FAQ

MIDIDeviceManager (MDM) is a MIDI control and management application designed for musicians. It provides device management, patch libraries, scenes, live performance tools, MIDI monitoring, SysEx utilities, backup tools, and device discovery features from a single interface.

MDM is designed for:

• Guitarists

• Keyboard players

• Vocal performers

• Home studio musicians

• Live performers

• Worship teams

• MIDI enthusiasts

Anyone who wants to organize and control MIDI equipment more efficiently can benefit from MDM.

No.

MDM is designed to simplify MIDI workflows while still providing advanced functionality for experienced users.

Basic Program Change workflows can be configured with minimal MIDI knowledge.

It’s gone, and that’s intentional. Build 108 collapsed Easy, Advanced, and Pro down to two modes — Standard and Pro. Nearly everything that used to require Advanced — triggers, Also Send a Control Change, the MIDI Trigger Manager, MIDI Health Monitor, Network MIDI — is now available in Standard from the moment you launch the app. Pro now means one thing specifically: the SysEx Lab, for building and sending raw SysEx by hand.

No.

After installation, MDM can operate entirely offline.

Internet access may only be required for App Store services, updates, or optional cloud storage services chosen by the user.

Build 108 shortened the probe grace period during startup, so MDM reaches a ready state more quickly when reconnecting to your gear.

That’s a surprise…

Write to Santa. 🎅

Let’s just say that some MIDI elves are already thinking about it.

Because your setup isn’t the one in the video. Musicians use an enormous range of gear, and a video built around a GR-55 and a Helix Floor doesn’t help someone with a Headrush or a VoiceLive 3 — there’s no way to make one video cover every rig.

Instead, MDM puts a convenient help card on almost every page — a short, focused explanation of that exact feature, right where you’re using it. Once you’re comfortable, you can switch any individual card off with one tap, which also frees up more room for Pads. Combined with the Quick Start Guides in the Resource Centre and the free 30-day trial, you’re never stuck watching someone else’s equipment on screen instead of just trying MDM on your own.

Yes.

Anything that responds to Program Change works with Pads, Scenes, Setlists and Live Mode — which is virtually everything with a MIDI socket. What varies is whether MIDIDeviceManager can read the patch names for you or you supply them from a spreadsheet.

It appears when MDM finds exactly one reply on a shared connection that doesn’t match the equipment it expected — genuinely ambiguous, not a mistake on MDM’s part. Trusting it tells MDM to accept that reply as proof going forward, without checking further. That’s the right call on a simple setup — one interface, one instrument. It’s the wrong call if more than one instrument shares that connection: trusting it there means MDM will report an instrument as present using the interface’s own reply, even while the real instrument is switched off. Declining keeps MDM checking properly every time.

MIDIDeviceManager can read the patch list directly from Boss GT-Pro, Roland GR-55, TC-Helicon VoiceLive 2, Strymon BigSky and Line 6 POD 2.0. That is the full list today, and it grows with most builds.

Every other piece of MIDI equipment works too — what differs is how the patch names get in. See Device compatibility for the whole picture and for other devices supported through other import methodologies.

MDM uses Discovery to identify connected equipment whenever possible, based on how the device actually responds. Separately, if your own manufacturer list ends up with two entries for the same company (for example “Roland” and “Roland Corporation,” both drawn from real device replies), Build 108 lets you merge them into one — a display-only grouping choice you approve, with no effect on how devices are identified.

Yes.

You can create, edit, organize, duplicate, import and export your own indexes.

Yes.

Searchable Instrument indexes can be exported and shared with other MIDIDeviceManager users.

This makes it easy to exchange patches, collaborate with band members, distribute curated device patch indexes, or build collections of favorite patches.

Searchable Instrument indexes can also be used as backups and restored later on another device.

Yes.

Device definitions can be exported and shared with other MIDIDeviceManager users.

This allows musicians to exchange device setups, compatibility information, library assignments and MIDI configurations without having to recreate them manually.

Yes.

Searchable Instrument indexes created by other MIDIDeviceManager users can be imported and used on compatible devices.

This makes it easy to share patches, curated patch collections and community-created Searchable Instrument indexes

Yes.

MDM includes SysEx import functionality for supported devices and provides advanced SysEx tools for compatible hardware.

Yes. MDM can export device configurations, patch libraries, scenes, and other data so that your work can be restored or transferred to another device.

Yes.

Many MIDI devices can still be organized using Program Changes, Control Changes, Patch Libraries, Scenes, Setlists and Patch Walk MIDI Mapping workflows.

MDM is designed to remain useful even when a device provides limited SysEx capabilities.

Patch Walk MIDI Mapping allows users to build a Searchable Instrument indexes by browsing patches directly on a MIDI device.

MDM captures MIDI information while the user changes patches and helps create a usable Searchable Instrument indexes even when SysEx documentation is unavailable.

Yes.

Program Changes are fully supported and form the basis of many MDM workflows.

Yes.

MDM supports MIDI Control Change messages and allows them to be assigned to triggers and actions.

Yes.

Also Send a Control Change, available from Edit Pad, lets a Pad send one fixed Control Change alongside its Program Change. Set a level or turn an effect on at the same moment you recall the patch.

Yes.

MDM includes advanced SysEx communication tools, SysEx libraries, monitoring tools, and device-specific SysEx workflows.

SysEx Lab is MDM’s advanced MIDI utility environment.

It provides tools for SysEx communication, device discovery, monitoring, diagnostics, library imports and advanced MIDI workflows.

Yes.

MIDIDeviceManager supports Bluetooth MIDI devices compatible with iOS and iPadOS through CoreMIDI.

Bluetooth MIDI is ideal for wireless control, live performance, rehearsal environments, and mobile setups.

For everyday playing, any Bluetooth MIDI adaptor supported by iOS works well.

Building an index over Bluetooth works too — every piece of equipment MIDIDeviceManager reads directly has been imported that way, complete and without skips, including three sharing a single adaptor. If patches turn out to be missing afterwards, build the index again over a cable. That settles it either way.

MIDIDeviceManager remains compatible with any Bluetooth MIDI adaptor supported by iOS and iPadOS.

The following adapters are recommended for use with MIDIDeviceManager:

• CME WIDI Master
• CME WIDI Jack
• CME WIDI Bud Pro
• Yamaha MD-BT01

MDM works with Bluetooth MIDI adapters supported by iOS and iPadOS, including products from:

• CME
• Yamaha
• Roland / BOSS
• Korg
• Other CoreMIDI-compatible BLE devices

For large SysEx transfers and library imports, a wired MIDI connection may provide the highest reliability.

Yes.

MDM supports RTP-MIDI / Network MIDI connections through Apple’s CoreMIDI framework.

Yes.

MDM uses Apple’s CoreMIDI framework and can communicate with multiple MIDI connection types simultaneously, including USB MIDI, Bluetooth MIDI and Network MIDI connections.

Yes.

MDM was specifically designed with live performance workflows in mind.

Yes.

A single action can trigger changes across multiple MIDI devices simultaneously.

Scenes allow multiple devices and settings to be recalled instantly from a single action.

They are ideal for live performance and song-based workflows.

Sliders and Buttons give you real-time hardware control layered right on top of what you’re already looking at. As of Build 108, this overlay is available on Device Pads, Scenes, and Live Mode — so you can adjust your sound during a performance without leaving the screen you’re using to run the show.

Yes.

Scenes can trigger multiple MIDI devices simultaneously, making them ideal for live performance, rehearsals and song-based workflows.

Setlists organize songs and scenes into performance-ready sequences for rehearsals and live shows.

Yes.

Setlists, Scenes, Pads and Device Libraries can be combined to prepare complete rehearsals and live performances from a single interface.

MDM tells you right away, even off-screen. If a session is running in the background and a Device drops out, MDM names it directly on the Dynamic Island the moment it happens, and sends one silent notification the first time it does. Nothing to turn on — it works automatically whenever a background session is active.

Yes.

MDM includes backup and export functionality for user-created data.

Yes.

Backup files can be restored on another compatible installation of MDM.

A backup contains your Devices, Searchable Instrument Indexes, Scenes, Pads, Setlists, mappings and application settings.

Verify:

• MIDI ports

• MIDI channels

• Cable connections

• Bluetooth MIDI connections

• Device MIDI settings

The User Manual provides detailed troubleshooting procedures.

Orange means MDM noticed something worth a look but nothing that’s blocking you — distinct from red, which signals an actual connection problem. Build 108 corrected the wording so this distinction is clearer at a glance.

For most equipment, nothing extra is needed — Apple’s camera adapter already does the job. In USB terms, one side of a connection has to be the “Host” (in charge of the connection) and the other side the “Client” it’s managing. An iPhone or iPad is normally itself a Client when plugged into a Mac, but the camera adapter puts it into Host role instead, and any class-compliant equipment connected through it is recognised straight away — no separate interface hardware required.

A few pieces of equipment still won’t appear, even then. That usually means the equipment itself isn’t class-compliant, and needs its 5-pin DIN MIDI socket connected through a separate interface instead. Some gear also needs a setting switched on in its own menus before its USB port carries MIDI at all, alongside audio.

If you’re consolidating several older, DIN-only instruments through one connection, a multi-port MIDI interface is the right tool for that — but it’s the exception, not something most musicians need.

Use the Contact page and provide:

• Manufacturer

• Model

• MIDI capabilities

• What your equipment replies when we send it a few messages — we will tell you exactly what to send

MDM continuously evaluates support for additional devices.

Until Build 107, an import could take a different unit’s identity where several pieces of equipment share one interface — completing, reporting success, and containing nothing. That is fixed, and an import that came back empty is worth trying again.

Bluetooth can in principle drop a reply during a long transfer, so check the finished index rather than assuming. If patches are missing, build it again over a cable.

Support requests can be submitted through the Contact page or contact support@mididevicemanager.com: Please include:

If you have found a but or anything that could improve MDM, contact support@mididevicemanager.com: Please include:

• MDM version

• Device model

• iPhone or iPad model

• iOS or iPadOS version

• Description of the issue

• Steps required to reproduce the issue

This information helps us investigate problems more efficiently.

You don’t.

We’ve already thought of everything.

Just kidding.

We love hearing ideas from musicians.

Many MDM features have been inspired by real-world feedback from guitarists, keyboard players, vocalists, and live performers.

If you have an idea that could improve MDM, support@mididevicemanager.com and describe:

• What you would like to achieve
• Your MIDI equipment setup
• How the feature would help your workflow

While we cannot guarantee that every suggestion will be implemented, all feedback is reviewed and helps guide future development of MDM.

The complete MIDIDeviceManager User Manual is available from the Resource Center Resource Centrer .

The Privacy Policy is available from the Privacy Policy page on this website.