diff --git a/libs/ardour/ardour/midi_port.h b/libs/ardour/ardour/midi_port.h
index 16a8d1ae81..3759a22cae 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/ardour/midi_port.h
+++ b/libs/ardour/ardour/midi_port.h
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ class LIBARDOUR_API MidiPort : public Port {
 	MidiBuffer& get_midi_buffer (pframes_t nframes);
 
 	void set_trace (std::weak_ptr<MIDI::Parser> trace_parser);
+	std::shared_ptr<MIDI::Parser> trace_parser() const;
 
 	typedef boost::function<bool(MidiBuffer&,MidiBuffer&)> MidiFilter;
 	void set_inbound_filter (MidiFilter);
diff --git a/libs/ardour/midi_port.cc b/libs/ardour/midi_port.cc
index 603fa35dfa..2d7d82833e 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/midi_port.cc
+++ b/libs/ardour/midi_port.cc
@@ -395,6 +395,12 @@ MidiPort::set_trace (std::weak_ptr<MIDI::Parser> p)
 	_trace_parser = p;
 }
 
+std::shared_ptr<MIDI::Parser>
+MidiPort::trace_parser() const
+{
+	return _trace_parser.lock();
+}
+
 void
 MidiPort::set_input_active (bool yn)
 {