MIDI is old. Very old. Yet, it is the only way to connect digital musical instruments and effects together. Gibson is creating a new standard to replace MIDI. It’s called Media-accelerated Global Information Carrier (MaGIC). Using 100T Ethernet, MaGIC connects instruments and consoles together. Some of the advantages to this system include:
- Longer and higher fidelity cable runs
- Twice as many channels as MIDI (32 v. 16)
- Can provide phantom power to instruments
- One cable, one jack
The best way to think about MaGIC is it’s TCP/IP for music. MaGIC networks support exactly the same topologies as traditional Ethernet networks. Even the protocol stack looks familar (Physical, Data Link and Magic Application layers).
Best of all, the MaGIC spec calls for “Jitter Management,” which should really improve the sound of old school rockers like Jimmy Page and Keith Richards.
Read the MaGIC white paper.