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Customer Preview 1 - Feb 5, 2025 Windows Insider Canary

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@Psychlist1972 Psychlist1972 released this 05 Feb 18:00
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Milestone!

We're in and fully enabled in the Windows Insider Canary channel! We've had versions in the Windows Insider Canary builds since the past fall, but they were not enabled for everyone. This time, they are.

Learn more in the blog post at https://aka.ms/CanaryLatest and https://aka.ms/midifebcanary

Please read the entire release notes, especially the key known issues like having to restart the service to see MIDI 1 devices, before installing the SDK or filing any issues.

Bumping this up to the top so more folks see it. The SDK runtime and tools is not yet signed because it's being built from source here on GitHub and not from our internal system. You'll get the usual browser warnings and SmartScreen filter dialogs as a result. That's also why the NuGet package is here, and not on the official site. This is likely to be the case for the next couple preview releases. Entirely up to you if you want to install it anyway, but I encourage you to try it out. :)

Required OS Release

If you rely on your music applications on this PC for any production work, do not use this release. Windows Insider Canary releases are for enthusiasts and developers who wish to try out new functionality, provide feedback, and get a peek into where we're going.

At a minimum, this release requires the Windows Insider Canary Channel release from February 5, 2025: Windows 11 27788.

We'll have a future SDK update for an upcoming Canary release which will need to be locked with that release due to one change in the contract between the SDK and the service. We'll announce that when it comes, lately near the end of February.

Installation

Developers: no need to install any bits other than the SDK runtime and tools. The driver and everything is included in the Windows Insider build so there is no service or driver install in the GitHub release. If you have any previous Windows MIDI Services SDK installed, uninstall it before this installation. Ideally, uninstall any Windows MIDI Services developer preview packages before you upgrade to latest Windows Insider Canary Channel release.

First, ensure you have the required minimum Windows Insider Canary build installed. This will not work with earlier releases.

If you are a end-user, the only thing to install is the SDK Runtime and Tools package for your CPU architecture. For developers, I've also included the NuGet package so the version numbers align with the samples.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ARM64 USERS: I had to use the x64 version of the Settings app to work around an SDK activation issue with WinUI apps #508. This requires the x64 runtime for .NET 8, which is not included in the install. The Console app still uses the Arm64 version of .NET 8. To install, get the 8.0.12 (or later) x64 Desktop Runtime from here. The SDK and other tools are all Arm64 native.

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What to Expect

The Windows Insider Canary release includes:

  • The new MIDI 2.0 and MIDI 1.0 UMP Class driver, enabled as a class driver
  • The MIDI Service and all production transport plugins
  • WinMM Support for 64 and 32 bit applications on Intel/AMD processors.
  • WinMM Support for 64 bit applications on Arm64

The WinMM support is important to call out. The WinMM API now routes messages through wdmaud2.drv which calls into the new service. The service is also responsible for creating the port names. So now, all WinMM ports are multi-client, and have (we hope!) better names for the devices you use.

The SDK and Tools release includes:

  • All console tools as before (midi.exe, midiksinfo.exe, mididiag.exe, midimdnsinfo.exe)
  • Preview of the MIDI Settings application. In this, you can see the different types of endpoints available in your installation, create loopback endpoints (see note below), monitor inputs (via launching the console) and more. This is a very early preview so is far from complete. We'd love your feedback and ideas for what you want in a MIDI Settings app.

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Issues

There are a number of known issues with this release. Please check the Issues list before reporting new issues. In-particular, the loopback endpoint activation entry is missing from the registry in this one. See #502 for information and workaround. Additionally, function blocks are not being captured from MIDI 2.0 devices. See #503 .

Most MIDI 1.0 devices are not correctly detected if plugged in while the service is running. Issue #483. Restarting the Windows MIDI Services through the Services app will then show the devices for you. (Start > Services, find the Windows MIDI Service, right-click and select "restart". If you have the SDK runtime installed, you can also open an admin command prompt and type midi service restart)

WinRT MIDI 1.0 will not work with this release. You'll see ports but cannot use them. We have that functioning internally and will include it in an upcoming Insider release.

32-bit apps like MIDI-OX on Arm64 are not currently working. We're looking into it. See #504

The Runtime tools and SDK installer is not signed, so you will get the usual warnings when you download and install it.

Other issues are in the issues area of this repo.

Documentation

Documentation: https://aka.ms/midi

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