Hey @wendell you mentioned in the latest level one news that it would be cool if there was an instrument that you could play like a clarinet that is only heard though ear phones. This actually exists! Roland makes a midi version of a wind instrument that can be controlled via midi.
The story behind midi is actually very interesting. If anyone doesn’t know about it I would recommend looking it up but basically a bunch of audio company’s realized that it would be better for everyone to agree on a universal standard and so midi was created in 1982. It is still in use today using the original 5 pin din connector as well as others such as usb which were added later. Making it one of the oldest and longest lasting universal device interfacing methods, and most devices still use midi 1.0 which until this year was the most recent standard because no one ever needed anything better with midi 2.0 being basically the same thing with more channels. It’s amazing what can be accomplished when industries don’t create everything in walled gardens.
The Atari st actual used midi instead of a dedicated sound chip for the same reason. To save on resources. Which was the begging of midi sequencing on a pc thanks to the program Cubase. https://images.app.goo.gl/pXG58SSNvTKUdkWR8
I am not aware of any midi related security issues but even if there are any, the risk is so minimal that some would use it as an attach vector given that it is a local device to device method of transferring data making it a requirement for an attacker time be in the physical location for an attack at which point there are much easier and more affective attacks that could be made. Furthermore, midi is mostly used in music studios and not in data centers so the incentive for someone to find an attack vector with midi is much lower. However, midi files you downloaded from the internet especially from an untrustworthy source could posse a threat, but anything you download from the internet is a possible threat.