PT2022.6 Lost Digi Mic Pre

[RossH]

Originally Posted by ChrisMac

Any idea if this was fixed in 2022.7? I don't want my Millenia Pre to become a paperweight

Just installed 2022.7 this morning and tried it out. Unfortunately the MIDI controls still don't work, so that hasn't been fixed (I didn't expect it given what Avid Support said.)

Bizarrely, when I first opened a session in 2022.7 and created a new track with one of the Grace inputs as the track input, the MIC PRE controls did show up for about ten seconds in the Edit Window. I was able to adjust the Gain like normal and toggle the high pass filter and the Grace was responding...and then the controls just disappeared! WTF.

I can operate the Grace using its front controls and still get signal into Pro Tools, so it's not quite a paperweight. But less convenient for sure.

Can confirm the following is repeatable: If I remove the Grace from Setup/Peripherals (set #1 to "none"), then it gets removed from Setup/IO Setup/Mic Preamps, as you'd expect.
If I add the Grace back in Setup/Peripherals (set #1 to "PRE" and choose the midi channels), then add it back to Setup/IO Setup/Mic Preamps, then the controls show up in the Edit Window for a few seconds and then disappear again.

So strange. Anyway, won't hold my breath for a fix.

[Ben Wood]

I just tried 2022.7 and had the same behaviour. The controls appear for a few seconds then disappear if you remove and add the pre

[hellojamison]

Originally Posted by RossH

Similar problem here. Grace Design m802 8 channel preamp, which Pro Tools has always seen as a PRE, so I can enable the Mic Pre controls in the Edit Window and remotely control the gain etc. via MIDI.
As of 2022.6, the Grace is greyed out under "Mic Preamps" in the I/O Setup menu. I deleted 2022.5 while updating, but I just opened the same session file in 2021.12, and it works perfectly again.

I've re-installed 2022.5 now, the Grace works again.

I'll open a support case. I'm on Mojave 10.14.6 though, which isn't tested anymore.

Did you ever find a solution for your Grace Design Pres? I'm having the exact issue with Rednet X2Ps (they break after 2022.5). Its a bit frightening because I have a lot of them and theyre integral to my system.

[RossH]

Originally Posted by hellojamison

Did you ever find a solution for your Grace Design Pres?

Unfortunately, no. I'm running PT 2023.3 now, but MIDI controls for the Grace no longer work unless I stayed on 2022.5.

Pro Tools is showing me this MIDI I/O error every few seconds when I try to add the Grace as a mic PRE.

However I've just discovered if I click the "reset" button in the "Peripherals/Mic Preamps" window, it does in fact send a reset command to the Grace!
For example if I set a bunch of gain levels using the on-device controls, then click "reset" in Pro Tools, they do get reset on the unit.

So obviously the two devices can still communicate (nothing wrong with my MIDI cables), but Avid has somehow changed how the preamp commands work.

Frustrating.

[marianna]

Originally Posted by RossH

Unfortunately, no. I'm running PT 2023.3 now, but MIDI controls for the Grace no longer work unless I stayed on 2022.5.

Pro Tools is showing me this MIDI I/O error every few seconds when I try to add the Grace as a mic PRE.

However I've just discovered if I click the "reset" button in the "Peripherals/Mic Preamps" window, it does in fact send a reset command to the Grace!
For example if I set a bunch of gain levels using the on-device controls, then click "reset" in Pro Tools, they do get reset on the unit.

So obviously the two devices can still communicate (nothing wrong with my MIDI cables), but Avid has somehow changed how the preamp commands work.

Frustrating.

Hi Ross....

Could you let me know what the case # was that you had with support back in late 2022 on this issue. Also the MyAvid email you use would help me find it. I want to dig into this and find out what changed between 2022.5 and now that impacts Grace.... so I can help hellojamison and you out.

email me is the best way.

Marianna
[email protected]

[RossH]

Originally Posted by marianna

I want to dig into this and find out what changed between 2022.5 and now that impacts Grace.... so I can help hellojamison and you out.

email me is the best way.

Email sent, thank you for looking at this!

[Top Jimmy]

FWIW, I’m not having any problem with my RED 8Pre as long as I keep the Rednet Control app open in the background. I set it to launch at boot and minimize it to the dock.

If I were having to troubleshoot the Grace issue, I would start with the MIDI connection.

[hellojamison]

Ok I found the culprit here. Theres a FB thread on it and I'll post my response to Ben:

indeed found the issue with this method and using midipipe to mess with the CC data. About every 13 seconds, a working preamp sends a CC10 at value 127 back to PT. The greyed out pres are not sending that message.

Furthermore, if you route that CC data (just the CC10 message sent every 13 seconds) to the channel that wasnt working, it will then not grey out that channel. So the message sent every 13 seconds is indeed the handshake message keeping it alive in PT.
Now I'm wondering if I duplicate that message across all my greyed out preamps, will they all work again

Kind of me blabbering on while I sorted through it.

I managed to duplicate that message to other channels that were going grey and it fixed the issue. However, PT2023.6 is looking for the message maybe every 10 seconds (more frequently!) so they would go grey for a few secs and then pop back on once the message sent.

There is more testing needed, but I'm happy for now as I have all my pres working properly in PT2023.3.

Hoping this helps someone.

[RossH]

Originally Posted by hellojamison

Ok I found the culprit here. Theres a FB thread on it and I'll post my response to Ben:

Kind of me blabbering on while I sorted through it.

I managed to duplicate that message to other channels that were going grey and it fixed the issue. However, PT2023.6 is looking for the message maybe every 10 seconds (more frequently!) so they would go grey for a few secs and then pop back on once the message sent.

There is more testing needed, but I'm happy for now as I have all my pres working properly in PT2023.3.

Hoping this helps someone.

Thanks for sharing. I found the MidiPipe website and have it installed, but I think the rest is a little beyond me unfortunately.

Hopefully Avid can come through with a proper fix.

[RossH]

Originally Posted by Top Jimmy

If I were having to troubleshoot the Grace issue, I would start with the MIDI connection.

Hi James! Looks like you're the winner!

You're all gonna hate me, but the problem was just a bad MIDI cable on the output from my Grace preamp back to my Mac Pro. I've swapped in a known good cable, and now the MIDI controls are working 100%. Even in Pro Tools 2023.6.

In all the troubleshooting, I didn't ever try swapping in a new cable...because the old cable was working on Pro Tools v2022.5, even yesterday when I tested it again. But then I hooked up a MIDI keyboard (the good old Roland Juno) with the same cables and sure enough, the Juno couldn't send anything. Swapped in a new cable and boom, back to business.

Lesson humbly learned. I can safely say it is not a Pro Tools issue after all.

Oh well, what good is the Internet if you can't completely embarrass yourself once in a while...