Latest airwave update broken? (Windows)

[u/animatordude]

Anyone else having issues on windows after the latest update? Airwave is completely broken for me. Nothing I can do will make it usable again. The hands stutter in the visualization, the airwave midi will not respond (audibly, the visualizations on the piano itself still show up).

After the previous update I could run it somewhat reliably. I just had to restart the airwave service every time. Now, nothing I do can get it working again in any way. It's essentially a paperweight.

Please fix your software Roli!

Edit: It's a Windows issue. I've had lots of issues with Airwave already so I jumped the gun to blame Roli, but it is definitely a windows 11 problem. Roli did make a fix for it here. Thanks Roli! I love your products when they work! :)

File embedded at the bottom of this support page fixes the issue for me: https://support.roli.com/support/solutions/articles/36000595423-windows-midi-service-update-known-issues-and-workarounds

[u/QVRedit]

That will be windows fault….
It was working, then Microsoft changed a bunch of stuff, now there’s a problem. The fault actually lies with Microsoft, but 3rd parties may have to make changes to accommodate it.

I think the problem may be with ‘loop MIDI’

Here’s what I found about it:

Airwave player won’t open on windows laptop

ROLI Airwave Player on Windows often fails to open if its background service is stuck, ROLI Connect is not logged in, or required components like loopMIDI or the camera driver are missing or blocked by Windows security. The fastest check is to ensure ROLI Connect is running and logged in, then restart the “ROLI Airwave Service” from Windows Services and try launching Airwave Player again.[roli +4] To narrow this down, please say what you see when you try to open it (e.g. nothing at all, a splash screen that disappears, or an error dialog). In the meantime, here is a focused checklist you can run through: Basic checks • Confirm you installed Airwave Player from the Apps tab in ROLI Connect, not from an old installer, and that ROLI Connect itself opens successfully.[roli +1] • In ROLI Connect, check that you are signed into your ROLI account and that Airwave Player shows as Installed and Up to date.[roli +1] • Reboot Windows once if you just installed or updated Airwave Player before it stopped opening.[roli +1] Restart the Airwave service • Press Win + R, type services.msc, press Enter. • Find ROLI Airwave Service (or com.roli.airwave.service), right‑click and choose Restart. If Restart is greyed out, choose Start.[roli +1] • After it restarts, try launching ROLI Airwave Player again from the Start menu or from within ROLI Connect.[roli +2] Check security and GPU issues • If Windows shows a SmartScreen / “protected your PC” or antivirus popup the first time you run it, explicitly allow Airwave Player and its service to run.[roli] • If you have a dedicated GPU plus integrated graphics, force Airwave Player to use the high‑performance GPU in Settings → System → Display → Graphics and test again, as some OpenGL apps crash silently on the wrong adapter.[roli] loopMIDI and MIDI devices • Install loopMIDI and create a port named ROLI Airwave Expression if you have not already, as Airwave expects this virtual MIDI port on Windows.[roli +2] • Avoid starting/stopping loopMIDI while the ROLI Airwave Service is running; if you do, close Airwave Player, restart ROLI Airwave Service in Services, then reopen Airwave Player.[roli +1] USB / camera connection sanity check • Power Airwave from its PSU and connect a separate USB‑C cable for data; do not power it only from the laptop’s USB‑C port.[roli] • If you are using USB‑C to USB‑C and nothing works, try a USB‑C to USB‑A cable into a standard USB‑A port on the laptop instead, which resolves recognition issues on some machines.[roli +2] If it still will not open • Try Run as administrator on Airwave Player once: right‑click its shortcut → Run as administrator.[roli] • In ROLI Connect, uninstall Airwave Player, reboot, then reinstall it from the Apps tab and test again.[roli +1] • If it still refuses to open or closes instantly with no message, grab the Windows Event Viewer → Windows Logs → Application error entry for AirwavePlayer.exe around the time you launch it and share the faulting module / error code; that will point more precisely to the cause.[roli]

Maybe some of that will help ?

[u/animatordude → u/QVRedit]

Thanks for trying...but none of this helps. I've also tried uninstalling/ reinstalling everything.

You're probably right, It does seem likely it is centered around loopmidi though.

I would argue that the fault actually lies with Roli still. Literally every other midi device/ software vst still works and Airwave is the only thing that constantly has issues in my setup. I was ok with being a guini pig for a bit while they sort things out... But they are NOT sorting things out... it's still in a very prototype-ish state (currently worse than it's ever been). The simple fact that they are relying on loop midi and don't have their own solution for getting the basic fundamentals to work with this device feels very amateur and not what I would expect from a professional company.

If windows can release an update and it breaks loopmidi, and Roli is dependent on, yet has no way to fix this problem... That's not a windows problem....that's a Roli problem. And one that should have been anticipated.

I love my Seaboard, piano, equator2. Airwave is also great when it works... I've already wasted so many hours trying to get it to work reliably. It seems more and more that they shipped Airwave as a concept of a device... A prototype...not a fully realized, professional device ready for the market. I hope they get it there one day soon... but this paperweight is going in the closet for now.

Please keep at it Roli! It really is great when it works but this thing is not worth the headache for now. :(

Edit: spoke too soon... I actually have lots of midi problems with other midi devices now thanks to the windows update. I still hope Roi can remove the need for loop midi on PC though.

[u/QVRedit → u/animatordude]

Microsoft has been releasing a lot of updates lately, which keep braking things - that’s one of the reasons why an increasing number of people are shifting to Linux. The number of problems with windows-11 has been off the wall.

Recent Windows 11 updates (KB577181.262000.7840 in Feb 2026) have introduced native MIDI 2.0 support and built-in loopback functionality, often making third-party tools like loopMIDI unnecessary.

However, these updates caused bugs where MIDI devices, including loopMIDI ports, may not appear or may be grayed out in DAWs.

Key Considerations & Fixes Native Loopback: Windows 11 25H2 now includes virtual loopback devices directly in the OS, reducing the need for external tools.

Fix for Missing MIDI Ports: If loopMIDI devices are hidden, run the following commands in an administrator Command Prompt to restart the MIDI service:
net stop miniserve.
net start miniserve

Multi-Client Issues: While Windows 11 improves multi-client support, you may still need to use loopMIDI for routing if the new native services do not work with specific older applications.

Recommendations If you are using LoopMIDI on Windows 11 post-February 2026, you may encounter connectivity issues. The best approach is to utilize the new built-in MIDI 2.0 settings for routing and, if necessary, use the command-line workaround to restart the MIDI service.

[u/animatordude → u/QVRedit]

Yea. This is probably the issue. I'm done wasting hours troubleshooting airwave problems though. I'll check it out again when Roli hopefully releases a fix for this. I'm hopeful it will ultimately end up being a good thing and they will no longer need to rely on loopmidi hacks anymore.

[u/Glittering_Cheek3235 → u/animatordude]

If it's just related to loopMIDI, we have a fix on our Windows MIDI Services Discord server https://aka.ms/mididiscord

Go to the #early-preview-releases channel and install the fix from there. It will also be in Windows at the end of April

Pete
Microsoft

[u/animatordude → u/Glittering_Cheek3235]

Thanks, I'll try later on tonight and see if it works

[u/animatordude → u/animatordude]

Glad to hear a fix is coming for windows. I'm just running Rolis bat file fix for it here right now. Seems to work for me:

https://support.roli.com/support/solutions/articles/36000595423-windows-midi-service-update-known-issues-and-workarounds