McLaren Labs
MIDI Applications

McLaren News

Apr 4, 2026 - RTP-MIDI Debian 13- *Universal* released. We have removed many OS-specific dependencies from this release to make it more portable. It has been tested on Debian 12, Debian 13 and Ubuntu 24.04. It has also been tested on a pre-release of Ubuntu 26.04. The aim has been to make a release that is more portable across many Debian-derived Operating Systems on AMD64.


Nov 13, 2025 - Raspberry Pi 64-bit (Trixie) release of rtpmidi. Compiled especially for 2025-10-01-raspios-trixie-arm64. FREE download for a limited time.


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 built 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.

McLaren Labs

CONTACT

What People Are Saying

"What I can say at this point is that I am quite amazed at how well rtpmidi works between the Pi and the Mac. I have been running it for a couple of hours now and it has been solid. It responds so well. I am really chuffed."
- MS

"I'm so glad I found your software, it's brilliant. After years of frustration trying to wirelessly connect my instruments, rtpmidi worked first time and has been rock solid."
- JP

"I tried on a Bullseye 64-bit version and now everything is working and stable! My MIDI keyboard is recognized, rtpmidi is running. So grateful for your support and this amazing tool."
- TH

"I actually got Logic on the Mac (master) to sync up with Reaper on the Pi (slave) using rtpmidi for MIDI clock. Incredible that it works so well over the network."
- OG

"Yesterday I bought and installed the 'rtpmidi for Raspberry Pi3, Pi4 Buster' version. Setup was quick and painless. It connected immediately and has been working flawlessly."
- M

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

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 View the Man Page

About RTP-MIDI Protocol

Why RFC-6295? RFC-6295 (also 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 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.

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

MMKServer

RTP-MIDI Server for Raspberry-Pi and Ubuntu

Overview

MMKServer is a server application that seamlessly exposes MIDI devices over RTP-MIDI with Zero-Configuration networking (Bonjour/Avahi). Simply start the server, and your MIDI devices become available to other computers on the network.

MMKServer automatically discovers ALSA MIDI devices connected to your Linux computer and creates RTP-MIDI sessions for each one. Other computers on the network can then connect to these sessions using standard Network MIDI tools — including the built-in Network MIDI on macOS.

MMKServer is a free download and is available for both Raspberry-Pi and Ubuntu/Debian systems.

Download MMKServer

MMKServer Overview
MMKServer Web Console

Web Console

MMKServer includes a built-in web console that lets you monitor and manage connections from any browser on your network. The web console shows active sessions, connected peers, and MIDI activity in real time.

The web console is accessible at http://<your-server>:8080 once MMKServer is running.

Starting and Stopping

MMKServer installs as a standard systemd service. You can start and stop it with the usual commands:

sudo systemctl start mmkserver
sudo systemctl stop mmkserver
sudo systemctl status mmkserver

To have MMKServer start automatically at boot:

sudo systemctl enable mmkserver

Code

McLaren Synth Kit — Open Source Audio Programming

The McLaren Synth Kit is an open-source audio programming environment based on Objective-C for GNUstep. It provides a collection of audio synthesis and processing components that can be composed into signal-processing graphs.

McLaren Synth Kit includes oscillators, filters, envelopes, delay lines, reverbs, and more. It is designed to be approachable and fun for experimentation, while still being capable of real-time audio synthesis.

The project is actively developed and available on GitHub. Contributions and feedback are welcome!

GitHub

libs-mclaren-alpha

Documentation

Store

Choose the OS that works for you

rtpmidi for Raspberry-Pi

$5

Goto Store

rtpmidi for Ubuntu

$12

Goto Store

Blog

Read our latest articles about MIDI, Raspberry Pi, Linux audio and more.

Visit the McLaren Labs Blog

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