Getting started

Install on Windows

Install Universal Controller MIDI on Windows 10 and 11 from the signed .exe installer. Handles SmartScreen, controller drivers, and MIDI port setup.

Updated 29 May 2026

The Windows build of Universal Controller MIDI installs in ~18 seconds from a signed NSIS .exe — Windows 10 (1903+) and Windows 11, both x64 and ARM64. No admin rights for the per-user install, no reboot, no second-stage download.

Run the installer

Download UniversalControllerMIDI-Setup-vX.Y.Z.exe from store.aidxn.com. Double-click to run. The installer drops the app into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\UniversalControllerMIDI by default — no admin rights required for the standard install.

If you want a system-wide install for all users, right-click the installer and choose Run as administrator. That switches the target to C:\Program Files\UniversalControllerMIDI.

# Verify the install
Get-ChildItem "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\UniversalControllerMIDI"

# Confirm the signature on the binary
Get-AuthenticodeSignature "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\UniversalControllerMIDI\ucm.exe" |
  Select-Object Status, SignerCertificate

Silent install for IT deployment

If you're rolling this out to a studio of machines via Intune, SCCM, or PDQ Deploy, the NSIS installer accepts the standard silent flags.

# Per-user silent install, no UI, no shortcuts on desktop
UniversalControllerMIDI-Setup.exe /S /D=C:\Tools\UCM

# System-wide install with all-users shortcuts (elevated PowerShell)
Start-Process -FilePath .\UniversalControllerMIDI-Setup.exe `
  -ArgumentList "/S /ALLUSERS /NCRC" -Verb RunAs -Wait

SmartScreen on first run

Windows Defender SmartScreen may show "Windows protected your PC" on the first launch — the build is signed but new certificates need reputation to build. Click More info then Run anyway. After the first launch SmartScreen leaves it alone.

Controller drivers

Most controllers are HID-class and need no driver at all — Windows auto-installs on plug-in. Xbox controllers use XInput (built into Windows). DualSense and DualShock 4 use the standard HID stack over USB and Bluetooth, also driverless.

If you previously installed DS4Windows or HidHide, disable them. They intercept the HID stream before our bridge sees it, which makes the controller look "missing" inside the app.

Driver / shim conflict matrix

These are the tools we see most often interfering with HID enumeration. If any are installed, disable them before launching the app.

Tool	Conflicts with	Fix
DS4Windows	DualSense, DualShock 4	Quit from system tray before launching UCM.
HidHide	All HID gamepads	Remove `ucm.exe` from the block list.
Steam Input	Any controller via Steam overlay	Disable "PlayStation Configuration Support" in Steam settings.
ViGEmBus	Virtual XInput emulation	Usually fine — only disable if axes feel inverted.
reWASD	All controllers	Disable the remap profile or quit reWASD.
Razer Synapse	Razer Wolverine, Raiju	Switch the controller to "console mode" via the toggle on the back.

What if it doesn't work?

If the install completes but something downstream is broken, walk these five checks before assuming the build is bad.

App launches, no controller detected — Steam Input or DS4Windows is grabbing the HID stream. Quit them from the tray and re-launch UCM.
"VCRUNTIME140.dll missing" error — Visual C++ 2015–2022 redistributable is missing. Install from https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x64.exe.
App launches but DAW doesn't see the MIDI port — the bundled teVirtualMIDI driver install was blocked by an EDR agent. Re-run the installer elevated, then reboot. See virtual-port-windows.
SmartScreen blocks even after "Run anyway" — Group Policy SmartScreenEnabled=Block. Ask your admin to allow the publisher Aidxn Pty Ltd.
ARM64 device shows x64 emulation overhead — old installer cached. Re-download — the universal installer auto-selects the ARM64 payload from build v1.4 onward.

What's next

Head to first launch + onboarding, then wire up the built-in virtual MIDI port for your DAW.

Edit this page on GitHub Updated 29 May 2026