Digital Performer MIDI system has crashed

[forsooth]

Hi folks, panic stations here!

I have a live gig in a few hours and I have a problem with DP.
I'm working in OSX 10.3.9 still running DP4.5 (not made the move up yet) and I haven't used the I gig G4 powerbook for over 2 weeks for any DP stuff.

I'm getting ready for a gig tonight and as I open DP I get the mesage " Digital Performer is unable to run because the MIDI system has crashed. Please quit any programs that are using MIDI and try again."

I'm not running any MIDI programs, I don't even use MIDI. If I have to quit DP how can I repair it? I did the disc utilities deal, repaired permissions etc. Threw away the DP 4.5 that was installed. Reinstalled DP 4.5 and get the same MIDI warning again.

I need some advice real quick because I have to get this up and running, drive 50 miles and do a soundcheck at 8.00 tonight and then record the live gig!

This system has been flawless for the last 3 years and now this.

Advice urgently needed because I know I won't get an answer in time from Motu.

Suggestions please?

Thanks

forsooth

[danes]

It probably has to do with your soundcard's driver. Try to reinstall it. That should solve the problem, at least for me. I had the same problem, but after I reinstalled m-audio's driver, DP worked again.

[forsooth]

Thanks dane but I'm running firewire. This is my live rig used for tracking only. I dump the files into my G5 at the studio and mix etc. there.

Using a Motu 896HD and a Digimax LT for 16 tracks. This system has never let me down on a live gig.........this is something new to me. I can't take the G5!

Any other ideas?

forsooth

[james808]

This happened to me last night, but simply restarting the computer fixed it (just logging out did not). In my case it happened when a site I loaded in Safari wiped out my processor while DP was in the background.

[forsooth]

james808, I just restarted and re-installed drivers etc. several times....... but no joy.

This had never happened before and the MIDI thing is strange!

qo and shoosie......are you guys out there?

forsooth

[danny]

if reinstalling all drivers and the app doesn't do it, you may as well try the 4.6 upgrade and hope that fixes it. haven't seen reports of old files failing in the upgrade.

[forsooth]

R.U........tried that, same results! I have now gone in and stripped all Motu items everywhere, prefs etc. etc. Trashed everything and started to re-install everything again.

If this doesn't work I'm still going to do the gig.... in analog..... because I don't want to let the guys down! They are friends so it will be OK but I need to get back to normal in DP ASAP!

Thanks for advice everyone.....keep the suggestions coming!

forsooth

[Shooshie]

Originally posted by forsooth:
james808, I just restarted and re-installed drivers etc. several times....... but no joy.

This had never happened before and the MIDI thing is strange!

qo and shoosie......are you guys out there?

forsooth

Out here, and read your plight, but didn't respond because I'm clueless and didn't want to waste your time, which was rapidly ticking away at that time. I've never had that happen to me before that i can remember. Well... probably have, but just don't remember it. I have once or twice had to reinstall DP because of some error. That might have been it.

Sorry... I hope you get it figured out. Surely reinstalling DP will work.

Shooshie

[Schweats]

As an outside shot••¦
If you have Diskwarrior•„• , try rebuilding your directory
HTH ••¦Schweats

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Well, since it's paet 5PM on the left coast, I am guessing you're at the gig already. But it sounds like CoreMIDI is to blame.

Open the Audio-MIDI Setup Utility and delete the current setup. You might also trash the .plst from the Preferences folder. Then create a new setup from scratch. Since you don't have any MIDI stuff, just create an empty setup.

Perhaps you added some other program or Quicktime that does use MIDI and it screwed up the MIDI setup? But that might fix it for you.

Hope it went well tonight. Analog music ain't so bad

[forsooth]

Thanks to Shoosie and all who responded with the tips!

I borrowed my wife's powerbook, installed DP4.5, did a quick test to check everything, jumped into the car and hammered down there.

Got to the gig and had less than 15 mins for a sound check. Plugging in cables with seconds to spare and of course instead of the 16 channels I wanted I could only get 10! Ancient Tascam board used by Noah on his maiden voyage I think!

Anyway, all's well..... got enough to test the house board before the "real" gigs later this month. Saved enough to make the band happy and I'll get back to my own powerbook and DP problems later this weekend.

Thanks guys but it's back to the drawing board. I'll send the questions to Motu and see if they can enlighten me. As I said I repaired permissions etc. cleaned out all the DP stuff and re-installed several times........every one gave the same error messages. I'll try Disc Warrior and touch wood.

I'll report back with Motu's reply when I get one!

thanks

forsooth

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Did you reset the Audio-MIDI Setup utility?

That is the most likely cause of your problem.

[forsooth]

Good news....... but first the bad news! After my powerbook MIDI problem my G5 hard drive crashed ..........the first hard drive I have ever had go bad in 15 years or more with Macs!

I lost some files that were on the desktop.......serves me right!

Now the good news! I contacted Motu tech suppport to remind them that they had not got back to me when I reported the MIDI problem and told them about my G5 problem........just in case they were stuck for something to do!

Rob at Motu got back to me the same day and here's the message I just sent him.

Hey Rob,
Good news! After installing DP 4.52 on the G5 I experienced several CPU spikes while running some previously recorded tracks. The audio performance meter indicated a few bursts where it went into the red ( for the first time ever in DP!) I tried it on a file that I could afford to lose......just in case! It settled down after a while and is running normally now. The G5 has 4.5 gigs of memory.

Encouraged by this, I installed Tiger on the powerbook that was having "the MIDI driver has crashed" problem, installed DP4.52 and it is running well right now, no spikes.
The G4 powerbook ( my mobile rig) has 1 gig of memory.

I am a firm believer in the "if it ain't broke" philosophy and did not move up from DP 4 to 4.52 for that reason. I had never had any problems on the powerbook even running 3 hour long live sessions so I didn't feel a compelling urge to go with the latest update.

I'll give both machines a week to get used to the new exciting Tiger in their tank and then move on up to DP 4.6!

Thanks for your help. I really appreciate your assistance. A day without being able to use Digital Performer is a bad day for me!

Thanks to everyone who offered advice and especially Rob at Motu.

A happy camper

forsooth