This is ideal, for instance, if you want to simultaneously route the MIDI output from two software applications, such as a sequencer and stand-alone MIDI synth editor, to the same hardware MIDI synth, or send one sequencer MIDI track to several hardware synths to create more complex layers. Most virtual MIDI cables also have multi-client capability that can be added to hardware MIDI ports which will otherwise only allow connection to a single application at a time. The data is sent from one application to the other in real time, and when I investigated MIDI timing issues back in SOS December 2007 ( /sos/dec07/articles/cubasetech_1207.htm), virtual MIDI cables provided much tighter timing than any hardware MIDI port. Basically, they are software utilities with a MIDI In and Out port that are permanently connected together, which is a perfect way to channel the MIDI output from one open application to a MIDI input of another running on the same computer. Virtual MIDI cables have been around a long time now on the PC (I first discussed them way back in SOS November 1999: /sos/nov99/articles/pcmusician.htm), but many musicians still seem hazy about their applications, so here's a recap and update for this 64-bit age. Virtual MIDI cables still have a place in the PC musician's studio, so what should you be using in this 64-bit world?
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