Serial MIDI Bridge

A lightweight Python-based Serial to MIDI bridge that enables devices to communicate via MIDI-over-serial

Features

• Low latency (< 5ms) bidirectional MIDI message processing
• Cross-platform compatibility (Windows, macOS, Linux)
• Support for standard MIDI messages
• Simple command-line interface
• Auto-reconnects to serial device if device drops out
• No threading, asyncio, or event loops

Installation

pip3 install serial-midi-bridge

Quickstart

macOS

serial-midi-bridge -d /dev/tty.usbserial -i "IAC Driver Bus 1" -o "IAC Driver Bus 2"

Windows

serial-midi-bridge -d COM4 -i "loopMIDI Port IN 0" -o "loopMIDI Port OUT 2"

Virtual MIDI Setup

For instructions on setting up a virtual MIDI device, see Ableton's "Setting up a virtual MIDI bus" guide

Usage

usage: serial-midi-bridge [-h] [-d DEVICE] [-b BAUDRATE]
                          [-i Input MIDI device]
                          [-o Output MIDI device] [-v] [-l]

Serial to MIDI bridge

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -d, --device DEVICE   Serial port name
  -b, --baudrate BAUDRATE
                        baud rate
  -i, --midi_in         Input MIDI device
  -o, --midi_out        Output MIDI device
  -v, --verbose         Print all MIDI messages
  -l, --list            List available USB devices and MIDI devices

To run the bridge, device, baudrate, midi_in, and midi_out are required. You can use --list (or -l) option to list available devices.

Issues

1. MIDI or Serial Device Not Found

   • Ensure your devices are properly connected and recognized by your system
   • Use the -l option to list available devices

2. MIDI Messages Not Being Sent/Received

   • Ensure the baud rate matches your device's configuration (default is 9600)
   • Enable verbose mode with -v flag to see all MIDI messages
     • If messages are all \x00, the baud rate is most likely incorrect
     • If no messages are being sent/received, it is likely a hardware issue

If you find a bug, please create an issue and contributions are always welcome!