# W10 upgrade, now music app can't play MIDI **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 8, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w10-upgrade-now-music-app-cant-play-midi/737048 "2015-11-08T21:02:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w10-upgrade-now-music-app-cant-play-midi/737048/1 "2015-11-08T21:02:07Z")
I upgraded from Windows 7 to 10. I have two music composition apps and now neither of them can play back music due to being unable to find the specified MIDI devices. When I search on this issue I get a lot of information about sound problems after upgrading but not specific to MIDI, or issues with hardware MIDI devices connected to the computer. Neither of these is my problem. My sound card otherwise works just fine. Windows says I have the latest driver for my sound card (August 2015). ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w10-upgrade-now-music-app-cant-play-midi/737048/2 "2015-11-08T21:09:17Z")
Win 10 apparently has an entirely new integrated way to deal with midi files. I’m guessing that if your apps are not using the onboard windows system midi codecs to process midi files they are going to have a bellyache. What does support at the apps website say. You should not be the only one with this issue. > **[Why Microsoft's Windows 10 Audio And MIDI APIs Are A big Deal](https://sonicstate.com/news/2015/07/21/why-microsofts-windows-10-audio-and-midi-apis-are-a-big-deal/)** > > 1 Billion devices can't be wrong > **[MIDI Scripting App For Windows 10 - Inspired By Us](https://sonicstate.com/news/2015/08/12/midi-scripting-app-for-windows-10-inspired-by-us/?utm_source=related&utm_medium=related_box&utm_campaign=rel_stories)** > > Powershell and MIDI events takes advantage of the new MIDI API ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w10-upgrade-now-music-app-cant-play-midi/737048/3 "2015-11-09T02:31:21Z")
Thanks for that. The app I am using is older and judging from the web site is not being maintained. The last release was 2011 and the last patch was released in 2012. Probably time to look for a new app that is more up to date. ---
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w10-upgrade-now-music-app-cant-play-midi/737048/4 "2015-11-09T05:03:44Z")
You might want to try the [Coolsoft Virtual MIDI](http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth). I have Windows 10 and it works for me. It also allows you to choose from a number of MIDI sample sets. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w10-upgrade-now-music-app-cant-play-midi/737048/5 "2015-11-09T06:31:13Z")
The Synth still exists, but apparently some people are running into [a bug of some sort](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/31752786/midioutopen-on-windows-10-using-microsoft-gs-wavetable-synth-fails). Unfortunately, you can’t recompile the code to work around this. So I would second the recommendation of getting a virtual MIDI synth. VirtualMidiSynth appears to be free, and, if it works well, great. There’s also [Timidity](http://timidity.sourceforge.net/), which is definitely free. But you’ll also need to download soundfonts. (Google for free ones.) This also assumes your software lets you pick a different MIDI device. If not, you may need [Vista MIDI tool](http://www.benryves.com/products/vistamidi), which will set a default MIDI device. It should still work on Windows 10. If that doesn’t work, I guess all you can do is file a bug in Windows 10. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w10-upgrade-now-music-app-cant-play-midi/737048/7 "2018-02-02T04:11:38Z")
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