MIDI suddenly not working in Pro Tools...

[andrespr]

Hello!! I'm on Pro Tools 7.3.1cs6 with an MBox 2 Pro (firewire). MIDI at one point worked fine (I could record MIDI instrument tracks). However, one day I go to record some MIDI parts and Pro Tools no longer sees the MBox 2 Pro MIDI port. When I press a key on my MIDI-enabled Casio keyboard, I see the MIDI light flash on the MBox 2 Pro. However, I can no longer get the MIDI notes to record in Pro Tools. I've done some research, and MMERefresh.exe is running just fine as far as I can tell (the plug and play service is running too). Are there other dependencies I just don't know about? I've reinstalled Pro Tools 2 times since it stopped working and it's still not working. What else can I do? I'm tired of recording MIDI files elsewhere and then importing them into Pro Tools. Thanks for your help.

[spkguitar]

However, one day I go to record some MIDI parts and Pro Tools no longer sees the MBox 2 Pro MIDI port.

When you say, "no longer sees", what exactly do you mean? Is the port not showing up in the MIDI input list on Instrument and/or MIDI tracks?

Some more details of how your session is setup and what you are trying to do might be helpful.

[spkguitar]

I've done some research, and MMERefresh.exe is running just fine as far as I can tell

How, exactly, did you verify that?

Shut down Pro Tools and run this: C:\Program Files\Digidesign\Drivers\MMERefresh.exe then try running Pro Tools again.

[andrespr]

Hello!! Thanks for replying. I've been testing with just a fresh new session where I add a single Instrument track or a single MIDI track. The problem is that no MIDI key press activity is acknowledged/recorded/recordable in Pro Tools. Yes, the MIDI port is no longer on the MIDI input list on Instrument and/or MIDI tracks. It's gone. Prior to posting here I tried the MMERefresh.exe trick a number of times...I have closed Pro Tools, stopped MMERefresh.exe (in Services and/or Task Manager), and then run MMERefresh.exe manually. Then, I start Pro Tools again and still no MIDI port. It's frustrating because the MBox Pro 2 MIDI light is acknowledging the MIDI activity, but Pro Tools can't "see it." Thanks again for any pointers...

[andrespr]

Besides showing up in the Midi Input Enable dialog (where it's now blank on my system...no MBox Pro 2 MIDI port listed), where else can you ensure that the drivers for it are installed, functional, etc.? I don't see the MBox Pro 2 MIDI port in device manager. Is that normal? It used to work, but I don't remember where I could see the drivers listed, etc. Also, is there a command line option for MMERefresh that will give me more info as to what it thinks is installed or something like that? Besides reinstalling, I've also tried installing/uninstalling the drivers with digidrivers.exe. Still not working...I've used regsvr32 on the digi*midi*.dlls I could find and the ones that seemed to be actual COM objects registered just fine.

[andrespr]

Here's an update: I eventually enabled all XP services in frustration in msconfig and suddenly the MBox Pro 2 MIDI port showed up again in the MIDI Input Enable dialog. It works now!!! However, who knows what this will do to my audio recording capabilities which I've wasted many an hour getting to work properly. I'm surprised at how painful Pro Tools is in more ways than one. I might have to step through and stop services one by one to see which Microsoft services are actually relied upon for MBox Pro 2's MIDI port to work. If someone knows or has a .bat that net starts the required services for MIDI and Pro Tools, that would rule.

Thus, MMERefresh may only require Plug and Play to "run," but for MBox Pro 2's MIDI port to actually be recognized it needs more than just the Plug and Play service to be running. Thus, the dependency is misleading. Ideally, the Pro Tools software install would detect and tell you which services need to be running if they aren't. Other software installs do that so Pro Tools should too. I would think the programmers would know at this point what's needed and what's not. Put the check in the software!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!