MOTU MIDI Installer 2/10/15 conflicts w/ Eventide H9 Control

[James Steele]

Just finally got to the bottom of a rather vexing issue and am posting here for anyone who might be connecting to any of the Eventide stomp boxes (ModFactor, PitchFactor, TimeFactor, Space, H9) via MIDI and having issues with the H9 Control app.

Apparently the latest MOTU MIDI Installer v1.6.64820 (Release Date 2015-02-10) creates a conflict with Eventide's H9 Control app. I had installed this update a few weeks ago and last night attempted to use Eventide's H9 Control app with my ModFactor stompbox. It could not establish contact via MIDI with my first gen MicroExpress interface and I'd get a series of error dialogs.

I updated to latest version of H9 Control App... V2.1.0 for Mac 10.10 Yosemite or higher. No go.

I then tried updating to the latest 5.0.0(4) ModFactor firmware via Eventide Direct Updater 1.5.0 (10.10 Yosemite or higher). This was scary. I ran this updater via MIDI instead of USB against my gut instinct. Update froze during the "ERASE..." phase of the update. I had to force quit Direct Updater, power cycle the ModFactor which came up in "UPDATE" mode. I then connected the ModFactor via USB and ran the Direct Updater with no issues and updated the firmware to 5.0.0(4). H9 Control still would not connect to my ModFactor.

FINALLY, I downgraded my MOTU MIDI driver by running the older MOTU MIDI Installer v1.6.4208 (Release Date 2014-10-15), rebooted, and the problem completely disappeared. This is on my MacBook that I'm using for live backing track. I really never had the stuck MIDI notes issue this was supposed to solve and I don't actually use this system for MIDI except for patch change and continuous controller.... otherwise it's only playing back audio soundbites.

Anyway... passing this along. I'll report to MOTU and Eventide in case this is something that could be addressed.