Windows (not officially supported)

Though likely to work on many systems, Windows 10 and 11 are not officially supported by Woovebox due to dependency on third party drivers, and a number of severe OS-level bugs and omissions in the Bluetooth and MIDI handling in Windows.

Worse, the situation appears to change with every major Windows update. However, depending on your hardware combination and OS version and the phase of the moon, the following methods may work.

We're not going to mince words; Bluetooth pairing and especially MIDI over Bluetooth LE is (by Microsoft's own admission) a hot mess on Windows. Seven years after MIDI over Bluetooth standardization, Windows still lacks support for exposing MIDI BLE devices to applications. Sadly, MIDI over Bluetooth support has worsened as of late on Windows 10 and Windows 11 with many MIDI over BLE devices no longer even connecting.

Step 1. Pairing your Woovebox

Perform the following steps in exactly the following order;

  • Turn off your Woovebox.
  • Bring up your Bluetooth devices ("Bluetooth & other devices").
  • Remove any previously WOOVEBOX-xxxx devices (if any), NOTE that for very old firmware version the device will be listed as "WOOVE" instead of "WOOVEBOX-xxxx" (with xxxx being four characters unique to your Woovebox).
  • Click Add Bluetooth or other device.
  • Select Bluetooth; Mice, keyboards, pens or audio and other kinds of Bluetooth devices.
  • Turn on your Woovebox, while holding 1/Cd.
  • Once your Woovebox has booted up, it should show in the list as WOOVEBOX-xxxx
  • Choose the WOOVEBOX-xxxx entry. After connecting, the "Your device is ready to go!" message should pop up.
  • Bluetooth & other devices should now list WOOVEBOX-xxxx under Other devices.
  • WOOVEBOX-xxxx should list as Connected whenever it is available and traffic is flowing.

If the WOOVEBOX-xxxxBluetooth device keeps rapidly flipping between Paired and Connected by itself, try removing the device and perform the above procedure again.

If you are not able to get your Woovebox to show up in the list of devices, first check device manager, and under the Bluetooth section check for an item called "Microsoft Bluetooth LE Enumerator." If this entry is unavailable then unfortunately your machine's Bluetooth adapter does not support Bluetooth LE. If this entry does appear, however, go to settings > bluetooth & devices > view more devices. Scroll far down near the bottom and search for an item called "Bluetooth devices discovery". Set this item to "Advanced". From here, if you try to pair your Woovebox again, it should hopefully show up.

Step 2. Drivers

The above procedure may successfully pair your Woovebox as a Bluetooth device. However Windows is the only operating system that still lacks any further functionality to expose Bluetooth devices as MIDI devices to the wider operating system. For applications that don't implement their own MIDI over BLE drivers (some of the latest versions of popular DAWs for Windows do), further 3rd party drivers or applications are required. Two known generally applicable solutions exist;

Method 1. Setup and run KORG BLE MIDI drivers

BLE-MIDI drivers from KORG are used by some people with some success as a general purpose MIDI-over-Bluetooth solution. Sadly though, these drivers break regularly between major Windows updates. With the last update from 2019, they once again appear functional on fully updated Windows 10 installs as of late 2022. These drivers have also been reported to work on Windows 11 for some people. Please also note that these drivers may not work with all MIDI-over-Bluetooth devices from other manufacturers, however they have been successfully tested with the Woovebox on a number of machines.

This method is the preferred method, as it allows for full-duplex (MIDI in and out) communication between Windows and a MIDI-over-Bluetooth device such as your Woovebox.

Method 2. Setup and run "loopMIDI" and "MIDIberry"

Once paired do the following;

  • Obtain loopMIDI by Tobias Erichsen (free) and install it.
  • Create a device named loopMIDI WOOVE IN (case sensitive, and please note the space).
  • Create a device named loopMIDI WOOVE OUT (case sensitive, and please note the space).
  • Obtain MIDIberry from the Microsoft store (free) and install it.

For receiving data from your Woovebox;

  • In MIDIberry, under INPUT, select WOOVE (Bluetooth MIDI IN).
  • Under OUTPUT, select loopMIDI WOOVE IN.

For transmitting data to your Woovebox;

  • In MIDIberry, under INPUT, select loopMIDI WOOVE OUT.
  • Under OUTPUT, select WOOVE (Bluetooth MIDI OUT).

With this setup, recording incoming data from your Woovebox via MIDI input loopMIDI WOOVE may now be sufficiently stable for data transfer, though your mileage may vary.

Please note that due to MIDIberry only allowing one connection, data may only flow in one direction (from your Woovebox or to your Woovebox). If you wish to switch direction, you will have to change the routing in MIDIberry. If you require data to flow in both directions, it is recommended you use MIDIberry to send data to your Woovebox via Bluetooth, while using a wired MIDI interface to connect to the MIDI OUT of your Woovebox, allowing you to simultaneously receive data from your Woovebox. A paid version of MIDIBerry exists that allows for bi-directional communication, but please note that Woovebox does not endorse this application, nor has tested this application; purchasing this application is done at your own risk and Woovebox does not warrant that this solution will work.

Please also note that after a firmware update your Woovebox will reset. Due to the lack of two-way communication, Wooveconnect will not be able to detect that reset properly and will keep reporting "Connected", even though it is not.

Disclaimer; please note that Woovebox does not endorse, nor is in any way, associated with loopMIDI, nor MIDIberry, nor KORG. The latter names and companies are all owners of their respective trademarks.