MOTUnation.com

Hello, I hope someone can help me out. I have a new MIDI Express XT. One of the uses that I bought it for is as a stand alone basic MIDI patchbay for live use. I had no problem creating my 8 user routings, but I am getting uncontrolled stuck notes all over the place. I must be missing something in the setup because the same routings work perfectly fine when I use an old 360 Systems MIDI Patcher (30 yrs old). Am I creating some kind of endless MIDI loop by missing something? Thanks for any help.

mikep

Ugh!! That is SUPER annoying. I've run into this with another brand and it is frustrating!

I can think of three possible problems, a bad cable, a bad driver, or a bad device.

The cable is pretty easy to test, you can just eliminate a few complications in your set up and troubleshoot one source and one destination cable at a time.

Since you're in standalone mode, the driver is irrelevant. However, is there some firmware you can update? Again, that seems like a long-shot. And finally, if you got a lemon, you'd need to test the above anyway, so you could contact MOTU about your device. At least they could give you some other troubleshooting advice. They are pretty good about replacing if under warranty.

Thanks stubbsonic, I have gotten a response from Dave at MOTU already (he was pretty quick to respond). We are going to start with the basics (one MIDI out of a controller into the XT and one MIDI out of the XT into a slave) and trouble shoot from there. Because everything works fine with an old MIDI patchbay, I believe it is a setting that I am missing in the XT. I have a Nord Piano 3 connected to the in and out of 1, a Nord Electro 5D connected to the in and out of 2, and a Jupiter 80 connected to the in and out of 3 on the Express XT. My user routing presets are simple stuff like the Piano 3 controlling the Electro or Jupiter 80 or both, the Electro controlling the Jupiter 80, the Jupiter 80 controlling the Electro, etc. The MIDI signal must be looping through over and over or sending on multiple channels or something...

mikep

Just because the unit is new, it's not a given that the firmware is up to date. Here's where you check:

http://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/firmwarechangelog

Thanks for the link Mike. I've been talking with Dave at MOTU and he has been great. I've read other's comments on lack of customer service, but I've found MOTU to very quick to respond and very helpful. The issue has not been resolved yet, but MOTU has offered to replace the unit if we can't get it figured out.

mikep

I would like to provide an update and give a shout-out to Dave at MOTU. It turns out that my XT was corrupt and unable to perform simple MIDI routing. Dave sent me a prepaid return label for my unit and sent me a new Express XT. After hooking everything up and programming my user presets I am happy to report that everything works perfectly. I am impressed and pleased with the customer service and even more pleased that someone still makes an interface/patchbay with programmable presets that can be used both with my home studio and as a stand-alone patcher.

mikep