No MOTU MIDI timepiece in MIDI studio...

[larsmagnus]

Trying to make this old interface show up on a Macbook M1 with OS 12.6(Monteray)
I have read that people get it to work by downloading a newer driver for Express 128.
viewtopic.php?t=72484
So I did that and installed the option for my unit, but no luck so far.
I have tried to connect it directly to the MacBooks USB.
Any more suggestions to think of?

[CharlzS]

Try installing a new battery.

[mikehalloran]

Try installing a new battery.

That and make sure you are using a cable that supports USB 1.1. Many (most?) USB-C cables do not but USB Printer cables support USB 2/1.1 only. They're available in a number of configurations but this is the one you want.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012V ... =UTF8&th=1

Do check the battery first, however. It takes a standard CR2032 medical battery, available everywhere.

[larsmagnus]

The unit is up an running, but you mean it can still have a weak battery that is a course of the problem?
I’m not using an USB-B to USB-C cable, I’m just using an USB-adapter dongle into the Macbook and an ordinary old USB A-B cable, which never have failed in other connections…

[mikehalloran]

The unit is up a running, but you mean it can still have a weak battery that is a course of the problem?
…

A weak battery is worse than no battery. These should be replaced every 5–7 years or so.

Some USB-A to USB-C adapters do not support USB 2/1.1. I have a pair that don’t and another pair that does. I ran into this while hooking up my MTP-AV and Yamaha piano to my new Mac Studio.

Again, replace the battery first.

[larsmagnus]

Thank you, I will sure try a fresh battery. Seems like a likely fault thinking of the age of the unit then...
My adapter is Apples own, should be ok, right?

[Michael Canavan]

The elephant in the room is that I have found that the workaround to get the MTP/AV working on Monterey does not work in Sonoma. We're dealing with a deprecated item that has no official support, and will break if you upgrade your OS at this point.

I got lucky and found a Emagic Unitor 8 for peanuts on Craigslist. Apple updated the drivers for Apple Silicon a while ago. None of these devices are that expensive by todays standards, so if I hadn't found the Unitor 8 I would have bought a new MOTU device. I'm a bit upset at MOTU for not updating their drivers and deprecating the MTP, but if it means more resources for DP upgrades, that's the price I guess.

[James Steele]

The elephant in the room is that I have found that the workaround to get the MTP/AV working on Monterey does not work in Sonoma.

Wow! This is interesting. So if I read this right what you’re saying is that the old MTP/AV worked under Monterey (and I’m assuming Ventura) but Sonoma breaks it?

I remember I was having an issue that was minor and I ended up buying a new MIDI Express XT only to find I didn’t really need to, but I guess now that I’m on Sonoma it’s a good thing I did! I kept my MTP/AV just in case I decide to expand and get some more hardware units, but now that I’m on Sonoma it looks like that ship has sailed. That’s really unfortunate!

[mikehalloran]

I connected mine, fired it up, opened Audio MIDI Setup and saw the image of my MTP AV USB.
Ok... I had installed the driver over Ventura but now am in Sonoma... but was I really seeing it? So, I deleted the icon and it didn't come back so the answer is No.

I deleted the driver, rebooted, downloaded and reinstalled/rebooted. I got all of the security warnings, booted into the Repair Partition and weakened the Security settings so that the extension would load. This involved multiple reboots and trips to the Security and Privacy window and so on for what seemed like a half hour.

The MOTU driver now loads properly but the MTP AV still doesn't show up. Ok... My M•Audio and MOTU M2 devices appear but they support Core MIDI.

So, this leaves the question: Do any of the currently supported MOTU MIDI devices that use the same drivers work over Sonoma? I suspect not but I'll ask—I'm supposed to talk to them tomorrow about something else.

[Michael Canavan]

So, this leaves the question: Do any of the currently supported MOTU MIDI devices that use the same drivers work over Sonoma? I suspect not but I'll ask—I'm supposed to talk to them tomorrow about something else.

Do you mean the same older driver? because that's how I got the MTP/AV working before, I don't recall, but an older Express XT driver worked, they all install saying that the MTP/AV is supported. There is a compatibility chart on their site.
https://motu.com/en-us/news/motu-and-macos-sonoma/

[James Steele]

Not in front of my studio now, but I'm using MIDI Express XT with latest driver and pretty sure it's working in latest Sonoma. I will have to check later.

[larsmagnus]

Yes, the good news is that a fresh battery made the Timepiece on speaking terms with my Macbook. Just as you suggested, Mike. Thanks a lot! The bad news is that this communication maybe will stop if I upgrade to Sonoma…

[James Steele]

I do remember that my MTP/AV worked with Monterey which my Mac Studio shipped with. I do not know though if it worked with Ventura or not.

[mikehalloran]

Long talk with MOTU Support on another issue and brought this one up. Verified that I have the current MOTU driver and that it is loading properly. My Mac sees the MTP AV but the driver does not. He said that there can be some driver loading issues but that it appears not to be the problem with my setup.

Since my unit is long past support, there was nothing more he could do but assured me that, if I bought a current unit and it didn't appear, I could schedule another call and MOTU can try some of those tricks as necessary.

[FrankM]

My saga with this is in another thread but you have confirmed that it's NOT ME!! Thanks.

I had the exact same situation with my Fastlane - the driver is definitely installed, MacOS saw my Fastlane in the "System Report" of System Settings - it just didn't load the driver when my Fastlane was plugged in.

I'm speaking in the past tense because I found my older MacBook Air so returned the MacBook Pro that shipped with Sonoma. The Air is on Ventura and that's where it's staying, until I find a different MIDI interface similar to the Fastlane; small and without integrated MIDI cables like my iConnect mio.

I sure wish MOTU didn't continue to claim the Fastlane as "supported", it would have saved me a few hours!