mfxMonitor vs ShowMIDI
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
mfxMonitor
This utility displays incoming MIDI events in both text and hex format with timestamps. It offers a clear button to reset the event log and is part of a series of powerful MIDI plugins for music production.
- MIDI event display
- Textual and hex format
- Timestamped events
- Clear event log
- AUv3 compatible
- CoreMIDI compatible
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* MIDI MONITOR * (AUv3 or CoreMIDI Effect) Does the World need another MIDI Monitor? We thought so, and it's free, so you have nothing to lose to add this handy little utility to your app collection. Any MIDI events received by the plugin are displayed in a scrolling window in both textual form and also the lower level hex bytes with timestamps. Once you get sick of the events you can press the 'clear' button to wipe them out of your life forever. * ABOUT mfxSeries * mfxSeries is a set of compact but powerful plugins for CoreMIDI or AUv3 hosts. Covering a range of use cases from common everyday MIDI manipulation tasks to creatively ambitious effects. Each plugin in the mfxSeries can be controlled and automated from the host as all controls are exposed as AUv3 parameters. mfxSeries plugins are built using the MidiBus library - http://midib.us
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 rating: ShowMIDI at 4.8 against mfxMonitor's 4.0. ShowMIDI also leads on review sentiment (88% vs 50%) and ratings volume (18 vs 4). mfxMonitor's advantage is iOS requirement (9.0 vs 12.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
ShowMIDI holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 18 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of mfxMonitor's written reviews are positive against 88% of ShowMIDI's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | mfxMonitor | ShowMIDI |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (4 ratings) | 4.8 (18 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 87.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 18 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Audeonic Apps | Uwyn, LLC |
Customer experience
mfxMonitor
ShowMIDI
In-app purchases
mfxMonitor
No in-app purchases
ShowMIDI
No in-app purchases








