002 Midi puzzle

[sonoftherenegade]

In case anyone might have time to help with some midi confusion... i could use some insight.

I have two midi controllers, an m-audio axiom 25 and a yamaha kx8. I first purchased the axiom which worked just great using either usb or midi output. When I got the yamaha, I didn't have any luck with its usb output, but no bother, the midi output into my 002r worked just fine.

Then last year I had to go messing with things and decided I wanted to use the yamaha kx8 with its usb output, so I downloaded the driver from yamaha, re-installed and it worked!

But ever since then, I've had multiple issues with my 002 midi input. For one thing, it does not seem to communicate with PT at all, while recording midi through usb works wonderfully on both devices.

Secondly, now when the kx8 is connected to the 002 via midi cable, the midi input LED indicator on the 002 face is constantly blinking. I've read that some midi sources send unfiltered data creating a constant signal of some sort? If I had a functioning midi input signal and the LED indicator was blinking, that wouldn't bother me I guess, but I don't think it did this before I re-installed the yamaha kx8 driver, which seems strange.

And lastly, the midi output from the axiom 25 does not seem to work at all, the 002 LED indicator shows no activity except a quick blink if I plug it in while the device is powered on.

Gosh, sorry for such a long story. Just curious if anyone still using an 002 has had any issues like this? Could re-installing the kx8 driver have anything to do with this or maybe I'm connecting unrelated things?

Thanks for reading!

[flommer]

Originally Posted by sonoftherenegade

Could re-installing the kx8 driver have anything to do with this or maybe I'm connecting unrelated things?

It's hard to say… When you get multiple drivers of multiple devices going strange things could happen, I guess.

Couple questions: Are you using a Mac? What version of the OS? Are you using Protools or just the 002?

I always like to have my Audio Midi Setup midi studio reflect what is actually configured in my rig. You haven't mentioned AMS… Are you doing any configuration there? It also has a test mode that allows you to do some trouble shooting.

[sonoftherenegade]

Flommer, thanks for the reply and sorry for the lack of system details, I'm now figuring out that I should copy that info to my signature, so hopefully it should appear on this message.

Yes, I am running an iMac and Pro Tools LE. Your pointing me in the direction of configuring my AMS has been most helpful, though I am still having some difficulty there.

When I open AMS, my 002 interface appears 'greyed out,' showing it is disabled. I've tried restarting the system with the interface already turned on. I also downloaded a 'ProTools Prefs & Database Helper' to clean out potentially problematic files.

I thought about upgrading to PT LE 8.0.3 or .4, on the chance that somehow updating the 002 driver would help? But other than this small issue my system is running fine and this just isn't the best time for me to make major alterations to my studio setup.

Any thoughts on how I might get AMS to detect my 002R?

Thanks!

[flommer]

So the 002 works as an audio interface but not for midi?

You should probably be running 8.0.5 as that was the highest version for 10.5.8.

I suspect that you may need to do a clean uninstall of your current version in order to make sure the midi driver components get replaced. If you say you're not wanting to do any major changes at the moment then you may want to consider this carefully.

One way you can make this kind of change less "committing" is to create a new partition on your HD, and make a clone of your OS to the new partition, then do updates etc to the clone. This requires that you have a bunch of available space on the HD. Or, since FW drives should be bootable, you could put the clone on an external FW drive. (probably the least risky option for testing).


Before doing any of that, however, read this thread.

Sounds like it might pertain to your problem and would be far simpler. You might have to recreate your AMS midi studio after trashing the plist files, not sure.

[sonoftherenegade]

I thought I'd post my progress here in case anyone has stumbled upon this and is interested.

Flommer, yes, my 002 is working just fine, I record in PT LE using it all the time, it's just the midi I/O that I've been having this trouble with. Reading back I see that I was a bit vague on that, sorry.

I really appreciate your advice, I followed your link to the relevant thread, but unfortunately that didn't change anything for me.

Your encouraging me to upgrade and un/re- install PT is also appreciated, that seems pretty straightforward and logical. However, haha, I am still apprehensive, my home studio is quite busy right now, I'd hate to be down for any time. Also, I think to jump to PT LE v8.0.5 I need to upgrade my OS to 'snow leopard,' which would be another big change for my system. I'm sure going to have to upgrade at some point though!

When I do that, I will be certain to follow your advice on creating a clone of my current OS. Curious, is this something that you would do anyway, regardless of software changes?

I did come up with a workaround solution to my midi issue, with my axiom 25 connected to the computer via usb, I can connect my kx8 via midi using the axiom's midi input. I can then use the kx8's midi input to connect another midi device such as my old technics organ. I've tested all of this and it all works perfectly!

Aside from wanting to use external midi devices, another reason for trying to use midi cables was simply that my usb cables are short and cumbersome and I was slightly concerned about the effects on my usb bus power when using a passive usb extender. So I've ordered a 16' active usb extender which should give me plenty of cable length and plenty of power. The cable hasn't arrived yet, but I'll post back here if I run into any issues with it.

So my midi workstation is fully up and running and I've managed to procrastinate upgrading my OS or PT yet again! For now at least...

[flommer]

Here is the compatibility grid for PT8.x.x

If you scroll down you'll notice that 8.0.5 is listed under compatible with Leopard with the caveat that it is only compatible with 10.5.8, which you already have.

Here is a document about 8.0.5:Errors fixed by 8.0.5. There are similar read-me's for 8.0.3 and 8.0.4. If you do not find anything in there that pertains to your situation then maybe there is no good reason to update. I always take the path of trying to stay as up to date as possible without undue risk. Undue risk means different things to different people, of course.

You are right to not do major changes in the middle of sessions (unless you have a solid plan for restoring your old system)