MIDI Scope vs ShowMIDI
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MIDI Scope
Monitor MIDI activity on your iOS device. Filter events by type, group, or channel, with detailed packet interpretation in decimal and hexadecimal. Send feedback directly to the developer.
- Monitor MIDI activity
- Filter events by type, group, or channel
- Detailed event packet interpretation
- Raw packet data in decimal and hexadecimal
- iOS device compatibility
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MIDI Scope allows you to monitor MIDI activity using your iOS device. Features include the ability to filter events by individual type, continuous controller, or by group as well as MIDI channel. A comprehensive interpretation of each event packet is displayed. Raw packet data is shown in both decimal and hexadecimal formats. Please send feature requests and trouble reports to the support email listed on our web site. Please rate this app, there is a button on the settings page to make it easy.
ShowMIDI
This application provides a real-time, glanceable view of all MIDI activity on your computer. It visualizes various MIDI messages and allows you to pause the flow for a data snapshot. It can be used as a standalone tool or an AUv3 plugin within your DAW.
- Real-time MIDI visualization
- Auto-hides irrelevant messages
- Pause and snapshot data
- Standalone application
- AUv3 plugin support
- Supports MPE configuration
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ShowMIDI is an open-source multi-platform GUI application to effortlessly visualize MIDI activity. Instead of wading through logs of MIDI messages to correlate relevant ones and identify what is happening, ShowMIDI visualizes the current activity and auto-hides what you don't care about anymore. It provides you with a real-time glanceable view of all MIDI activity on your computer. ShowMIDI is designed to be always on, using the spacebar or play/pause button you can pause the flow and focus on a data snapshot with the latest state of any MIDI entity. ShowMIDI can be ran as a standalone application that automatically detects all your MIDI devices, or as an AUv3 plugin in your DAW or host to visualize MIDI data in your sessions. ShowMIDI visualizes: * MIDI ports * channels * program change * note on/off * channel pressure * polyphonic pressure * continuous control change * pitchbend * RPN and NRPN * MPE configuration and channel modes ShowMIDI supports: * themes * standalone operation * AUv3 operation
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ShowMIDI at none against MIDI Scope's 3. ShowMIDI also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 9 months) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). MIDI Scope's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 88%). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. MIDI Scope sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. ShowMIDI asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for MIDI Scope against 4.8 for ShowMIDI. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 20 and 18 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of MIDI Scope's written reviews are positive against 88% of ShowMIDI's.
MIDI Scope ships an update every 9 months, ShowMIDI every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 9, 2026 and September 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MIDI Scope | ShowMIDI |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (20 ratings) | 4.8 (18 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 87.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 20 — better | 18 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kinematic Systems | Uwyn, LLC |
Customer experience
MIDI Scope
ShowMIDI
In-app purchases
MIDI Scope
- Small$0.99
- Small$2.99
- Large$4.99
ShowMIDI
No in-app purchases
