A game changer for Windows MIDI and Audio

Gig Performer on Windows
1

I did a quick search on Gemini. Here’s the summary.

KB5074105 is indeed a “love letter” to the music community. Beyond just being multi-client, this update modernizes the entire plumbing of how Windows handles audio and data for creators.

Here are the other major features tucked into this update and the 2026 roadmap:

1. Native MIDI 2.0 (The “Expressive” Upgrade)

While MIDI 1.0 has been the standard since 1983, KB5074105 finally brings full MIDI 2.0 support.

  • Resolution: Instead of 128 steps for things like volume or pitch bend, MIDI 2.0 allows for billions of steps. This makes digital instruments feel almost analog in their smoothness.

  • Bi-directional Talk: Your hardware and your DAW can now “chat.” If you change a preset on your synth, your DAW instantly knows the name of the patch and the names of all the knobs.

2. Built-in “Virtual” MIDI Cables (Loopback)

Previously, if you wanted to send MIDI from a standalone sequencer into Ableton or Cubase, you had to install 3rd-party drivers like loopMIDI.

  • New Feature: Windows now has native loopback ports. You can create “virtual cables” directly in the Windows MIDI Settings app. This is much more stable and has significantly lower latency than the old 3rd-party hacks.

3. Jitter-Free Timing

The new Windows MIDI Services stack moves MIDI processing out of the “user layer” and deeper into the system. This drastically reduces “jitter”—those tiny timing micro-delays that make a recorded drum pattern feel “off” or “mushy.”

4. The “ASIO replacement” is coming (UAC2)

While KB5074105 focuses on MIDI, Microsoft confirmed at NAMM 2026 that they are finishing a new Universal Audio Class 2 (UAC2) driver.

  • The Goal: To eventually make ASIO4ALL obsolete.

  • Why it matters: It aims to provide Mac-like “Core Audio” performance where you can plug in any USB interface and get ultra-low latency without needing to hunt down specific manufacturer drivers.

5. Cross-Device “Resume”

While not strictly for music, this update includes a feature that lets you start a task on your Android phone and “hand off” to your PC.

  • DAW Use Case: Microsoft is working with developers so you could, for example, record a voice memo or a melody idea on your phone and have it pop up immediately as a clip in your desktop DAW when you sit down.

2 Likes
2

Thank you for posting this. I had seen this a few days ago and even already applied the update, but was curious about the real use case for all of this -especially with GP. Some of the features you highlighted are very intriguing if they work as advertised.

I was most interested in the multi client aspect. I use MIDI to control our DMX light shows, using an Akai APC Mini mk2 with Chauvet ShowXpress. To do a light show I use the Akai with a sequencer and create a MIDI file that goes along with our click track, but the Akai can only be used by ShowXpress OR the sequencer. To get the Akai to work with both I had to route the Akai to a MIDIsport 4x4, and then bought a little mio1x1 and plugged it into one of the ports of the MIDIsport. The sequencer controlled the Akai and the MIDIsport, and ShowXpress controlled the mio.

Akai > Sequencer > MIDIsport > mio > ShowXpress

ShowXpress > mio > MIDIsport > Sequencer > Akai

You can program the Akai’s buttons to change colors, intensity, or blink/solid based on loop back MIDI information so you need the two way communication. It was kind of ridiculous I had to use two separate physical interfaces on the same computer on top of the Akai to get everything working right.

Even though once I got a light show done for a song and have GP run it via a MIDI file, I have to use the same routing method to get GP to talk to ShowXpress. Plus it is handy to have the Akai there to test lights and to reset things if something goes wrong.

I was going to test the multi client aspect of the new Windows MIDI engine, and if that doesn’t work I’ll try the loop back feature and let everyone know how well it works.

This was really unexpected of Microsoft and wasn’t on my radar at all. I hope the new MIDI engine isn’t a buggy mess.

3

That was likely the Preview version of KB5074105. That’s what showed up for me and I installed it. Then I ran “midicheckservice.exe” (dropped into a “Command Prompt” window) which said that the MIDI2 service hadn’t been installed yet.

Waiting impatiently for the full version of KB5074105.

It will also be interesting to see how UAC2 (when it’s released later) compares with RME’s native ASIO drivers. Will I still need/want to install the TotalMix and USB Settings Fireface UCX II apps?

4

I guess it depends on how it is implemented. Will all manufactures need to create new drivers? Most higher end audio interfaces will still have to deal with USB regardless of UAC2, and that is where RME shines (my ‘lite’ setup centers on an RME Babyface Pro FS and my main setup centers on an RME DigifaceUSB). I see this as more a win for people with integrated audio. Realtek has more audio chipsets integrated into computers and laptops than just about anyone, and for the most part no real ASIO integration. There have been many times I needed to do simple audio editing or recording away from my setup and wished that the audio chipsets that are the most used on the planet had just functional ASIO without having to use ASIO4ALL. Here is hoping that Microsoft is doing a meaningful overhaul to how Windows does audio.

5

Is it DANTE?

6

No. DigifaceUSB is SPDIF/ADAT. Port one goes to my EQ via SPDIF which is first in the signal chain to our PA. Port 2 goes to a Focusrite Clarrett+ Octopre, and Port 3 goes to a Behringer ADA8200. Port 4 is not used for now.

Totalmix is great for our live show setup. The Clarrett+ and ADA8200 take all our mics and direct outs from amps, send VSTs to amps on stage, mixes everything to our pa, then four separate mixes to our IEMs.

The only thing about the DigifaceUSB is no effects through Totalmix, so compression and effects are either with outboard gear or VSTs, but so far it handles everything like a champ with very low latency.

3 Likes
7

Sorry for the double post.

2026-02 Preview Update (KB5077241) (26200.7922) became available for my Surface Pro 10 for business today (2/26), and after installing it I was able to confirm the new Windows 11 MIDI stack/engine is up and running. I will install and test the new MIDI services this weekend and let everyone know how well it works (at least for the issues I previously mentioned)..

1 Like
8

As a fairly ignorant non-geek, what will this actually mean to existing rackspaces in the real world? Will progam changes happen faster, will overall performance improve etc, etc.

9

So this is in reply to bigalminal and everyone in general as my initial impressions to the new MIDI stack:

First, I can confirm the multi client aspect of the new Windows 11 MIDI stack works. As mentioned earlier, if I wanted to use my Akai APCmini mkII with both a MIDI sequencer and my DMX lighting software, I had to use two physical MIDI devices to relay it from one to the other and back again on the same computer. I was just now able to have my MIDI DAW, DMX software, and GP open at the same time using the Akai APCmini mkII directly via USB MIDI all at once with no issues. I didn’t have to configure or reconfigure a thing or install or reinstall drivers; it just worked.

It is harder to tell and more subjective to judge the less latency and reduced ‘jitter’ claims of the new MIDI stack, but the fact that three programs were very responsive to the same MIDI hardware at the same time makes me very optimistic.

I was trying to see if I could get the MIDI Services app up and running, but wasn’t able to this weekend. The ability to make virtual MIDI ports so different software can talk directly to each other through Windows has a lot of possibilities and has given me a few ideas. As I get the opportunity to test them I will write about them. My first priority will be using a virtual MIDI port to get GP to talk to my DMX lighting software so that a MIDI file synced with a click track for our songs played by GP controls our DMX lighting software.

So as far as what the ‘real world’ implications for what the new Windows 11 MIDI stack are, I can’t tell you. MIDI 2.0 implementation, jitter-free timing, virtual MIDI ports, multi-client operation, and system level vs. user level MIDI implementation are all just words in a press release until they are released, tested, and made use of in the real world. What I can tell you is that my first experience with the new MIDI stack for Windows 11 (which I’ve had for all of two days) worked flawlessly and solved an issue I’ve had with Windows and MIDI for a long time, albeit one caused partially by how Windows handled MIDI to begin with. This is the first time I’ve been excited about something Microsoft has done to Windows in a long time, and I see this as a positive sign for those who use Windows for music production in any capacity. This seems to be the biggest foundational shift in how Windows deals with MIDI since Windows 95 came out (I’ve been doing this since the days of DOS and Windows 3.1), and so far it works as advertised at the base level (for me at least).

Here is to hoping Mircrosoft continues to address issues with, and make improvements to, the Windows platform instead of telling their users AI and subscription/cloud services will solve all their woes.

6 Likes
[blog] Choosing which platform to use for live performance: PC or Mac?
10

I just ran the midicheckservice.exe command line app and, voila!, the new MIDI stack was installed sometime in the last two weeks. :+1:

2 Likes
11

Many thanks for posting.

12

Okay, so I downloaded the new MIDI Services app from Microsof’t’s github which you can find here:

On the top you can download a checker to see if you have the new MIDI stack which you need first to use the app, and down towards the bottom you can download the actual MIDI Services Runtime app. Keep in mind that even though it is from Microsoft, Windows will give you a warning both for the checker and app as they are not signed yet (/ironic). When you get the warning you have to click on learn more, then install/run anyway.

The app icon shows as ‘MIDI Settings’, and when launched it calls itself ‘Windows MIDI and Musician Settings PREVIEW’.

When you open the MIDI settings app it will tell you which MIDI Runtime you are running (1.0.15-rc2.18 for me), and then side tabs for Home, MIDI Devices and Endpoints, Global MIDI Settings, Loopback Endpoints, Active Sessions, Transports, and Troubleshooting.

One of the nice things is under MIDI devices and Endpoints is it will list all hardware and software MIDI devices, tells you what MIDI features are active for each device, then has a both a MIDI monitor and panic button for each device.

It comes with software MIDI devices labeled Loopback (A) and Loopback (B) which are enabled by default, but you can create more and label them what you want. MIDI out of LB(A) goes to MIDI in of LB(B) and vice versa.

After some trial and error using MIDI monitors from both GP and the new MIDI settings app, I was able to get GP to play a MIDI file that controlled my DMX lighting software, and the MIDI sent back from the DMX lighting software went back to GP. The MIDI coming back was different as the Akai APC mini that I have it set up for uses MIDI to control and toggle button color, brightness, and solid color/blinking and everything was reporting correctly.

I no longer need physical MIDI devices to get multiple pieces of software on my computer to talk to each other via MIDI. I can repurpose those physical devices for other tasks.

Keep in mind the software is still a preview build, so beware, but it seems to be working as advertised. Our next big show is at the end of April and I have use for the physical MIDI devices I was using for this before on other things, so I took the risk now and can still rollback if I need to. I’ll be field testing this the last week of March and let everyone know how it works with the final setup (we’re just using a smaller rehearsal setup with GP for now).

Also something interesting I saw on the download page that I linked. There seems to be a MIDI over ethernet being developed for Windows 11 right now. NOTE that it says the new Network MIDI services is still in development and you have to be in Windows developer mode to use it. I use RTP MIDI with a mioXL, and to use the mioXL with RTP MIDI in Windows I have Apple’s Bonjour installed as part of the Auracle software and drivers from iConnectivity for the mioXL. It works well as it is, and I can do DMX and MIDI over ethernet (even wirelessly!) for our shows, but it is nice that it might be a built in Windows 11 feature soon, although how long it will take iConnectivity to use the Windows 11 implementation vs what already works only time will tell. HOWEVER, I am hoping that the new MIDI over ethernet for Windows might allow you to turn any physical or software MIDI device into something that can do MIDI over ethernet (just hope and speculation on my part - I have not researched it yet).

I am happy with the new MIDI services implementation, and am cautiously optimistic for the future of MIDI on Windows.

2 Likes