*My* Luna II won´t receive MIDI from UC33e

[meisterbrau]

Hi,

i´ve got a problem, that nearly driving me insane now.

I´m recently got a UC33e and tried to connect it to my Luna II.
At First, the Luna showed (on the LED) that it got data from the UC33. Also Reason received something.
But some time afterwards, the data stuttered and then stopped completely.
And then i tried nearly everything, that came to my mind.
I changed cables, power supply, reinstalled the software, but nothing.
I replugged my Doepfer Pocket Control, that i used in the past to control den SFP-Mixer - Lunas
MIDI-Led was lit. So the port couldn´t be defective.
I took the UC33 to my flatmate who has a similiar hardwaresetup(ECS K7S5A Mainboard, Luna II, Windows XP). Plugged the controller in and everything worked fine.
His Luna has no problems, and it´s even receiving data when i power the UC33 by USB.

So, by seperate testing, every part of the configuration seems to be functioning, but not on my PC ?

Anyone who had a similiar problem or a tip, what to test else ?

I hope, i´ve stated the problem so that it´s clear...

greetings,
alex

[piet piel]

Believe it or not, but I've got similar problems. But mine is more basically. I have SFP instead of Luna and I wonder how I get the UC-33 controller to work at all. I connected it via USB and I don't see how SFP should recognize the drivers for this. Anyone has got an idea?

[marcuspocus]

Use midi-ox to route usb midi to sfp midi

[meisterbrau]

Hi,

some update for now (as i download midi-ox).

I played around some time with the midi-monitor and found out a lot of curious things...

When the UC33 is plugged directly into the midi-port, all data seems to be distorted.
Active Sensing and controller data will not be received as it is sent.
When i use the Doepfer pocket control as bridge, UC33 -> Doepfer -> Luna II Midi-In, the data comes through in one piece.
It seems (i got no idea how) as if the signals coming (out of the UC) are to weak so that they need to be amplified by the Doepfer.
But how can this be ?

As i stated before, the Luna II of my flatmate has no problem with the connection. Could it be somehow more tolerant ?
It´s been assembled nearly one year earlier (as the date-stamp on the card says) and some of the electronic components seem to vary in comparison to mine. I just got a basic understanding of electronic, but maybe something like different resistors or voltages on the midi ports ?

any ideas ?

alex

[astroman]

not shure about this, but as you describe the problem it might indeed be a malfunction of the receiving optocoupler of the Luna midi interface.
It could be a regular deviation in parts (those are mass products) or the type used is not sensible enough for what the UC33 sends.
The part itself should be easy to identify. It's a 'regular' IC with 4 legs in 2 rows usually numbered XX 111.

Sometimes a similiar effect occurs when an external midi device (cheap keyboards are known for this) doesn't get enough power.
Is the UC33 powered by a wall-wart or by USB ?

cheers, Tom

[arela]

no prob here.
I've connected to USB and MIDI out from the UC-33. I've connected MIDI in to mixer, and setup remote device in Cubase, so i can controll transport in Cubase and volum etc on the SFP mixer.
Only power is through USB

[piet piel]

Helluw,

uhmm.. rookie question here.. I tried to route the USB signal to the midi source of SFP with Midi-ox.. but it doesn't work. Could anyone give me a hand with this? Should the output of the USB port be routed to the input of SFP? Or should the output of midi-OX be routed to the input of the SFP? Anyway, none of this works. Help!!

[arela]

I installed the UC-33 drivers (on CD) and connected it with the USB. Then i used a MIDI cable from UC-33 out to Pulsar midi IN.
Then i connect Pulsar MIDI A source to SFP-mixer.
Cubase SX Devices Generic remote - I modified a setup that worked for me, so I controll transport in Cubase and SFP Mixer.

[piet piel]

I understand but I want to use the USB only. Not connecting a midi cable.

[astroman]

I don't have midi-ox installed, but from what I remember the routed stuff arrived on one of SFP's 'sequencer source' modules.

You have to make yourself clear about the difference between the 2 physical midi ports and the (almost unlimited number of) software ports.
The naming can be quite confusing, but one gets used to it.
The pdf manual explains it btw.

cheers, Tom

[piet piel]

Thnx Astroman.

I'll give it another shot.

[piet piel]

*slightly off-topic*

Is it possible to let one controllernumber control two parameters of, let's say, the ST-32 mixer? So when turning one knob on the midicontrollerbox two faders move, for instance. Or is a midifilter neccesary for this?

Thanx

[TopMob]

hi all,

my problem here sounds like it could be based on a similar problem to meisterbrau. here's there problem:

i recently bought a midiman merge 2x2 (hardware midi merger), in order to mix 2 midi signals coming from my two master keyboards to then go in the luna's midi in port. however, i don't get any midi signal coming into my sfp environment. if i leave the midi merger out everything works just fine. (also the cables can't be too long, cos i'm using 1m-cables.)

i tried using the midi merger to play my stage piano via my other master keyboard and that works fine as well. so it can't be the merger, and must therefore be caused by CreamWare's midi ports!?

any ideas? or similar experiences??

cheers,
topmob

[hubird]

the merger must be fed by current, are you sure it is? not all synths etc. are offering this feature over the midi lines.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: hubird on 2004-01-25 19:13 ]</font>

[garyb]

some midi cables have all 5 pins active,some have only 3 active.

the reason for the difference is that the 2 pins in question carry voltage to power devices like your midi merge.some devices pass this voltage some do not.some devices are a source for this voltage,some are not.some need the voltage,some do not.in order to avoid a conflict between 2 devices producing voltage,3 pin midi cables are the most common.they are also cheaper.ONE cable connected to the midi merge(depends on the device which one),must be a 5 pin active type or the midi merge won't work(from no power).TWO 5 pin active cables might cause problems if the merge passes that voltage and if that merge is between two devices that don't like being connected to each others electricity.check your cables.

[TopMob]

hi garyb,

thanks for the tip. however, where do i get 3-pin midi-cables from?? i've been searching the net for where i can get some in germany, but there just isn't anyone selling them.

anyway, based on your explanation i've begun to think, that maybe the midi merger output leaves out the voltage on the 2 additional pins and that it's the creamware card that needs the 5-in + voltage. because when i connect my keyboard to my luna directly, the voltage probably is there and everything works just fine. so what i would be needing is something to add the voltage after the merger!?

greets,
sven-amin