McLaren Labs
MIDI Applications

McLaren News

Feb 18, 2025 - Update of RTP-MIDI Server product MMKServer. Seamlessly expose MIDI devices over RTP-MIDI with Zero-Configuration. Free download..
Read about MMKServer here.


About McLaren Labs

McLaren Labs brings MIDI applications to the Raspberry-Pi and Ubuntu computers. Our aim is to make music-creation and experimentation easy and fun on inexpensive, accessible computers. Our apps are optimized for multicore architectures, built using libdispatch, to take advantage of the increasing performance available on even inexpensive CPUs.

Our networking utility, rtpmidi, lets you send MIDI messages over a computer network using WiFi or Ethernet. The rtpmidi protocol is already build into Mac computers, so this utility makes it easy to network your Raspberry Pi or Ubuntu computer with your Mac. It is also possible to use rtpmidi with PCs and Android devices, because this protocol is available on those platforms too.

We also like to share some of our developments. We regularly release free downloads, and have recently begun distributing the McLaren Synth Kit - an audio programming environment based on Objective-C for GNUstep. McLaren Labs remains a work in progress.

CONTACT

What People Are Saying

Rtpmidi Features at a Glance

Easy Installation

Standard .deb file

Recovery Journal

Tolerate network loss gracefully with forward error-correction on packets both sent and received

Intelligent Damper Pedal

Error compensation algorithm on Sustain Pedal specialized for piano

Bonjour Enabled

Find MIDI devices on your network

System Exclusive

Send and Receive MIDI Show Control messages

IPV6 Ready

McLaren Lab's RTPMIDI uses IPV6 when it can

About Network MIDI

Share Synthesizers and Keyboards across Computers

MIDI was originally designed as a serial protocol to be sent over cables that plugged into a MIDI-specific 5-pin port on a computer or keyboard. Many devices these days use USB instead of the special MIDI connector. There are also ways to send MIDI over Bluetooth.

Network MIDI translates MIDI into messages that can be sent over your computer network. It is also very flexible: one computer can host multiple sessions, with each session managing the connections between two or more devices. Network MIDI replaces cables and can simplify your studio, allowing software control of connections and patches. A Network MIDI controller can implement split and merging functions in software.

Because Network MIDI is built into Mac OSX, you can use a Raspberry-Pi or Ubuntu Linux computer to send MIDI information to your Mac. This allows you to "play" Mac synths from your Pi. You can also use a cheap Linux computer to "bridge" USB-MIDI keyboards and controllers into your Ethernet network.

Read The Docs

RTPMIDI
INSTALLATION and USER GUIDE
RTPMIDI
LINUX MAN PAGE

About RTP-MIDI Protocol

Why RFC-6295? RFC-6295 (alsa known as RTP-MIDI) is a special protocol for MIDI information. RTP ("Real Time Protocol") is a family of protocols for sending real-time information like audio and video. RTP-MIDI is a special form for sending MIDI events. Other systems (like OSC, for one) use either UDP or TCP protocols directly. UDP packets have low latency, but their delivery is not guaranteed. TCP messages are guaranteed to be delivered, but system buffers can introduce unmanaged delay.

RTP-MIDI is built using UDP packets and introduces an error-correction algorithm designed especially for music called the "Journal". This algorithm detects when UDP packets have been dropped and recovers the information in a musically-friendly way. This means that if a Note-OFF packet is lost, that note will not stay "stuck on." The protocol will detect the missing Note-OFF and recover. It also means that notes will not be played twice by accident. This method gives the best experience for live performance.

the Why: Network MIDI lets MIDI-enabled software communicate by sending packets over your network. With rtpmidi you can connect connect Synthesizers, Keyboards and other Controllers using Ethernet instead of old-fashioned MIDI cables.

the How: The McLaren Labs rtpmidi program can be used as a Listener or an Initiator. As a Listener, it can accept incoming connections from other Network MIDI participants. As an Initiator, it can initiate connections to other Network MIDI participants.

ALSO: Because Network MIDI is built into Mac OSX, you can use a Raspberry Pi or Ubuntu Linux computer to send MIDI information to your Mac. This allows you to play Mac synths from your Pi.

AND other applications: Some Lighting Control programs can map MIDI. Now you can send these messages over an Ethernet network for additional flexibility.

Previous Next

What you can do with RTPMIDI
Raspberry-Mac
Raspberry-Pi to Mac
Connect a Synth to a DAW on a Mac using Networking
Raspberry Duet
Raspberry-Pi to Raspberry-Pi
Play Duets across a Raspberry-Pi Network

iPhone-RasberryPi
iPhone to Raspberry-Pi
Use an iPhone MIDI app with your Raspberry-Pi Synth over WiFi
iDevice Lighting
iDevice to Lighting
Control MIDI-enabled Lighthing with your iPhone or iPad over WiFi

MMK Server

Effortlessly share MIDI devices across your network with a Raspberry Pi!

MMKServer ("McLaren MIDI Kit --- Server") is a headless RTP-MIDI Server appliance software you can run on a Raspberry Pi. Share your Keyboard controllers, synths, drum machines and control surfaces over the network. For each attached MIDI device, MMKServer will announce it on the network as a separate session. Simply open up your RTP-MIDI configuration program on your DAW and select the remote device by name.

MMKServer is a new addition to our family of products. It addresses a typical use case for our users for serving USB-attached MIDI devices over the network. This software appliance is about as easy as it gets. There is no configuration. Simply install it.

AVAILABILITY: for a limited time, MMKServer is available as a free-alpha trial in our Store.

Web Console

MMKServer runs headless on your Pi, but you can open up a detailed console view using a browser. The console server runs on port 8000. It shows which Linux MIDI devices are being exported, which UDP port they are exposed on, and the status of any connections to those devices.

The console is configured to trigger a page refresh every 5 seconds. That way the view is always up to date. It is a convenient way to monitor the status of your connections.

Starting and Stopping the Server

MMKServer is installed as a systemd service unit. It will automatically start when first installed, and every subsequent boot after that. To control it manually, use systemctl. 

                Examples
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ systemctl stop mmkserver
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ systemctl start mmkserver
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ systemctl status mmkserver

Logs from MMKServer are captured by the systemd logging facility. To view the logs of MMKServer, you can use the journalctl command. The following lists the log messages from MMKServer with the most recent messages first. 

                Examples
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ journalctl -r -u mmkserver
...

McLaren Synth Kit

McLaren Synth Kit

The McLaren Labs Synth Kit is an open source collection of Objective-C components for working with MIDI and Audio on Linux. Built on the GNUstep platform, the McLaren Synth Kit helps you:

Find the McLaren Synth Kit on github.com.
https://github.com/mclarenlabs/libs-mclaren-alpha

And read about its architecture and design on github.io.
https://mclarenlabs.github.io/libs-mclaren-alpha/

Store

Choose the OS that works for you

rtpmidi for Rasberry-Pi

$5

Goto Store

rtpmidi for Ubuntu

$12

Goto Store

CONTACT

Interested in collaboration or an integration? Let us know what you have in mind!

For support or inquiries send Email, or use the Contact form on the right. Sending Email is preferred, as it will help our reply get through your spam filter.

info@mclarenlabs.com

Proudly created in:
San Francisco, CA