unitor-win64-driver

Hobby / open-source usermode bridge that makes Emagic Unitor-family USB MIDI interfaces work again on modern Windows — starting with the MT4.

Built first for personal studio use (Matrix-Control and daily MIDI). Shared freely on GitHub so other musicians can benefit. Ten Square Software is the public facade; there is no code-signing certificate in this hobby project, and no promise of a polished commercial one-click install on every clean PC.

There is no official 64-bit Emagic driver. The last vendor package targeted Windows XP (32-bit). Under Windows 10/11 the device enumerates over USB, but the stock class driver does not understand Emagic’s proprietary cable mapping, so DAWs never see usable MIDI ports.

This project fixes that without a custom kernel driver: Microsoft WinUSB in user mode, an original Emagic protocol layer (MIT), and virtual MIDI ports exposed to your DAW via Unitor MT4 Bridge.

Project posture (read this first)

We aim for	We do not promise
Free MIT sources on GitHub	A code-signing / driver-catalog certificate for this hobby release
Honest docs for musicians with little IT background	A polished commercial “double-click Setup on a clean PC and play the same evening” experience without extra USB steps
A realistic hobby install path (SmartScreen explained + guided WinUSB when needed)	That Setup-alone will bind WinUSB on a brand-new PC (lab Fail 0xE000022F without a trusted INF catalog)
Dual community Setups: Win11 + Windows MIDI Services (comfort) and Win10 + user-installed virtualMIDI (parallel)	Redistributing or embedding Tobias Erichsen’s virtualMIDI MSI/SDK/DLL from this project (OQ-1)
Keeping virtualMIDI available for lab and the Win10 self-install path	Making Win10 the comfort community promise (that remains Win11 + WMS)

Course correction detail: _bmad-output/planning-artifacts/sprint-change-proposal-2026-08-10.md.

Status

Area	Today
MT4 Bridge	Ports, SysEx, Auto-Start, hot-plug, multi-client — WMS (Win11) + virtualMIDI (Win10/lab) via MidiBackend
Docs	Path-specific manuals EN + FR under docs/user/ (Win11 WMS vs Win10 virtualMIDI router)
Public Installer packaging	Dual Setups (…-win11-wms-… / …-win10-virtualmidi-…); clean-PC WinUSB via Setup-alone still often fails without a trusted catalog
Public GitHub Releases	Automated dual-flavor staging (scripts/packaging/prepare-release.py + .github/workflows/release.yml); publish still Ask First for local tag push
Code signing	No certificate purchase — unsigned builds + SmartScreen docs (OQ-3)
Next engineering	Epic 6.3 Validation Matrix soak for the WMS community path

Start here

Who you are	Where to go
MT4 owner / musician	docs/user/README.md → Win11 EN/FR or Win10 EN/FR
Contributor / builder	contributing.md + docs/dev/contributor-dual-machine-loop.md
Releaser	docs/dev/release-guide.md
License / backends	License + docs/dev/license-and-backends.md

Clean PC tip: WinUSB itself is already in Windows. What fails without a trusted catalog is associating this non-class-compliant Emagic device to WinUSB. Expect a guided association step (e.g. Zadig or documented equivalent) — not a silent Setup-only success.

Why this exists

Many musicians still own Emagic Unitor8, AMT8, or MT4 interfaces and have been stuck for years after moving to 64-bit Windows. Related discussions:

• Mod Wiggler — Emagic Unitor / AMT / MT4 drivers
• Gearspace — Emagic AMT8 drivers
• Cockos forum archive

Supported hardware

Model	USB VID	USB PID	Physical I/O (MVP intent)	Status
MT4	086A	0003	2 IN / 4 OUT	Current target (hardware available)
AMT8	086A	0002	8 IN / 8 OUT (expected)	Later / needs test hardware
Unitor8	086A	0001	8 IN / 8 OUT (expected)	Later / needs test hardware

USB composite identity for the MT4: VID_086A&PID_0003. Bus-powered (no external PSU).

The Linux kernel treats all three models with the same quirk (QUIRK_MIDI_EMAGIC) and the same endpoint info structure — only the cable bitmasks differ. This project models that as declarative device profiles keyed by PID, with a single shared cable-mapping implementation.

How it works

Not a kernel-mode PortCls / WDM MIDI driver. The pipeline:

1. USB transport — bind the interface to Microsoft’s signed WinUSB (winusb.sys) via project INF / installer when trust allows; otherwise guided association (Zadig is the practical clean-PC path without a paid catalog).
2. Protocol — a C++ usermode Bridge talks to the device through winusb.dll and reimplements Emagic cable multiplex / demultiplex (informed by the public Linux implementation in sound/usb/midi.c, without vendoring GPL sources).
3. DAW-facing MIDI (community Win11) — virtual ports via Windows MIDI Services.
4. DAW-facing MIDI (community Win10 + lab) — virtual ports via teVirtualMIDI / virtualMIDI when the user (or lab) already installed the driver (usually via loopMIDI / rtpMIDI). This project never redistributes that DLL/MSI.

Architectural inspiration for the WinUSB + virtual MIDI pattern: Prodikeys64.

Why not a custom kernel driver?

A KMDF / PortCls stack needs the WDK, Microsoft attestation signing for Secure Boot machines, and specialized driver expertise. That is disproportionate for a hobby community project. WinUSB keeps the signed kernel piece on Microsoft’s side — the remaining hard part is trusting the INF that points your MT4 at WinUSB, which normally wants a certificate this project line does not ship.

What ships in this repo

• MIT sources for the usermode C++ Bridge
• Dual Public Installer flavors / packaging scripts (Inno Setup + INF) + release automation
• End-user docs: docs/user/README.md
• Contributor docs: WinUSB bind, license honesty, Authenticode/SmartScreen policy (no certificate in this line), dual-machine loop, release guide

Community download shape: unitor-mt4-bridge-{version}-win11-wms-setup.exe and unitor-mt4-bridge-{version}-win10-virtualmidi-setup.exe for the same version (plus docs zip). Win10 still requires user-installed virtualMIDI — never an embedded DLL from this project.

Scope

In (current lab / MT4)

• MT4 only (PID 0003)
• Basic MIDI I/O as stable MT4 port names (see user guide)
• Architecture ready for additional DeviceProfile entries (AMT8 / Unitor8 later)
• Epic 5 MIDI Path measurements on the interim stack (method + tables; Studio-Done Gate (a) lab anchors confirmed)

Out / later

• Patch mode, LTC/VITC, Fast Mode / AMT features from the Unitor8/AMT8 manuals
• Cascaded / stacked multi-interface setups
• Guaranteed AMT8 / Unitor8 without real hardware
• Paid code signing
• Marketing this as a polished commercial installer product

Capabilities overview: Win11 what works · Win10 what works (start at docs/user/README.md).

User-facing Unitor8 / AMT8 manual (functional reference):
https://www.deepsonic.ch/deep/docs_manuals/emagic_unitor8_mkII_amt8_manual.pdf

Protocol & reverse-engineering notes

Emagic’s USB MIDI framing is not fully USB-MIDI class-compliant. Windows enumerates the device, but the generic audio/MIDI class stack does not map Emagic cables correctly.

Public references:

• Linux quirk + cable masks: quirks-table.h
• Emagic message handling: midi.c (search for emagic)
• Microsoft WinUSB docs: Introduction, considerations, installation

Cable masks observed in the Linux quirk table:

Model	in_cables	out_cables	USB interface (ifnum)
MT4	0x8003	0x800f	2
AMT8	0x80ff	0x80ff	2
Unitor8	0x80ff	0x80ff	2

If original Emagic protocol documents cannot be recovered from community archives, validation may also rely on USB captures (e.g. Wireshark + USBPcap).

Project layout

docs/user/         End-user manuals (EN + FR)
docs/dev/          Contributor / process docs
docs/tests/        Operator smoke guides
scripts/quality/   Diff-scoped quality gate
scripts/dev/       Developer helpers
installer/         Installer (Inno Setup) + INF
src/               C++ sources (PascalCase filenames; kebab-case folders)
_bmad/             BMad Method install (chat FR, generated docs EN)
_bmad-output/      Planning + implementation artifacts (including Correct Course)

Build trees are expected under builds/. Coding standards: conventions.md and contributing.md.

Development environment

Role	Machine
Design / editing	macOS (Cursor)
Build, USB hardware tests, DAW checks (interim)	Windows 10/11 64-bit (Win10 still used for lab / Epic 5)
Community backend / Epic 6	Windows 11 lab (planned)

Language target: C++17 usermode.

How contributors split macOS edit vs Windows validate: docs/dev/contributor-dual-machine-loop.md.

Quality gate

python -m pip install -r scripts/quality/requirements.txt
python scripts/quality/lint-touched.py

Name & trademarks

The repository is named unitor-win64-driver on purpose:

• Unitor refers to the product family sharing one protocol architecture, without putting the Emagic trademark in the project name (Emagic was acquired by Apple in 2002).
• win64 states the platform clearly.
• driver is the word users search for, even though the implementation is WinUSB + usermode bridge + virtual MIDI — not a classic kernel MIDI driver.

Emagic, Unitor, AMT, MT4, and related names remain trademarks of their respective owners. They appear here only for descriptive / interoperability purposes.

License

Three separate claims — do not collapse them:

Claim	Meaning
MIT (this repo)	Bridge sources, installer scripts, and project docs under LICENSE — copyright Guillaume DUPONT / Ten Square Software
virtualMIDI (proprietary)	Tobias Erichsen’s driver / SDK — not covered by this MIT license. Community Win10 path = user self-install only; also lab/personal. Eval typically means loopMIDI / rtpMIDI (or any install that provides teVirtualMIDI.dll). Do not embed or redistribute the SDK/DLL/MSI from this project (OQ-1).
Windows MIDI Services (community Win11)	Shipping Win11 community comfort backend behind the same MidiBackend abstraction — public ready-to-run path without a virtualMIDI prerequisite

Also:

• Linux sound/usb/midi.c and quirks-table.h (QUIRK_MIDI_EMAGIC) are reference only. No GPL Linux sources are vendored in this tree.
• aaron1a12/virtual-midi is an integration existence proof only (GPL + vendored SDK) — not a fork base.
• WinUSB and Windows MIDI Services remain under Microsoft’s licensing for the OS components you use.

Deep page: docs/dev/license-and-backends.md. Signing policy (no certificate in this line): docs/dev/authenticode-and-smartscreen.md.

Contributing

See contributing.md and the dual-machine loop. Issues and commit messages are in English. Hardware test reports (especially AMT8 / Unitor8) are welcome. Expect honest issues about install friction — that is preferred over marketing claims.

Acknowledgments

• Linux snd-usb-audio Emagic quirk authors and maintainers
• Community threads that kept the problem visible for years
• Prodikeys64 for the practical WinUSB + virtual MIDI pattern on Windows 64-bit
• Tobias Erichsen’s virtualMIDI ecosystem (used under its own license for Win10 community self-install + lab)
• Microsoft Windows MIDI Services (Win11 community comfort backend)
• aaron1a12/virtual-midi as integration existence proof only — not a fork base