lol yeah I'm running a G5 PPC, and have been coveting all the software I can't run for years now. It's frustrating as hell being left in the dark with no support from everyone making cool plugins and softwares.
Offline
chicago
Well, a $30 MIDI -> USB cable and a repurposed G4 PowerBook have solved my problem.
It would still be nice to have a better idea of what is/was going on with the direct connection to my sequencer... 'grounding' and 'cheapo ac adapters' doesn't really explain much, and the suggested solution of subsuming an entire computer to solve a grounding issue seems a little over the top for the problem being solved.
Thanks for everyone's input tho.
Offline
Unsubscribe
Midines doesnt like getting excess midi data. Im guessing if you where to filter the following from the output being sent to the midines, it would work even better (even with the old device)
-active sense
-midi clock
-all non midines data (other channels, notes, cc messages etc)
-mtc
-mmc commands
Offline
chicago
Yea, that was the first thing I tried, my sequencer can filter all that stuff out, on THRU, OUT1, and/or OUT2. I tried everything, even just straight up note on/offs and nothing else (not even CCs). Same issue.
I can live with the laptop setup I guess, it's not like my G4 was doing anything useful anyhow. I just kind of enjoyed having a laptop/desktop free rig, fwiw. Now I'm using MIDIPipe to filter just about everything out, and it's working really really well now, which is all I wanted.
Just annoying / confusing as to why looping it through a computer is fixing this shizzz, I get it, grounding whatever, but there has to be a simpler way... hence my posting, there are a bunch of smrts around here. Just figured someone would have more information on it, like a little thru box that can be put together that effectively implements whatever fix the computer is facilitating.
Offline
IL, US
if it really were just grounding issues, id think id have had more issues with it myself, since the power supply for a gp2x is def not grounded.. i used it both piggy->midi directly connected and with thrus, the only thru situation that caused me issue was passing it through my mopho, but that was probably because it was adding to the midi data (which was just clock, note and cc from piggy, though was sending note data to other hardware besides just midines)
Last edited by e.s.c. (Feb 25, 2014 4:45 pm)
Offline
Unsubscribe
You can always compare the midi out of one setup to the midi out from another using a midi monitor, and see what the difference is.
Offline
chicago
herr_prof wrote:
You can always compare the midi out of one setup to the midi out from another using a midi monitor, and see what the difference is.
I did that as well. MIDI-OX on my PC (through an old Audigy Soundblaster front panel) says my sequencer is sending nothing but note on/off and song start / stop (at the begining and end of the sequence). This was expected because I explicitly turned off active sensing / clock data / aftertouch / CCs on my sequencer's MIDI OUT. SNOIZE MIDI Monitor through a Mio USB MIDI interface cable says exactly the same thing... So I know that my sequencer is not sending any weird MIDI data anywhere, nor is either computer adding / removing MIDI data, it's sending exactly what it's telling me it's sending which is also exactly what I tell it to send.
That's precisely why it's so frustrating, it seems to be just as the wayfar site says it is: some kind of grounding / ac adapter issue... since I'm not doing anything weird at all MIDI-wise, yet piping it through a computer's MIDI IN/OUT fixes the problem entirely, in fact it makes it kick complete ass (we're talking 32nds/64ths at 250bpm on four channels, no sweat).
e.s.c. wrote:
if it really were just grounding issues, id think id have had more issues with it myself, since the power supply for a gp2x is def not grounded.. i used it both piggy->midi directly connected and with thrus, the only thru situation that caused me issue was passing it through my mopho, but that was probably because it was adding to the midi data (which was just clock, note and cc from piggy, though was sending note data to other hardware besides just midines)
Honestly, this is exactly my thinking too, but like I said above, I've monitored this every which way.. my sequencer isn't pushing anything but note on/offs and start/stop.
The setup works perfectly when I go MC-500 -> (laptop G4 / desktop PC) MIDI IN/OUT -> MIDINES.
MC-500 -> MIDINES chokes and hangs like crazy. As in, completely unusable.
Go figure. But that's why I wondered, WTF is the computer doing exactly? It's not adding/removing MIDI data, so is it amplifying and/or grounding the signals?? If so, there has to be a less cumbersome way to clean/ground/amp the signals without using an entire computer for such a purpose. Which I guess is my only real question at this point since everything is working great now with at least a somewhat portable laptop as a MIDI thru box (it's just kind of ridiculous to have to do that way is all).
Offline
Unsubscribe
try to hook the midi voltage to a multimeter? Maybe the midi in circuit is sensitive to variations against the spec.
Last edited by herr_prof (Feb 25, 2014 8:27 pm)
Offline
chicago
I could do that, except I wouldn't know dick about what to make of the readings, nor really how to correct them if they were off somehow.... I guess I could compare / contrast the computer outs with the raw sequencer outs... but I'm pretty dumb with electronics, heh.
Offline
Unsubscribe
Yea it would jsut be interesting, but im guessing the diode protection of the midi thru is forcing the midi interface to send a signal the midines likes better.