MIDI Polyphonic Expression
What is MPE?
MPE is an emerging standard for controlling electronic instruments. It allows them to become every bit as expressive as their acoustic counterparts, without any of the sonic limitations.
Simply put, MPE sets your music free.
Play with pitch
Bend and slide between notes as naturally as you would on a stringed instrument — and for every note of a chord individually.
Add natural dynamics
Create natural volume swells with organic gestures like sliding upwards or pressing harder.
Slide between sounds
Fade in per-note variations on a sound, add effects, adjust filters, and more.
And much more
Add it all together for endless ways to express yourself intuitively through music.
MPE vs MIDI
At its core, MPE data is MIDI. MIDI is the de-facto standard for communication between musical hardware and software. We use it to do things like tell a synthesizer to play a note, bend its pitch, or change a parameter. By sending MIDI data on several channels at once, however, MPE controllers like Seaboard and Piano M can do all of this and more for every note individually — hence “polyphonic”.
In the below video, Geert Bevin, one of MPE’s originators, explains why it matters.
MPE is breaking through
2015
Makers of new ‘multidimensional’ controllers, including ROLI founder Roland Lamb, Roger Linn and Keith McMillen, meet with software makers to discuss making MPE a reality.
2018
The MPE Specification is officially adopted by the MIDI Manufacturers Association, making it easier to design new MPE-compatible instruments.
2021
MPE is becoming more widely accepted, with several major DAW makers and instrument creators on board. ROLI Launches Seaboard RISE 2.
Today
MPE is now broadly embraced across the music technology landscape, Most major DAWs support it, and many new synthesizers and sampled instruments are compatible upon release.
Which products work with MPE?
More on MIDI
MIDI is the protocol MPE is built on. It’s been allowing electronic instruments, controllers, DAWs and more to communicate with one another since 1983.