Watching some Feb update video from Microsoft, I was reminded that one benefit of Windows revamping their MIDI stack is that now you can network your MIDI devices between computers to extend your MIDI range.  Previously I had to get long MIDI cables and still couldn't really reliably go room to room. 

However, now if there's a Windows 11 machine nearby that's on the LAN (local area network - your home/studio) these devices can be short fed to a computer then long fed through Ethernet or, I guess, Wifi and talk with devices connected to another distant computer.

This works because Windows will automatically repackage MIDI 1.0 data (from legacy keyboards) into MIDI 2.0 packets.  And these packets can be networked around.   All of this is transparent and doesn't require anything other than a computer that can participate (Windows 11 of a certain build or higher, or I suppose an Apple device with certain operating system versions) and everything should be fairly plug and play as long as you take care of the physical connection to the computer (USB or 5din to USB conversion).

 I keep a Windows machine in the studio but it's win 10 so I can't get this going.  I have another floater machine that's Win 11 and a Mac.  So I could experiment with this but I'd really need to replace the win 10 machine in the studio if I want to make this a permanent feature I use.  

Even now I usually remote into the Windows machine to run some ancient notation software and it may be nice to wifi in small MIDI keyboard using network MIDI to enter notes this way.  Certainly ESP, if I had it, may benefit from this kind of thing if I have a powerhouse machine in a room I'm not necessarily in when practicing or doing sound design .  It may be nice to be in the living room away from the workstation and network in using a lighter weight laptop with a little MIDI keyboard plugged in.

Which means I really hope the next generation of synths skip the middle man and have both an Ethernet port and support for Wi-Fi so I can just associate to my network and have it connect to my MIDI network with no strings attached (or a string and no extra computer).

Ultimately network cables and a hub are going to be the way to go in order to build a MIDI network both in the studio and on the stage.  That's (part of) why so much early razzle dazzle was around this use case.