This topic is a documentation of me troubleshooting losing all my Machinedrum data after playing a live set with a patch I made in MaxMSP using the gamepad object & a PS5 controller.
So I own an Elektron Machinedrum SPS-1 MK2 that has Firmware X .10 on it. I’ve been using MaxMSP 8.62 & the gamepad object to control my Machinedrum with a PS5 controller in a custom patch I made. I played a rap show a couple nights ago where I was just jammingmaking sounds on the Machinedrum with my MaxMSP patch and PS5 controller. I’m new to MaxMSP, I just started using it a couple weeks ago.
I had a very strange thing happen to me. After I played my set, successfully recorded all the audio into my laptop through FL Studio then exporting my full set, and went back to check on my Machinedrum later that night, I noticed all my kits, patterns, songs, and even global settings were reset back to some default factory settings and all my data was cleared out. The Firmware X .10 was still installed on it though. Really weird. I played my set pretty smoothly though & got the full recording I’m going to make visuals with using Jitter & post online later.
Brief Breakdown of Patch:
I used midi cc data from the Machinedrum to map the CTRL-AL parameters to the analog sticks on my PS5 Dualsense controller (specifically Retrig on “left x”, Retrig Time on “right x”, Pitch on “left y” & Pitch Bend on “right y”). Then I mapped the d-pad, X Square Triangle Circle, and the left and right shoulders on the trigs to trigger the percussion sounds. I mapped the start button so when you click it on & off, it plays and stops the current sequence on the Machinedrum, & I mapped the Playstation home button to switch Serum FX on/off (I didn’t end up using that in my set).
Laptop Specs: https://qr.inc.hp.com/qr/specs?cc=us&fl&ll=en&occ=&oll=&pn=1A1L0UA&rd=1
My laptop & Machinedrum were freezing up mid set. MaxMSP froze & all the lights on the Machinedrum trigs went on; it was like delayed the reaction. The laptop I was using needs upgrading, but even on my desktop I noticed the response time on the Machinedrum slowing down patching the midi cc on the CTRL-AL parameters. What’s even stranger though is I tested the setup before I played out, and recorded a clean 30 minute take with no issues.
Thank god I backed up all my sysex data beforehand. I used Elektron’s C6 Sysex Tool version 1.51 to backup my data and update the firmware. I had a few different backups including a sysex all backup. I went into global midi channel 1, then into sysex rec, I checked & verified the sysex file & it was good with no errors. I loaded that sysex file thru the ORIGINAL PLACE SYSEX RECEIVE & was able to load everything back in successfully with no issues.
I was suggested that possibly having two CTRL-ALs on a kit could’ve been the reason why. I can see how using Ctrl-AL on left x & right x on the gamepad can potentially slow down the machinedrum’s response time w/ all those parameters being moved at once. I was confident I didn’t have a duplicate on one of my kits, but I wanted to double check to see if any of my kits happened to have an extra CTRL-AL. All my kits I used in my set only had a single CTRL-AL.
After confirming that I didn’t have duplicate CTRL-ALs on my kits, now I’m really starting to wonder what could’ve possibly happened. I am very surprised this happened after my set. All I did was turn the Machinedrum off when I was done & turned it back on later that night to do some extra noises after the show. If anyone has any questions or possible reasons why this happened, let me know.