MIDI feedback problem

[happyrat1]

Hi guys.

I'm ripping out my fingernails with this problem.

Configuration

Linux Computer Running 1998 version of cakewalk

With the following gear USB connected

PC3K8, Sequential Circuits Take 5 and Prophet Rev2 16 and ASM Hydrasynth plus Behringer RD8 Drum box and Boss DR-880 Drum machine.

Everything worked fine for the last decade with the PC3K8 in dozens of other configurations as the master controller.

Since I added the Prophet and the Take 5 to the mix, the PC3K has had a mental breakdown.

Depending on settings it either howls like a stuck pig, or screeches thru settings when the sequencer is running or does not produce a single note and fails to record a midi note as well.

For a decade it worked perfectly with other gear with MIDI Omni and local ON.

Now I've tried all sorts of settings and still putting the PC3K into seizures.

INS files for the Sequentials have been written and properly debugged.

Settings seem proper without much fuss.

My best guess is that the sequentials are injecting loads of sysex messages into the mix, but the second I hit that record button for a kurzweil channel all hell breaks loose.

Someone please help me before I trade it in for a Nautilus.

Gary

 

[Skyjumper]

Digital (and analog) require a good ground. A floating ground can cause this issue. I use a furman power conditioner when playing, everything I use goes through it. A friend decided to cut his ground connector off his sequencer and had issues like this. May or may not be the issue, but thought it to mention.

 

[happyrat1]

Good call but everything is plugged in to an APC UPS.

Hum is not an issue unless I plug in a Boss DR-880 drum box with a crappy power brick.

Not the cause in this case.

What I have done is order a Miditech MIDI THRU filter from Europe that may get rid of garbage sysex commanss floating in the stream.

Will report in if it works.

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

SOLVED IT!!!!!

Turned out it was a new MIDI protocol parameter called MPE on the Hydra.

Until I added the Take 5 and the Rev2 it never caused a problem with any of my other gear, but simply turning it on fixed the last issue.

It was hard to track down because I first had to create cakewalk INS files for the DSI boards completely from scratch and without MIDI documentation for the Take 5 for the first few months.

Bit by bit, doing my homework and detective work, I managed to get them debugged.

Cakewalk configuration options had to be tweaked as well.

Thanks to some help from Sequential as well as a rereading of the hydrasynth manual today I finally have it working as expected again.

And thanks to those who helped me out here and on other forums.

Have yourselves a beer on me

Gary

 

[Lee Borrell]

I thought it was sysx too, or a feedback loop. Some midi systems are so complex data ends up going round in a circle. In particular, I've noted that some yamahas (pss480) will pass the midi in to the midi out, in some modes resulting in the out acting as thru. Unless one is aware of this it can cause consternation. On another note, as it were I've also exploited this feature, by connecting the midi out to the in, which is not advisable in most set ups, but the pss copes mostly and produces repeated loops of midi, add in the transpose feature, and you get weird glissandos. The drum machine goes mental though!

 

[happyrat1]

Since I've posted that I've learned that MPE is a prototype/proprietary version of MIDI 2.0 spec.

The problem is that MIDI over USB 2.0 is simply not fast enough to keep up with all the bizarro parameters being fired off at double warp speed and causes the entire MIDI loop to go insane with echoes and tones.

Seeing that the Hydrasynth ships with a USB 2.0 printer port they clearly did not think this thing thru.

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