HUI/MCU handshake information

[damo76]

Hi all,

Does anyone have the information regarding the handshake protocol between HUI/MCU midi controllers and Protools. I have designed a HUI/MCU controller for Protools but it causes Protools to freeze periodically because ProTools is not receiving the correct response back from the Midi Controller to show that it is a legit device and that it is active. Any help in this regard would be appreciate.

[Top Jimmy]

Would something like this help you analyze the traffic on another HUI device that does respond correctly?
https://hautetechnique.com/midi/midiview/

[damo76]

Yes but I dont have another Hui device here. I am also suspecting, but hoping not to be the case, that each hui device might have a different response, or perhaps will respond to some special sys ex sent by protools that might be different each time it sends it.. just hoping for a possible protocol document or example .. thanks for your advice

[Top Jimmy]

Originally Posted by damo76

Yes but I dont have another Hui device here. I am also suspecting, but hoping not to be the case, that each hui device might have a different response, or perhaps will respond to some special sys ex sent by protools that might be different each time it sends it.. just hoping for a possible protocol document or example .. thanks for your advice

It’s just a ping and reply.
http://stash.reaper.fm/12332/HUI.pdf

[Darryl Ramm]

You do mean pure HUI right? Pro Tools has never supported MCU.

There is no magic sysex handshake that I can recall the one or two times I've looked at MIDI control stuff. Are you sending the keep alive pings frequently enough? Almost everything I've needed to hack together some very basic control stuff has come from just reading theageman's reverse engineering doc: https://www.bome.com/wp-content/uplo...669723_HUI.pdf

I can't imagine there being stuff that is too special to Pro Tools here, after all HUI was co-developed originally to work with Pro Tools and it still works with an original Mackie HUI surface.

Although this stuff is not complex you are just likely to waste time unless you have something working to compare to. Why not go buy an old Mackie HUI surface, *the* HUI reference platform, they are a few hundred US dollars on EBay. Regardless of the hassle in obtaining one, not having anything to compare to is just a bad idea.

[damo76]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

You do mean pure HUI right? Pro Tools has never supported MCU.

There is no magic sysex handshake that I can recall the one or two times I've looked at MIDI control stuff. Are you sending the keep alive pings frequently enough? Almost everything I've needed to hack together some very basic control stuff has come from just reading theageman's reverse engineering doc: https://www.bome.com/wp-content/uplo...669723_HUI.pdf

I can't imagine there being stuff that is too special to Pro Tools here, after all HUI was co-developed originally to work with Pro Tools and it still works with an original Mackie HUI surface.

Although this stuff is not complex you are just likely to waste time unless you have something working to compare to. Why not go buy an old Mackie HUI surface, *the* HUI reference platform, they are a few hundred US dollars on EBay. Regardless of the hassle in obtaining one, not having anything to compare to is just a bad idea.

Ok I managed to get a hold of an Xtouch. and the only thing it seems to be sending back is a ping reply. I have copied this reply on my DIY controller..but Protools still continues send a seemingly endless list of controller commands that will not stop. Am at a loss of what to do next. And help welcome

[junkgear]

Originally Posted by damo76

Ok I managed to get a hold of an Xtouch. and the only thing it seems to be sending back is a ping reply. I have copied this reply on my DIY controller..but Protools still continues send a seemingly endless list of controller commands that will not stop. Am at a loss of what to do next. And help welcome

Does PT send an endless list of commands to both the Xtouch and your device or just your device?

Like Darryl said, there isn't much going on except that you need to send a 'keep alive' ping about once a second and you don't really need to do anything with the ping reply if you don't want to. If your pings are too far apart, PT may think that you are disconnecting and reconnecting, and it sends a dump of info so that you can update the controller to the current state. That seems a little proactive on PTs part, but who knows.

[Felix Rost]

Originally Posted by damo76

... but Protools still continues send a seemingly endless list of controller commands that will not stop.

I do this in my app and it works:

MIDI Message from host (Pro Tools) every 1 sec:
[0x90, 0x00, 0x00] or decimal [144, 0, 0]

MIDI Message response from surface (my app):
[0x90, 0x00, 0x7F] or decimal [144, 0, 127]

(These are simple MIDI "Note On" commands: "Note "On", pitch= 0, volume= 0/127)

Pro Tools sends an "endless list" while transport is stopped?
Have you checked you are responding on the correct MIDI channel?
In PT, do you see the alerts "Pro Tools is unable to communicate with HUI..."?

[damo76]

Yes I got the handshake working in the same way. Thanks

[henningaround]

What is you app for? Interested :)