MSC enables all types of entertainment equipment to communicate with each other through the process of show control.
When any cue is called by a user (typically a stage manager) and/or preprogrammed timeline in a show control software application, the show controller transmits one or more MSC messages from its 'MIDI Out' port.
[2] All MSC compatible instruments have a built-in MIDI interface and many now follow one of the various MIDI-over-Ethernet protocols.
To create the MSC spec, Charlie Richmond headed the USITT MIDI Forum on their Callboard Network in 1990, which included developers and designers from the theatre sound and lighting industry from around the world.
It is believed that this was the first international standard to be developed without a single physical meeting of the participants and the full transcript of the discussion is available via External Links, below.