MOTUNATION (formerly UnicorNation) is an independent community for discussing Digital Performer and other MOTU audio software and hardware. It is not affiliated with MOTU.
Forum rules
This forum is for seeking solutions to technical problems involving Digital Performer and/or plug-ins on MacOS, as well as feature requests, criticisms, comparison to other DAWs.
For many years I was happily using DP5 on my old G5 Mac with EWQLSO. I finally had to get a newer intel Mac but I want to keep using DP5 at this time. Reinstalling DP5 went fairly smoothly but then the torture began. I first found that I could no longer use EWQLSO. Thanks to this forum I found that if I got Kontakt Player it could load my sounds, not as a plug-in, alas, but routing MIDI through the IAC driver. After some struggle I managed to get that working.
Everything would be fine now except I can't get DP to recognize my Oxygen MIDI keyboard.
If I open DP MIDI monitor window it is there - it sees it - and if I press a key it lights up but in the tracks window input column when I want to select the Oxygen keyboard it is not listed. I only see the IAC driver (which I do not want to select) and MIDI Keys. Why doesn't it show the Oxygen? Any suggestions will be welcome.
I'm not sure if this will help you, but sometimes it seems like I need to open Apple's AudioMIDI Setup application (in the Utilities folder) and make sure the device exists in the MIDI window there.
I almost always use an interface, so I have to drag a wire from my MIDI keyboard to my interface. But I would think with a USB based keyboard you wouldn't need this step.
Perhaps if you configure it in the AMS you won't need to do that every time.
That's all I can think of. Perhaps others here will have some ideas.
The IAC driver is used by Class Compliant devices that do not require their own drivers. Some devices have limited functionality with the IAC driver and more functionality with the manufacturer's driver. Does your keyboard require a compatible driver? What do you see in Audio MIDI Setup?
DP 11.34; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1 2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sequoia 15.4, USB4 8TB externals, Neumann MT48, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3, Zoom F3 & UAC 232 32bit float recorder & interface; 2012 MBPs (x2) Catalina, Mojave IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 NE Pro, Toast 20 Pro
Thank you for your responses. My set up is bare bones. I have an Oxygen USB keyboard that always used to be available in DP. I guess because I must now cobble together this work-around using the Kontakt player I am running into problems.
In the past EWQLSO was simply a plug-in that I could easily access inside DP.
But now I must use the IAC driver to route MIDI from DP output to Kontakt stand-alone version. This works. But when I tried to record enable a track using my keyboard I got an alert in DP saying that because of a "MIDI playback loop" it wasn't allowed.
After researching this forum there was a solution: to use "multi record" for the track input and supposedly then be able to select my Oxygen keyboard specifically for MIDI input. The reason as far as I can tell, is that otherwise the IAC driver gets routed to the input and output causing a loop.
But, as I said, my keyboard does not show up in the input list even though it's plainly there in the MIDI Monitor window. So now I can't record using my keyboard. I just don't understand why the keyboard isn't showing up.
I will try to upload screen shots to show you...
And thanks again for trying to help.
My MIDI setup shows the Oxygen keyboard is there: http://www.rivergardenyoga.com/MIDI-setup.jpg
but in this view of my tracks window, even though you can see that Performer recognizes Oxygen in the MIDI monitor, there's no Oxygen listed in my Tracks input; only, strangely two MIDI keyboards and the IAC. go figure: http://www.rivergardenyoga.com/Performer-MIDI-input.jpg
This may be an "out there" idea. It looks like AMS sees your Oxygen as an interface (with an input port and output port). Perhaps you could try adding a device in AudioMIDI Setup that is a generic MIDI controller. Then patch a virtual wire in AMS from your generic controller to the input of the Oxygen.
Then see if your generic controller now shows up in DP input list properly.
Just a stab in the dark. But I bet it'll be some thing like that.
There is also that way of setting up inter-app MIDI ports in DP, but I can't access DP at the moment.
Thanks for your suggestions. I often wonder who needs games or puzzles when just dealing with computers offers so many opportunities for conundrums to solve.
stubbsonic wrote:This may be an "out there" idea. It looks like AMS sees your Oxygen as an interface (with an input port and output port). Perhaps you could try adding a device in AudioMIDI Setup that is a generic MIDI controller. Then patch a virtual wire in AMS from your generic controller to the input of the Oxygen.
Then see if your generic controller now shows up in DP input list properly.
Just to report back that this idea actually worked. I came back to it finally as a last resort after I had written MOTU about it and they replied that DP5 is incompatible with OSX10.6.8. But with this trick it's all working. I thank you.
stubbsonic wrote:This may be an "out there" idea. It looks like AMS sees your Oxygen as an interface (with an input port and output port). Perhaps you could try adding a device in AudioMIDI Setup that is a generic MIDI controller. Then patch a virtual wire in AMS from your generic controller to the input of the Oxygen.
Then see if your generic controller now shows up in DP input list properly.
Just a stab in the dark. But I bet it'll be some thing like that.
There is also that way of setting up inter-app MIDI ports in DP, but I can't access DP at the moment.
This is the only way I could get a BCF2000 to work with DP. It's a strange thing to do, and I never understood why it works. It was not necessary with Logic or Cubase, so it doesn't look like a AMS/CoreMIDI thing. But, I find it is no longer necessary with Yosemite, so maybe it is.
I was having a very similar issue with my MOTU UltraLite mk3 hybrid - unable to assign its MIDI port as a MIDI In to a MIDI track in Digital Performer 7.24.
The workaround of making a virtual interface device and hooking it up to the UltraLite in AudioMIDI setup worked a treat!
...after I had written MOTU about it and they replied that DP5 is incompatible with OSX10.6.8. ...
Absolute rubbish. DP 5.11 and later works great in OS 10.6.x. Same with DP 6.03 (ok--as well as 6 can work, I suppose). Whoever told you differently was wrong.
You do need Rosetta active to install if your CD is an older version of DP 5 than 5.1. I would definitely update to 5.13. No trick is needed. It works just fine. As recall, you install 5.0x, then run each update for 5.1, 5.11, 5.12 and 5.13. It's not like DP 7 where any version CD will install then you run the 7.24 updater only.
In fact, I had 5.13 working in Mavericks with no issues. You have to install and authorize it in OS 10.6.8 and update the OS, however. If something happened that required a reinstall, you'd have to roll the OS back to 10.6 to do so. DP 7.24 is the earliest version that will authorize in Mac OS 10.7 and later.
DP 11.34; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1 2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sequoia 15.4, USB4 8TB externals, Neumann MT48, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3, Zoom F3 & UAC 232 32bit float recorder & interface; 2012 MBPs (x2) Catalina, Mojave IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 NE Pro, Toast 20 Pro
Don't mean to be condesceding or rude here..but seriously, it's time to retire DP5. Spend the
money to upgrade to DP 9. Update your Mac to Yosemite and get as much RAM as you can for it.. And stop trying to use Kontakt 5 in standalone mode with DP. You should just open it in DP, no more
MIDI problems.
I think you're just making things unnecessarily difficult. Some things have changed for the better since
you bought DP5 and your G5.
I think the real issue here is whether or not a person can update their computer and/or OS without updating their software (DP, etc.).
It is one thing for a person to keep a working system (hardware and software) going for as long as it meets their needs and workflow. I think this is commendable and it keeps a person from going through SOME brain damage-- especial if their system is stable and issues are few.
However, if a persons computer breaks, or if they need to update their OS in order to use some software, then they must make a choice. Well, I guess a person could keep different computers and different boot drives around to do different things, but that sounds like a very rough road.
DP 7 and 10.6.8 was a sweet spot for me reliability-wise. But I can't run 10.6.8 on my computer.