MIDI 2.0 is a major update to the MIDI standard that was introduced in 2020 (with some major updates as recently as 2023).
Particular new features include:
bidirectional communication
capability inquiry
higher resolution data formats
more precise timing
an expanded range of channels and message types
MIDI 2.0 is designed to be backward compatable with MIDI 1.0, in the sense that a MIDI 2.0 device or system will automatically detect and revert to the MIDI 1.0 standard if connected to a 1.0 device.
Although MIDI 2.0 does not specify a particular transport mechanism, it is expected to be used mainly over USB connections (at least for now).
Given that MIDI 1.0 these days is most often communicated over USB, which runs significantly faster (by about 10,000 times) than MIDI over a 5-pin DIN cable, there is no major improvement with MIDI 2.0 in terms of communication speed.
MIDI 2.0 expands on the architectural concepts and semantics of MIDI 1.0, for example by increasing the data resolution of all Channel Voice Messages and by providing additional properties to some Channel Voice messages that are not available in MIDI 1.0.
MIDI 2.0 also includes more message types and a new message format called Universal MIDI packet (UMP), which supports up to 256 channels and includes timing information to reduce jitter.
The MIDI Capability Inquiry (MIDI-CI) component of the new standard allows devices to share information about their functionality, such as parameter names and presets. Three out of six documents describing the MIDI 2.0 standard are focused on MIDI-CI, indicating to some extent the complexity of that part of the MIDI 2.0 standard.
Most of the advantages of OSC compared to MIDI 1.0 are addressed in MIDI 2.0. For the moment, MIDI 2.0 is expected to mostly communicate over USB, while OSC is normally transmitted over IP networks (but a move toward wireless connectivity with MIDI 2.0 seems likely).
Given the commercial and industrial support for MIDI 2.0, there is a good chance that most people will migrate to MIDI 2.0, rather than use OSC, once the new standard has become more fully and properly supported in computer operating systems and open-source software projects.
The following video
provides some further details of the new MIDI 2.0 features.
