fastlane usb frustration

[jculby]

hello group:
As a long time group lurker, I've learned much about my motu hardware & software over the years. Now I have an issue that I can't find in the archives and am at wits end:

I've had a fastlane usb for over 10 years. It's worked well for my various modest rigs over that time. My current rig is:
late 2012 Mac Mini, 16 gig RAM
OS 10.8.5
Original 828 (still works fine!)
Reason 7.1
Various MIDI modules incl. older Roland hd-1 electronic drum kit.
Motu Fastlane USB

I'm unable to reliably get the mac mini to recognize the fastlane. The most frustrating part is that it may work for several months, then just stop without my changing anything. I wouldn't even upgrade the OS because I didn't want to mess with a system that was working.

The fastlane LEDs always show activity @ the MIDI ports when I tap the e drums. (the MIDI thru button is not engaged). Audio MIDI set up will show it for a while, then "grey it out".

One time I swapped usb ports on the mini and it came back for a while. This time, not so lucky.

I've trashed and reinstalled the most recent motu drivers (multiple times).
I changed cables, including buying brand new ones. I bought/tried a powered usb hub. I tried having only the fastlane connected to the mac mini usb ports. I tried using only one MIDI device @ a time. I've tried both ports of the fastlane. Nothing seems to bring it back

The most recent issue occurred in the middle of a project without my changing anything. Now I'm completely out of ideas, extremely frustrated and just want to get back to writing/recording my music. I know there are some extremely knowledgeable folks in this group and if they can't give me a clue, then nobody can.

Thanks in advance for any clues you can provide.

-culby

[James Steele]

See if you have a Guitar Center around you. Only reason I mention it is that you can buy something and if you save the packaging and don't trash it, if the item doesn't work, you can return it. Ten years is a long time for a piece of hardware. Maybe it's having issues. You could buy a new MOTU interface at GC... see if it works for a while. If the problem goes away, keep it. If not, you have 30 days to return it.

I'm guessing you paid $49 maybe 10 years ago for the Fastlane. $4.99 a year? You got your money's worth. Consider throwing a little money at this problem perhaps?

Other things to check:

Make sure it's getting adequate power from the USB bus. I can't remember if those take external power. Have you connected any other devices recently?

Your Mac Mini is from 2012. Is that USB 3? It's been working okay I assume. I know some people with newer Macs have had to connect their interfaces to a USB 2.0 hub instead of directly to the USB port on the Mac for reliability.

Lastly... I'm assuming you went to MOTU's website and installed the very latest drivers? If so, maybe downgrade the MIDI driver to the previous version. Sometimes issues are introduced in newer drivers that might affect older hardware like yours. I would doubt MOTU tests new drivers extensively on 10 year old Fastlanes.

[mikehalloran]

I remember that mine cost me $79 but it was more than 10 years ago. It died after about 5 years. I replaced it with a succession of MOTU MIDI interfaces. all of which still work but one is obsolete. Dang!

MOTU may have some tests that you can run to determine if it's a driver issue or if it died in the line of duty. Never hurts to file a Tech Link and ask.

Drivers were released last February.

The MIDI Through button, when engages, bypasses the Mac. Does it work properly?

[jculby]

Hey Group:
James replied quickly, confirming what I suspected may be the ultimate solution...just replace the fastlane. After 10 years of service, it really didn't owe me a nickel. I bopped over to GC, only to find they don't keep more than a couple of MIDI interfaces in stock @ their brick/morter locations. No motu interfaces at all. As it turned out, I did find one there by iconnectivity. Not familiar with them (and a devout "motu guy"), but desperate to get back to music, I gave it a shot. Bottom line, it installed beautifully w/o any drivers needed! It even has a bunch of features (audio "pass thru", multiple computer and Ipad connections, etc.) that might come in handy someday. For $10 more than a fastlane it seems solidly built in a metal(!) case. Thanks to James for pushing me in the right direction and thanks to all in the group for your input. I foresee a MIDI-licious weekend ahead. This group most assuredly rocks!

[mikehalloran]

http://www.iconnectivity.com/products/MIDI

So which one did you get?