MPD32 in PT8 - no connection at all

[Kaspert]

Hey Digithec

I just bought an MPD32 for use with Pro Tools 8 LE. After searching the Digidesign forum I see that problems with Akai products and PT is a common thing though it seems my problem is a little different than others. Others seems to having troubles synchronize and using note repeat ect. My problem is that I can’t choose any control surface in Pro Tools og any USB audio port/drive. It’s just not an option at all. The same goes for Reason 4.0, it doesn’t recognize any connected midi connection except my M-audio keyboard. So it seems my MPD32 isn’t connected at all. I’ve tried looking through Pro Tools manuals and troubleshooting and I’ve changed some of the parameters on the MPD32 as suggested on the threads on the Digidesign forum. I’ve changed the midi clock to external midi clock source and the transport controls to MMC, it doesn’t change anything.

One thing I suspect to cause all of this is that Vista seems to deny the MPD32 to be connected without drivers installed. Could that be the problem? Everytime I hook it up or turn my PC on Vista want’s me to install drivers. Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought the MPD32 was a class compliant device (= plug'n play). If that is the problem do you know how to tell Vista that the device doesn’t need drivers to run? Or do I need to find som class compliant vista driver or a usbaudio.sys file?
I really hope you can help me, otherwise I need to return the product to the store and buy something else which I really don’t want to.

Specs:
Medion
AMD Athlon dualcore processor 2,70 GHz
Vista 32-bit

Digidesing Mbox 2 mini (USB connection)
M-audio KeyRig 49 (USB connection)
Pro Tools 8 LE (not updated yet)

MPD32:
Global:
CommonCH -> CHANNEL 1A
MIDI CLK -> EXTERNAL
VER -> 1.01

MMC CONTROL:
TRANSPORT -> MMC
Preset:
Preset 1

MMC settings in Pro Tools:
ENABLED -> Checked
ID -> 127

Regards
Kasper

[DigiTechSupt]

Try right-clicking on the Pro Tools application and choosing 'run as administrator'. Let us know if that helps at all...

[Kaspert]

Yes, I've tried it but nothing changes. I've updated PT to cs3 without any changes aswell.

I've been looking through lots of different forums an it seems a lot of people are having problems with different kinds of USB audio devices an vista.

I've written Akai support too but haven't heard anything yet.

This is really starting to piss me off...

[DTheone]

Works fine with windows 7 RC.

[DigiTechSupt]

Do you have SP1 for Vista installed? If not, please install it, as it fixes some problems with Class Compliant USB device recognition.

If you already are on SP1, it may be that the MPD32 has older firmware, in which case you would need to update the firmware from a machine running XP.

If neither of those are the case are you possibly using a Logitech device? If so, this may apply:

http://www.vyzor.com/support/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=186

[Kaspert]

I run SP1, and I've tried using it with my XP SP3 laptop but it didn't work there either. I tried updating the firmware as I thougt that could be the problem...the result of that was that I erased the old version and couldn't update to the new because there is no connection so now there's another problem. I have an usb Logitech mouse, which has been used aswell on the XP laptop, so maybe that is the problem. I need to have a closer look at how you get rid of the driver, not sure if i'm capable of doing it so I need to talk to a friend first. Talks for the help so far, i'll let you now how it goes. If you have other suggestions please post them.

Regards
Kasper

[Kaspert]

Hey Digitech

I'v now looked through the regedit and the Logitech driver is not on my Vista PC but I found it on the XP machine and removed it. Unfortunatly it dosn't change anything.

I've looked through the Vyzex troubleshooting and none of the suggested solutions applies to my problem. I simple can't choose any incoming USB audio device/port either on my XP or Vista machine. On both mashines the device is detected as Akai MPD32 with a yellow triangle and a ! mark both from there on the USB port seems blocked. I've tried uninstall my Mbox 2 mini but that dosen't help either... It seems i'm running out of options, so any advice I haven't considered is much appreciated.

Kasper

[Philly]

Try downloading the Lua codecs and maps form the AKAI site. I had to install the driver pop up windows on xp as well.

[Kaspert]

Philly:
Thanks for your reply though I didn't follow it.

But now the damn thing works! I changed a lot of things here and there but my guess is that the thing that triggered it was when I updated Vista to the SP2 version. Before I did it I was a little reluctant to do it because I had read that that particurally update had ruined it for others. I still wan't work at my XP PC and I can live with that but if any of you have a suggestion to that i'm still curios to get it to work on that machine aswell.
Thanks!

Kasper

[Spyda KB]

One thing I would suggest..if you haven't already...the Akai MPD pad does not like sharing the same USB connector with other devices...in other words if there are 2 USB ports on one connector, make sure the MPD is the only device on that connector. It took me awhile to figure this out as PT would consistenly hang upon exit...Akai nor Digi could not figure out why....I also noticed the supplied MIDI editor would hang too, until I made the physical change. I had this problem in both XP & Vista on otherwise a rock solid system.

- KB