It was only curiosity as I wanted to create a video tutorial on the use of the Motu but couldnt figure out what the tr8 was sending, i can filter those notes and realtime when not required but it was the only piece of equipment that was causing all the lights to light across the range. I know that if i create the tutorial just using the sub 37 and the OT as an example it wont occur and someone will query this with the TR8 and I wont have an answer.
If any of the machines that are connected yo your MOTU sends MIDI clock, that MIDI clock will be automatically sent to all the MOTUās outputs ports, and thatās why you see activity on all the ports/LEDs. Note that only one machine should be sending MIDI Clock to the MOTU. If your want to use the OT as master clock, you have to either turn of Clock Send at your TR-8 (if possible), or filter Real Time MIDI messages on the Input port the TR8 is connected (you can do that on MOTUās Timeworks application).
2 Likes
I use a MTP-AV so Im fairly familiar with the MOTU midi stuff, and its easily possibile to create a midi feedback loop if you dont pay attention to your settings
with that said, all the LEDS lighting up like that is usually showing you MIDI clock transmissionā¦ as you say the āreal timeā dataā¦ so Id look for a way that clock is getting in somehow - usually you will see the LEDs outputs all lit up but only 1 input, the source of the clock signal - that way you can help diagnose
the only other thing that immediately jumps to mind is something called āactive sensingā which is a MIDI function thats been around for decades but is rarely implemented - however that may be itā¦ and that is also something you can filter out with the MOTUā¦ its basically like a constant callback message, so its a continuous stream of data like MIDI clock
if you are getting LED activity while ONLY the TR8 is powered onā¦ then its obviously the sourceā¦ you would have to mute the realtime OUTPUT from the TR8ā¦ or, turn off MIDI clock transmission on the TR8 itself, not sure if you can do that or not ā¦ thats the first step, because this LED activity is almost always showing you clock - if you can determine for sure it is something else, that will help you a lot
1 Like
Yes I am almost there and as hard as I might I cannot find anything that tells me about the TR8 settings that mentions this. I suppose i could maybe use midi-ox to look at the stuff thats coming out of the thing. Just one other question are the lights on the midi out all on because its receiving something via the midi in or because there are some comms on the out ports to the midi in port of the tr8?
You should carefully read the documentation available from Rolandās website:
http://www.roland.com/products/tr-8/support/
The lights are on for all the MIDI Out ports because the MOTU is sending MIDI messages out of every MIDI Out port. The most likely cause is that something (probably the TR-8) connected to the MOTU is sending MIDI clock messages to the MOTU, which is forwarding the messages to all the Out ports.
Its pretty simple actually - you may be thinking its more complicated than it is. For example, if you plug the TR8 into the MIDI input port 1, and the MIDI output port 1 - any information coming FROM the TR8 will show up as a red LED at MIDI port 1. If its MIDI clock, it will be going to all the green LEDs (output ports) unless the āreal time messageā input is muted on that output port. However, if you mute the real time message output FROM the TR8, it will stop the MIDI clock from going through to all the other outputs.
Someone mentioned if its just LEDs, then why bother? Well its not just LEDs - its an indication that MIDI data is being transmitted or received, and especially in terms of MIDI clock, the amount of data is not insignificant. Also, if you have multiple MIDI clock outputs going on there will be big trouble, even if you cant tell at first because they all are set to the same tempo - the jitter will cause issues, and also the data stream will get choked quickly. The MIDI protocol only supports transfer rate of about 32kb per second. Thats 32 kilobytes per second. Compare that to your USB flash drive or whatever, thats more like 480,000 kilobytes per second. And 32kbps is actually not a lot even when it comes to the tiny size of MIDI messages, unless you are only working with one or two instruments. Once you get a significantly sized setup going, dealing with 64+ channels of MIDI data, things can get sticky very quickly.
Many people have remarked that the MIDI spec is āgood enoughā but these are the people that simply havent used MIDI to this degree. With one or two devices, even a small handful, doing basic tasks with clock and so forth - it should be fine. As soon as you get many more devices, more complicated data streams with multiple CCs and possible NRPN or sysex data - and you will discover for yourself how inadequate MIDI is when handling electronic music in terms of 2016. If we could all go back to 1981, that might solve the problemā¦ but honestly, there have been issues since day 1.
I already did that and duly turned off the midi thru setting but that was about it.
all your points here make me eager to find out whats happening. just turning the thing on now so i can read everything youve said alongside the device.
the red number 2 is on and flickering and as you said all output ports are flashing in sync with the red now its making sense to me that the tr8 is now receiving sync, its just that its its own sync. ive muted the output on cable 2 and now the tr8 has its own local clock. so what i am seeing is its sync appearing on all the other outputs which i am guessing i need to sync to other devices. if i mute the realtime on the outputs the muted ones flash at a different speed to the rest.
i just unplugged the tr8 input cable and now the green lights are all on and not flashing apart from 1 and 2 which have the filter applied.
ive muted active sensing on the input of cable 2 and now i am not getting all the green lights flashing so i am guessing thats it now, its stable.
1 Like
thats interestingā¦ havent seen a device using that for a while
may have something to do with how the Aira gear is supposed to talk to each other and connect together with MX thing and all that
anyway thanks for your help it helped me get it stable, i will add more bits to it and make sure it plays ball but should be ok now as its not flashing like crazy.
I am trying to configure a MOTU MIDI Express XT with my Analog Rytm, Machine Drum, Octatrack and Analog Keys.
Each is midiād in and out channels 1-4 respectively on the MIDI Express XT.
I am using Pro Tools and have four midi tracks open and record selected. I receive a flashing orange light on the MIDI Express XT and also incoming midi data in Pro Tools to the second midi track (Machine Drum) and the fourth midi track (Analog Keys). So far they are working to get midi into Pro Tools, I have not tried sending it back yet.
The first (Analog Rtym) and third (Octatrack) midi light stay lit solid orange on the face of the MIDI Express XT, so some type of communication is present? No where in the MIDI Express Manual does it say what a solid lit orange light means. What does this mean? How can I get it to flash, and thereby transmit midi to Pro Tools? I have gone through all the settings, I can find, on the Analog Rytm and Octatrack to try to set them to send transport, clock and system messages. Is it because I need to set them to slave to the MOTU? Where can this setting be found if so? Any advice would be appreciated -
Choose one device to be the master source of MIDI clock, and set all the others to be slaves.
You mean in the MOTU Clockworks? I want Pro Tools to be the master. I canāt find a option on the Analog Rytm to be slave versus master. I can only find the menu screen to send and receive midi, is there a command screen I am unaware of?
For the Analog Rytm to be a slave to an external MIDI clock, in the ARās GLOBAL > MIDI CONFIG > MIDI SYNC menu:
-
Activate CLOCK RECEIVE
-
Disactivate CLOCK RECEIVE
-
Activate TRANSPORT RECEIVE
-
Disactivate TRANSPORT SEND
These are described in more detail on page 54 of the ARās manual.
Iām afraid that I donāt have experience with ProTools to be able to help you with that. Hopefully someone else can advise.
Thank you for your advice!
1 Like
You will need to also ensure that the master input does not receive the clock from itself to do that set the appropriate channel under muting section of clockworks.
2 Likes