serial-midi-bridge 1.0.0

A bridge for serial devices and MIDI controllers

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

Setup

1. Create and activate a virtual environment:

   # Create virtual environment
   python -m venv venv
   
   # Activate virtual environment
   # On Windows:
   venv\Scripts\activate
   # On macOS/Linux:
   source venv/bin/activate
   

2. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

3. Use serial_midi_bridge.py

   python serial_midi_bridge.py --device {serial device name} --midi_in {midi input device name} --midi_out {midi output device name}
   
   # If you want to list available devices, use `-l` option
   python serial_midi_bridge.py -l
   

Virtual MIDI Setup

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

Dependencies

• Python 3
• python-rtmidi
• PySerial

Quickstart

macOS

python3 serial_midi_bridge.py -d /dev/tty.usbserial -i "IAC Driver Bus 1" -o "IAC Driver Bus 2"

Windows

python.exe .\serial_midi_bridge.py -d COM4 -i "loopMIDI Port IN 0" -o "loopMIDI Port OUT 2"

Usage

$ python3 serial_midi_bridge.py -h
usage: serial_midi_bridge.py [-h] -d DEVICE [-b BAUD]
                             [--midi_in {IAC Driver Bus 1,IAC Driver Bus 2,GarageBand Virtual In}]
                             [--midi_out {IAC Driver Bus 1,IAC Driver Bus 2,GarageBand Virtual In}] [--debug]

Serial to MIDI bridge

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -d DEVICE, --device DEVICE
                        Serial port name
  -b BAUD, --baudrate BAUD
                        baud rate
  --midi_in MIDI_IN     MIDI input device name
  --midi_out MIDI_OUT   MIDI output device name
  -l, --list            List available USB devices and MIDI devices
  -v, --verbose         Print all MIDI messages

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
   • Verify the exact names of your devices

2. MIDI Messages Not Being Sent/Received

   • Enable verbose mode with -v flag to see all MIDI messages
   • Check if your MIDI devices are properly configured
   • Verify that your MIDI routing is set up correctly

3. Baud Rate Mismatch

   • Ensure the baud rate matches your device's configuration (default is 9600)
   • Use -v flag to see all MIDI messages; if they are are all \x00 the baud rate is most likely incorrect

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