I just purchased a MIDI Express XT and I am trying to use it to send songfiles from an old but still perfectly functioning Alesis DataDisk to an equally old and still perfectly functioning Alesis MMT-8 sequencer and an Alesis HR-16 drum machine. Although information is received by both the sequencer and the drummachine, it is somehow garbled as a result of which the songs are unplayable. By contrast, if I physically route a cable from the out of the DataDisk to the inport of the sequencer and another from the sequencer's through port to the inport of the drum machine, the files are received and I am able to play the songs in question without any problem.
Does the Express XT in some way 'process' the songfiles and thereby cause them to become garbled? Or is there something else I am not doing correctly or overlooking? I would be grateful if anyone can tell me where I am going wrong.
Using Express XT as a MIDI pathcbay
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Discussion related to installation, configuration and use of MOTU hardware such as MIDI interfaces, audio interfaces, etc. with Windows
Discussion related to installation, configuration and use of MOTU hardware such as MIDI interfaces, audio interfaces, etc. with Windows
Re: Using Express XT as a MIDI pathcbay
Are you routing the relevant MIDI channels to the relevant instruments (ie. channel 10 to the HR16 etc)?
My only thought is that (in layman's terms) you may be overloading the buffer in the instruments if you're sending them too much information too quickly, given that they are very old and may not be able to process. Try routing and muting in order to minimise the amount of MIDI traffic you're sending.
I had a similar issue with a MIDI-based lighting controller. The sequencer was sending it 16 channels of MIDI information whereas it was just set up to respond to channel 9. Invariably, during a song the lighting controller would just stop reponding.
When I changed the routing of the MIDI information in my micro express to only send channel 9 note ons, note offs and control changes (the only MIDI messages that it responds to) the problem disappeared.
Hope this is of some help!
E.
My only thought is that (in layman's terms) you may be overloading the buffer in the instruments if you're sending them too much information too quickly, given that they are very old and may not be able to process. Try routing and muting in order to minimise the amount of MIDI traffic you're sending.
I had a similar issue with a MIDI-based lighting controller. The sequencer was sending it 16 channels of MIDI information whereas it was just set up to respond to channel 9. Invariably, during a song the lighting controller would just stop reponding.
When I changed the routing of the MIDI information in my micro express to only send channel 9 note ons, note offs and control changes (the only MIDI messages that it responds to) the problem disappeared.
Hope this is of some help!
E.
Re: Using Express XT as a MIDI pathcbay
Thanks for taking the time to respond, xaisle. I appreciate your suggestions. From what I have been able to gather, however, there seems to be a longstanding problem sending sysex info. via the Express XT. It seems that version 1.01 of the driver did not have this problem but version 1.02 and following do. The problem is that version 1.01 is hard to locate. MOTU has made no attempt over many years to address the problem.
Re: Using Express XT as a MIDI pathcbay
I am reposting this from another thread ("MIDI Express XT Sysex Issue"). I thought you might like to know of the results of an experiment which I did yesterday. I got a M-Audio Midisport 4x4 and, in conjunction with the wonderful MIDI utility MIDIOX (http://www.midiox.com/) which allows one to route the ports, I was able to easily send and receive songfiles to and from the Alesis DataDisk without a problem. However, when I tried to replicate this with the XT, once by using the routing capabilities of the XT itself and once by using the routing capabilities of MIDIOX, I was unsuccessful once more. Clearly, it seems to me, the XT does something to the information being passed from port to port.