Is "normal" USB midi not possible at same time as Overbridge?

Elektron Gear Analog Keys/Four
#1

So I’m finally getting around to trying overbridge now that I have the AK to go with my AR. I’m running into a bit of a snag I think.

I have overbridge setup as I can hear audio over USB and knob twiddling on the unit shows up in overbridge.

However, I don’t seem to be able to get/see midi from either my AK or AR in my DAW (Reaper). I can’t even see midi from my AK using MIDI Ext.

If I disable OB, then reset midi devices in Reaper I can then see midi traffic from AK MIDI EXT, as well as AR for stuff I have set up to INT+EXT.

So if you use OB, does that mean that the device is cut off from the rest of the world as far as USB midi is concerned?

ADD

UGH… And it seems that I can’t send CC from my DAW to my Elektron devices either. I seem to be able to send notes, but if I try to send CC’s (for example to send CC35 to AR to control perf) nothing happens. When I go “regular” USB midi, it works.

Help!

#2

I can’t help you with the ins and outs of setting up your DAW, but the A4 on my system when hooked up to Max/MSP by OB and USB cable alone will offer both MIDI by USB and Normal OB operation.

Again, this is a subject covered in previous discussions, it’d be a good idea to explore those rather than starting new threads for every question, there may also be solutions for your own set up within those :thup:

1 Like
#3

I used the search and found hundreds of posts on USB & MIDI but none of them addressed my issue. Thus my post.

But, in case anyone else every find themselves in the same situation:

  1. it appears the issue is that the OB plugin “eats” midi. Thus, if you send CC or other midi to an Elektron device, you need to make sure that the midi generation is AFTER the OB plugin, or routed from another channel, or change Reaper’s IO setting for the OB track to MERGE data.

  2. Re MIDI out, it appears that unlike “normal” usb midi, when OB is running, that you may need to set the AK to send INT+EXT for keys, etc. even if all you want is the MIDI Ext. Prior to OB, I had keys, encoders, etc. all set to INT, and MIDI Ext still would send. The issue is that when I tried OB, this doesn’t work. So I had to set all of the AK’s controls to be INT+EXT just to get MIDI EXT to work… Weird.