Older MOTU MIDI Express XT Mapping Issues

[plytheman]

Hey all, just found this forum and hoping someone can shed some light on this. I submitted a ticket with MOTU but they said my gear was too old and I can't blame them. I also searched these forums and Google but haven't found any help so far.

I have an older parallel version of the XT hooked up to a desktop (WinXP) running Clockworks (v2.51, Rom Version 1.05). I've got it all working pretty well on its own but I'm trying to send MIDI via USB from another PC (Win10) and running into some issues. Some of my synthesizers only receive on MIDI Ch 1 and 2 so I'd like to route an outgoing channel (say 10) to be Ch 1 on a given cable. For some reason, though, I can't reassign any of the outgoing MIDI channels. My set up looks like this:

PORT | IN | OUT

1 | USB | USB
2 | BeatStep | Eurorack
3 | KeyStep | Blofeld
4 | --- | Volca Sample
5 | --- | Arturia Microbrute


In the 'Routing' tab I've drawn a line from 'In 1' to 'Out 2, 3, 4, and 5'. When I go to 'Mappings' > 'Input mappings for Cable 1' are as they should be (ie MIDI Ch 1:1, MIDI Ch 2:2, etc) so everything from the PC is going to the right places. When switching to 'Output', though, all the MIDI channels are assigned to 1. Whenever I try to change any row besides 'MIDI Ch 1', or hit 'Default', it instantly reverts back to 1 for everything. So now whenever I send any MIDI notes out from my PC, no matter what channel, everything is receiving and firing off the same note at the same time on Ch 1. I can assign MIDI Ch 1 to whatever other channel I like, but only that one.

I should add that in my one User Preset where everything isn't defaulting to 1 on the Outputs, it's stuck on the 1:1,2:2,3:3, etc default. And when I change the mappings on the output of Cable 2, for example, every other cable has the same settings. Consistently, MIDI Ch 1 is the only one I can select different mappings for and all the others are locked to either '1' or whichever number they are.

I can't find any mutings or other options that might be locking my mappings out to Ch 1. And I should note that the Routing and Mutings all work fine too. Unfortunately I can't find a manual online for my model of MIDI Express, but I've looked through the Clockworks PDF and haven't found anything helpful. Some of my synths I can re-map what they receive on, but the Eurorack will only receive on 1-3 and the Volca Sample also eats up channels 1-10 so being able to fix this in the router would be super.

I've invested a whopping $40 into buying the unit, $2 for a new battery, and the time of reformatting and installing Windows XP on an old tower with a parallel port that I found in my parents' basement. All told if I can't get it to work it's not the end of the world and I should just invest in something more modern, but at this point it's what I've got and the principle of the matter.

Thanks!

[mikehalloran]

The only real difference between the serial and USB versions of the older interfaces is how they connect to the computer. Otherwise, they are basically the same. I never owned an XT but the MTP AV-USB has the serial ports in addition to USB.

Here’s a link to the online manuals — only the software portion is different between Mac and Win. The operations manual was the same for all of them except the Fast Lane.

https://motu.com/en-us/techsupport/manuals/

You have a lot more functionality available than through the onboard controls. To access that, you hook up to a Mac or PC. As long as the CR2032 keep-alive battery is not dead, your routings are saved and available in stand alone mode. If that battery is over 5 years old, change it.

[plytheman]

Thanks for the info, Mike. Good to know the manuals should be about the same. I did replace the battery so that's all set and I have an older PC with a parallel port running WinXP and Clockworks. I can change the Routings and the Muting options work fine, but whenever I try to adjust the Mappings of the In/Out it seems to get fussy and won't let me change much. Unfortunately it's not he AV version so I can't actually change anything via the unit itself so I can't figure out if it's a hardware/firmware issue or a problem with Clockworks or my drivers. The part that wierds me out is that everything else in Clockworks seems to be fine. I have to wonder if there's something else in the software that's overriding my attempts at re-mapping the outgoing MIDI channels?

[plytheman]

So in the off chance anyone ever has this same problem again, I found some talk about the unit over at GS where WilcoFan posted:

Clockworks will work with the Parallel MOTU Express XT.

Just not the Clockworks that v2.51 (2004) will ask if you want to install.

Uncheck it and check "Parallel Support".

After installation is done, install v4.04ish (2011) and go with standard install.

Even though you won't have a USB device installed, this will install Clockworks.

After a reboot, when you open Clockworks it will see the Parallel MOTU device.

If not, you don't have a proper connection, try the LPT refresh app. Or reboot.

Works with Windows 7, 32 bit

Following that go everything working for me!