It’s comparable, and in some ways superior as a general control protocol, to Modbus. Can’t recall the specifics but MIDI seemed better defined and generally saner (IMHO).

A good example of non-music MIDI is Firmata; it’s a protocol based on MIDI and allows remote control of Arduino and other MCUs [1]. Seems both modbus and midi have transports over Ethernet now as well.

1: https://github.com/PatternAgents/Electronics_One_Workshop/wi...