AUMI vs ShowMIDI
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
AUMI
This app allows individuals with limited mobility to create music through movement and gestures. It focuses on improvisation and self-expression, making music accessible to a wider range of people, including those with profound physical disabilities.
- Music creation through movement and gestures
- Focus on improvisation and self-expression
- Accessible for individuals with profound physical disabilities
- Uses device cameras for input
- Configurable sound sensitivity
- MIDI controller functionality
- Import audio from other apps
Read full descriptionHide full description
Adaptive Use Musical Instruments (AUMI) software interface enables people who have very limited controlled (voluntary) movement to independently engage in music making. The Adaptive Use Musical Instruments software interface enables the user to play sounds and musical phrases through movement and gestures. This is an entry to improvisation rather than “hitting the right notes” or playing set pieces of music. Instead, the software uses music as a way for participants to express a range of affects, both by themselves and in response to, or in conversation with, others. While the AUMI interface can be used by anyone, the focus has been on working with people who have profound physical disabilities. In taking these participants as its starting point, the project attempts to make musical improvisation and collaboration accessible to the widest possible range of individuals. This approach also opens up the possibility of learning more about the relations between ability, the body, creativity and improvisation, from within a cultural context that does not always acknowledge or accept people with disabilities. This iOS version of AUMI runs on devices with cameras, and can run on iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads. A large assortment of sounds can be triggered with configurable amounts of sensitivity. AUMI also can be used as a MIDI controller to access other iOS based synthesizers or external equipment (using the iPad's Camera Connection kit or via Core MIDI over WiFi.) AUMI can also import audio from other iOS or desktop apps to be used as melodic or percussive instruments. AUMI can capture a record of the movement in the session, which can be exported and turned into reports in a clinical setting.
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
Read full descriptionHide full description
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 review sentiment: ShowMIDI at 88% against AUMI's 50%. ShowMIDI also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months) and ratings volume (18 vs 4). AUMI's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.8). 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.
AUMI holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 18 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 50% of AUMI's written reviews are positive against 88% of ShowMIDI's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
AUMI ships an update every 6 months, ShowMIDI every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | AUMI | ShowMIDI |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better | 4.8 (18 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 87.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 18 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 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 | 12.4 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 69 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Uwyn, LLC |
Customer experience
AUMI
ShowMIDI
In-app purchases
AUMI
No in-app purchases
ShowMIDI
No in-app purchases









