MIDITrail vs ShowMIDI
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MIDITrail
This application allows you to play MIDI files and experience their data through immersive 3D visualizations. Enjoy both auditory and visual playback of your music. It supports various MIDI formats and can even offer a virtual reality experience.
- 3D MIDI data visualization
- Standard MIDI File support (format 0/1)
- CoreMIDI and multiple MIDI port support
- Virtual Reality (VR) experience option
- Internal wavetable synthesizer
- Support for external sound modules
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MIDITrail is a MIDI player which provides 3D visualization of MIDI data sets. You can enjoy not only listening but also viewing. MIDITrail supports Standard MIDI File (format 0/1), CoreMIDI, and multiple MIDI ports. MIDITrail is available for Windows, macOS and iOS. Optional feature: You can enjoy the VR(virtual reality) experience using cheap VR glasses for smartphones and the game controller for iPhone. Requirements: iOS 12.0 or later (1) Preparing MIDI files You have to transfer MIDI files to your iOS device from Mac or PC. Connect your iOS device to Mac or PC, and launch iTunes. Then you can transfer MIDI files using 'File Sharing'. Or you can add MIDI files to MIDITrail using Files App of iOS. (2) Preparing Sound module You can use sound module which supports Core MIDI. And you can use internal wavetable synthesizer. There are three ways as shown below: The first way is to use the internal wavetable synthesizer. You have to transfer the wavetable file (DLS/SF2) to your iOS device in advance. The second way is to use Synth App which supports 'Virtual MIDI Port' and 'Background Mode'. (e.g., KQ Sampei, bs-16i, Sound Canvas for iOS) The third way is to connect MIDI interface device and external sound module. (e.g., CME U2MIDI Pro)
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 MIDITrail's 3.2. ShowMIDI also leads on review sentiment (88% vs 57%) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 4 months). MIDITrail's advantage is ratings volume (81 vs 18). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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 3.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 81 and 18 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of MIDITrail's written reviews are positive against 88% of ShowMIDI's.
MIDITrail ships an update every 4 months, ShowMIDI every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MIDITrail | ShowMIDI |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.2 (81 ratings) | 4.8 (18 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 57.2% of reviews | 87.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 81 — better | 18 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 35 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | WADA Masashi | Uwyn, LLC |
Customer experience
MIDITrail
ShowMIDI
In-app purchases
MIDITrail
No in-app purchases
ShowMIDI
No in-app purchases
