump_group`
350 which specifies the associated UMP Group Number (1-based).
351 When it's non-zero, the UMP group field in the UMP packet updated
352 upon delivery to the specified group (corrected to be 0-based).
353 Each sequencer port is supposed to set this field if it's a port to
354 specific to a certain UMP group.
356 * Each client may set the additional event filter for UMP Groups in
357 `group_filter` bitmap. The filter consists of bitmap from 1-based
358 Group numbers. For example, when the bit 1 is set, messages from
359 Group 1 (i.e. the very first group) are filtered and not delivered.
360 The bit 0 is used for filtering UMP groupless messages.
362 * Two new ioctls are added for UMP-capable clients:
363 `SNDRV_SEQ_IOCTL_GET_CLIENT_UMP_INFO` and
364 `SNDRV_SEQ_IOCTL_SET_CLIENT_UMP_INFO`. They are used to get and set
365 either `snd_ump_endpoint_info` or `snd_ump_block_info` data
366 associated with the sequencer client. The USB MIDI driver provides
367 those information from the underlying UMP rawmidi, while a
368 user-space client may provide its own data via `*_SET` ioctl.
369 For an Endpoint data, pass 0 to the `type` field, while for a Block
370 data, pass the block number + 1 to the `type` field.
371 Setting the data for a kernel client shall result in an error.
373 * With UMP 1.1, Function Block information may be changed
374 dynamically. When the update of Function Block is received from the
375 device, ALSA sequencer core changes the corresponding sequencer port
376 name and attributes accordingly, and notifies the changes via the
377 announcement to the ALSA sequencer system port, similarly like the
378 normal port change notification.
381 MIDI2 USB Gadget Function Driver
382 ================================
384 The latest kernel contains the support for USB MIDI 2.0 gadget
385 function driver, which can be used for prototyping and debugging MIDI
388 `CONFIG_USB_GADGET`, `CONFIG_USB_CONFIGFS` and
389 `CONFIG_USB_CONFIGFS_F_MIDI2` need to be enabled for the MIDI2 gadget
392 In addition, for using a gadget driver, you need a working UDC driver.
393 In the example below, we use `dummy_hcd` driver (enabled via
394 `CONFIG_USB_DUMMY_HCD`) that is available on PC and VM for debugging
395 purpose. There are other UDC drivers depending on the platform, and
396 those can be used for a real device, instead, too.
398 At first, on a system to run the gadget, load `libcomposite` module::
400 % modprobe libcomposite
402 and you'll have `usb_gadget` subdirectory under configfs space
403 (typically `/sys/kernel/config` on modern OS). Then create a gadget
404 instance and add configurations there, for example::
406 % cd /sys/kernel/config
407 % mkdir usb_gadget/g1
411 % mkdir functions/midi2.usb0
413 % echo 0x0004 > idProduct
414 % echo 0x17b3 > idVendor
415 % mkdir strings/0x409
416 % echo "ACME Enterprises" > strings/0x409/manufacturer
417 % echo "ACMESynth" > strings/0x409/product
418 % echo "ABCD12345" > strings/0x409/serialnumber
420 % mkdir configs/c.1/strings/0x409
421 % echo "Monosynth" > configs/c.1/strings/0x409/configuration
422 % echo 120 > configs/c.1/MaxPower
424 At this point, there must be a subdirectory `ep.0`, and that is the
425 configuration for a UMP Endpoint. You can fill the Endpoint
428 % echo "ACMESynth" > functions/midi2.usb0/iface_name
429 % echo "ACMESynth" > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/ep_name
430 % echo "ABCD12345" > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/product_id
431 % echo 0x0123 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/family
432 % echo 0x4567 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/model
433 % echo 0x123456 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/manufacturer
434 % echo 0x12345678 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/sw_revision
436 The default MIDI protocol can be set either 1 or 2::
438 % echo 2 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/protocol
440 And, you can find a subdirectory `block.0` under this Endpoint
441 subdirectory. This defines the Function Block information::
443 % echo "Monosynth" > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/block.0/name
444 % echo 0 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/block.0/first_group
445 % echo 1 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/block.0/num_groups
447 Finally, link the configuration and enable it::
449 % ln -s functions/midi2.usb0 configs/c.1
450 % echo dummy_udc.0 > UDC
452 where `dummy_udc.0` is an example case and it differs depending on the
453 system. You can find the UDC instances in `/sys/class/udc` and pass
454 the found name instead::
459 Now, the MIDI 2.0 gadget device is enabled, and the gadget host
460 creates a new sound card instance containing a UMP rawmidi device by
463 % cat /proc/asound/cards
465 1 [Gadget ]: f_midi2 - MIDI 2.0 Gadget
468 And on the connected host, a similar card should appear, too, but with
469 the card and device names given in the configfs above::
471 % cat /proc/asound/cards
473 2 [ACMESynth ]: USB-Audio - ACMESynth
474 ACME Enterprises ACMESynth at usb-dummy_hcd.0-1, high speed
476 You can play a MIDI file on the gadget side::
478 % aplaymidi -p 20:1 to_host.mid
480 and this will appear as an input from a MIDI device on the connected
483 % aseqdump -p 20:0 -u 2
485 Vice versa, a playback on the connected host will work as an input on
488 Each Function Block may have different direction and UI-hint,
489 specified via `direction` and `ui_hint` attributes.
490 Passing `1` is for input-only, `2` for out-only and `3` for
491 bidirectional (the default value). For example::
493 % echo 2 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/block.0/direction
494 % echo 2 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/block.0/ui_hint
496 When you need more than one Function Blocks, you can create
497 subdirectories `block.1`, `block.2`, etc dynamically, and configure
498 them in the configuration procedure above before linking.
499 For example, to create a second Function Block for a keyboard::
501 % mkdir functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/block.1
502 % echo "Keyboard" > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/block.1/name
503 % echo 1 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/block.1/first_group
504 % echo 1 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/block.1/num_groups
505 % echo 1 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/block.1/direction
506 % echo 1 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/block.1/ui_hint
508 The `block.*` subdirectories can be removed dynamically, too (except
509 for `block.0` which is persistent).
511 For assigning a Function Block for MIDI 1.0 I/O, set up in `is_midi1`
512 attribute. 1 is for MIDI 1.0, and 2 is for MIDI 1.0 with low speed
515 % echo 2 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/block.1/is_midi1
517 For disabling the processing of UMP Stream messages in the gadget
518 driver, pass `0` to `process_ump` attribute in the top-level config::
520 % echo 0 > functions/midi2.usb0/process_ump
522 The MIDI 1.0 interface at altset 0 is supported by the gadget driver,
523 too. When MIDI 1.0 interface is selected by the connected host, the
524 UMP I/O on the gadget is translated from/to USB MIDI 1.0 packets
525 accordingly while the gadget driver keeps communicating with the
526 user-space over UMP rawmidi.
528 MIDI 1.0 ports are set up from the config in each Function Block.
531 % echo 0 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/block.0/midi1_first_group
532 % echo 1 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.0/block.0/midi1_num_groups
534 The configuration above will enable the Group 1 (the index 0) for MIDI
535 1.0 interface. Note that those groups must be in the groups defined
536 for the Function Block itself.
538 The gadget driver supports more than one UMP Endpoints, too.
539 Similarly like the Function Blocks, you can create a new subdirectory
540 `ep.1` (but under the card top-level config) to enable a new Endpoint::
542 % mkdir functions/midi2.usb0/ep.1
544 and create a new Function Block there. For example, to create 4
545 Groups for the Function Block of this new Endpoint::
547 % mkdir functions/midi2.usb0/ep.1/block.0
548 % echo 4 > functions/midi2.usb0/ep.1/block.0/num_groups
550 Now, you'll have 4 rawmidi devices in total: the first two are UMP
551 rawmidi devices for Endpoint 0 and Endpoint 1, and other two for the
552 legacy MIDI 1.0 rawmidi devices corresponding to both EP 0 and EP 1.
554 The current altsetting on the gadget can be informed via a control
555 element "Operation Mode" with `RAWMIDI` iface. e.g. you can read it
556 via `amixer` program running on the gadget host like::
558 % amixer -c1 cget iface=RAWMIDI,name='Operation Mode'
559 ; type=INTEGER,access=r--v----,values=1,min=0,max=2,step=0
562 The value (shown in the second returned line with `: values=`)
563 indicates 1 for MIDI 1.0 (altset 0), 2 for MIDI 2.0 (altset 1) and 0
566 As of now, the configurations can't be changed after binding.