Any iConnectivity mio owners in here?

[dgadwa]

I just got mine last week, replacing an age-old MOTU unit. I’m making progress with the mio but wondered if we could banter, trade war stories, and shoot the breeze about it.

I got the mioXL as the new hub of my “DAW-less” setup - master sequencer is an AKAI Force.

Right now, most of my gear is hooked up and working fairly well: Sync to MIDI clock is working with everything but my Analog Four and Analog Rytm - which is REALLY weird because they’ve always worked pretty reliably in that regard. Prophet-6, OB-6, RD-8 and BigSky are all synced up nice and tight.

The other thing that’s vexing me at the moment is that start/stop for my clocked devices isn’t happening. Anything with an onboard sequencer just keeps playing and playing - even after the transport has been stopped on the Force. I’m guessing this has something to do with MMC but the solution eludes me at the moment - there just aren’t any such parameters exposed on my other devices. The Elektrons, of course, have Transport On/Off settings but I’ve got to get them playing first LOL.

[Petajaja]

I’ve got a mio10 which I’m generally happy with, I used to share a studio with a friend and somehow whenever he used the studio, things would stop working and the mio would need restarting and everything would be fine again. Personally I’ve never had any issues with it and the iConfig software isn’t too hard to figure out, I’m currently trying to use a loopback with my pyramid so I’ve routed it’s midi out A back to it’s in so it can sequence itself and I sometimes get stuck notes, I need to try and figure out what I can do with the mio to help prevent this but I keep going blank when trying to solve it.

I’ve also just bought an Analog four which I was thinking of connecting to the hub via USB if possible so I’ll let you know if I have any problems with that.

I’ve also had issues with start and stop messages to other sequencers, I solved it once but I can’t remember what it was I did and I ideally need to figure it out again too!

Overall though I’m very happy with the thing, I get the impression that any issues I’ve had with it are due user error.

[Slim]

I use a Mio 10.

All what is connected to the DINs always works perfectly.

I also use it to send messages from Ableton to DINs and it works.

I also hooked a USB hub, and there I do experience some problems regularly. I don’t know why, but the numbering of the USB ports of the hub changes when I power cycle. So basically, I try to avoid the usb part of this thing, and when I need it, I reconfigure it.
This is not ideal, but it’s workable, configuration goes quick.
I don’t know if the problem comes from the usb hub itself, I never tried with another one.

I’m pretty curious if anyone experiences similar problem / found a workaround ?

[Rokki21]

You need to reserve the ports in the iconfig software to stop that happening. Not in front of my computer at the moment so can’t remember all the correct terminology but basically there is a drop down box next to the port names. Click that and select the name of the unit that is currently linked to that port. Once done it will always link back to the same port after a power cycle.

Sorry I know that is a bad explanation. I’m pretty sure it’s in the manual.

[Slim]

Thanks for this! That helps!
It means that I simply should look at it a bit more in depth
I’ll look at it, and hopefully get it working.

Hope this also helps someone. @dgadwa, maybe this helps you too. did you try connecting the A4 and the AR in DINs to check if they receive clock and transports when doing so ?

Good luck everyone!

[dgadwa]

Do your Elektron devices show up and allow you to add them to the USB Host Reservation? My AR mkII and A4 mkII do not.

On the one hand, this isn’t a huge problem in and of itself. On the other hand, I think it may have something to do with the fact that they are not picking up MIDI clock from my master sequencer.

[Rokki21]

I don’t know as I run them on the din ports. I use smaller usb to din boxes off them as I like all my synths on din (I’ve had a miserable time with USB noise in the past).

The only synth direct on USB is OP-1 and that works great.

Everything else is sequencers but they all clock bang on.

[Petajaja]

Instead of making a new thread, I thought I’d ask here first.

I don’t use a computer in my studio and rely entirely the Mio for routing my midi but I’ve run out of Din ports and some of my gear can send / receive midi over USB.

I’ve heard some people complain about USB midi but it’s always in regards to using it with computers and the issues I’ve heard people bring up are usb noise and bad timing.

Anyone have experience with USB midi in my situation?

[Slim]

Here, with the MIO, USB midi works. I use it for heavy midi data transfer (MPE controllers), and never experienced any issue. (Except setting up, see earlier posts, but this is user error). I sometimes have 6 or 7 things hooked to the USB through the MIO and it’s still solid. Clock is solid. I avoid midi chains (no hardware on the thru port of other hardware).

[dgadwa]

Thanks @Slim!

Yeah, it’s been SO weird!! I’ve got the Elektrons set up in the customary way to enable sync but no matter what I do, I can’t even get the “MIDI In” indicator light on the front panel of the mioXL to light up - say for example when the sequencer is running or if I play the keyboard on the A4 or something. I should be seeing some action on that indicator.

I’ve tried USB, DIN … I’ve tried the various combinations of MIDI OUTPUT TO: USB, USB+MIDI, MIDI …

I’ve tried different ports on the mio … I’ve tried different cables

Other devices work fine on those same ports on the mio …

It’s just BIZARRE!!

BTW, can anyone confirm whether or not their Elektron devices show up in the USB Reservation section of the Auracle hardware?

[Slim]

I Don’t have mk2, so I can only confirm for mk1s.

It’s weird Indeed. There must be some user error, because I can’t imagine any compatibility issue on the DIN ports of the mio.

I find the Iconfig software easier than Auracle software. Can you try with the Iconfig software once ? And send me prinstcreens ? Maybe I can help.

Good luck

[santhrax]

I have a mio4
To understand the made me headache
It took some time until I got everything working

So I have made a picture which helped me a lot

And USB midi works

[dgadwa]

OMG you guys… Thanks so much for your help. The answer was staring me right in the face this whole time!

I had recently flashed up the OS on the Elektrons. Previously, System > USB Config was set to “USB MIDI” so I assumed that was still the case and hadn’t checked to see if that had changed. Somehow, during the upgrade process, they switched to “Overbridge” mode. Obviously, this would mean trouble for USB communication with the mioXL.

Now, the Elektron devices show up in Auracle’s USB Host Reservation and things are working as expected.

Thanks again to everyone for your help.

[1ticio]

Glad you got it working @dgadwa!
How’s the Akai Force as the master sequencer and clock in your setup? Is there noticeable drift after a few minutes? And just to confirm, the slaved Elektron sequencers now respond to Start/Stop?
I bought a Force and a mio recently, and am interested if the Elektrons are okay when slaved to the Force. Thanks.

[dgadwa]

Hey @1ticio.

Short answer: Yes, the Force has been pretty solid as a master clock source and yes, everything is responding to Start/Stop using it as the maser.

The mio has worked flawlessly although I wish there was a way to quickly check/select multiple checkboxes in Auracle’s filtering area.

Prophet-6, OB-6 and Strymon Big Sky all responding well to MIDI sync.

Longer answer… My workflow and goals with this setup are kind of unorthodox.

In the end, the aim is to have a DAW-less setup for live performance. However, I have a few favourite MIDI devices available within Max/Live that use to sequence the Analog Four. This requires some transfer back and forth between devices which has been going pretty well so far.

Specifically, I’ve been able to get MIDI data from Ableton into the Analog Four via the live record function. If Ableton is left playing for very long, there has been some drift, for sure. However, it seems like the recorded MIDI into the A4 is all perfectly in sync so I’m not in a hurry to chase that problem down ATM.

Once all of these sequences are recorded into the A4, I am removing the DAW from the equation. I use the Force to trigger the A4/AR with clips. For now, these clips only contain program changes that trigger and switch between patterns on the A4/AR.

As of last night, that’s all working. …and I’ve tested with some MIDI controller information in these clips, as well. Works nice.

I’d like to think that there is no need for something like the E-RM MIDIclock in my setup. https://www.e-rm.de/midiclock/

Drift sucks but in my experience, that tends to happen more when the DAW is involved. For now, my thought is that Elektron and AKAI both have great reputations for solid clock sync and that any deviation is something that I should be able to fix.

[1ticio]

Thanks @dgadwa for the detailed response! That sounds promising.

A computer (and tablet) seems to have more drift issues compared to most hardware boxes, so it’ll be interesting to test Reaktor, Egoist, Breaktweaker, and other synced VSTis and AUv3s on the laptop and iPad. If there’s drift, I suppose limiting myself to max 8-bar loops would work. Or chop longer out-of-sync loops on the Akai. I’m trying to ‘stay minimal’ so adding a used Sync Gen or ERM would be a last resort.

Plus I’d like to take advantage of all of the generative MIDI sequencers on the laptop and iPad. I haven’t received the mio yet. but Ableton Link over WiFi seems pretty tight so far. Plus some VST/AU MIDI sequencers drift noticeably after only 16 bars, others are rock-solid after 100+ bars.

Finally, hopefully Force gets the MPC 2.8 update’s newer features. Multitimbral MIDI-over-USB would be amazing. It’s a great box as it is right now though. Still want a Monomachine MKIII though

Thanks again, have fun.

[dgadwa]

For sure @1ticio! Hope it was some help, at least. I’m interested to hear about your progress as you build your setup out.

Like yourself, I am really looking forward to seeing what AKAI has got in store with the next Force update. There was actually a post in the AKAI Force Users Facebook group just today on the subject:

I’m hoping that “soon” might be in mean a month or so but we’ll see…

[1ticio]

Thanks again @dgadwa I’m not on Facebook so that’s news to me!

I did read somewhere recently that some beta-testers are testing 30+ new synth plugins for the Force/MPC. FM synth, wavetable, drum synth that we’ve already seen, more electric pianos, etc. I’m probably in the minority but I really like the 4 synths already onboard.

btw, If you’re looking for a hardshell case for your Force, Analog Cases is now making a UNISON Case for the Force. I ordered one yesterday, should ship on Monday.