Receiving Transport Messages or Notes? Is my OT broken? Wit's end

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

I’ve tried to set it up like all the tutorials say and nothing seems to work.


is Monowelt’s wonderful tutorial that I’m following. I have it set up exactly like him: my DX MIDI out is set to 10. My track is set to 10. I press record, hold a trig and play and NOTHING.

I can program notes manually and send them out, so I know MIDI out works. But I can’t get anything through MIDI in. none of my DAWs can control the transport of the OT or send clock as far as I can tell. I can send clock and sync to my daw from the OT so I know that works. but for the life of me, there is no midi in. I run a midi note from my DAWs to the DX and I can hear it on the DX. So I know my MIDI Out on my interface is working.

at this point I wonder if my OT’s MIDI in is broken. Until recently I haven’t tried much with MIDI . I’ve spent the last year just developing my sampling and performance skills. but now I want to add external gear and I can’t figure out the issue.

Is there a way to test my MIDI in to see if it’s broken? Some kind of continuity test I can do with my multimeter?

Thanks,
GD

#2

Surely broken. Give me your Octatrack. :slight_smile:
If you receive Transport, it is not broken.
Check if your midi track has the same midi channel as an audio track. In that case it may not receive midi data.
Try with auto channel.
Use a midi monitor to make midi tests.

User manual :

If an audio track and a MIDI track share the same MIDI channel, the MIDI track will block the audio track from sending out data while the audio track will block the MIDI track from receiving data.

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#3

No you don’t

You use the Auto Channel to play in external notes

He clearly says he sets the Keystep to the Auto channel at 1:45

The auto channel is 10, ensure no other channel is set to the auto channel

You don’t need to use 10, just set the ext keys to whatever your current unique auto channel

As for your other broader concerns you need to have a good look at the midi settings to see what you have enabled/disabled

forget the DAW, try triggering the OT in some way (machines/transport/whatever) using the midi notes from the keyboard – see appendix of manual

#4

There are some traps, we can fall into … but it’s straight forward to check and to get out … it might take a little time and sometimes to check with the manuals.

  1. Are you using MIDI-DIN connectors or USB? Elektron boxes can be set to send/receive MIDI via MIDI-DIN or USB exclusive or both in parallel.
  2. Transport commands are not bound to a MIDI-channel. They are transmitted to and received by all connected devices. But a device has to allow that those commands are executed. Same goes for software. Devices and software, which have transport buttons have a section to set the functionality off/on too.
#5

Not the OT though, strictly DIN only … USB is CF card only

Just to clarify for OP - some transport commands can be substituted (an OT feature) with convenient MIDI note input equivalents, for which you’d use the auto midi channel (i suggested this as it’s easy to do so with any external controller, whereas only some provide the ability to send clock/transport messages)

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#6

If you look at his video, he has the track set to 10, it says right on the screen. Writing this, it occurs to me that that’s midi-out. But regardless, nothing else is changed. And I understand that transport controls are global anyway. Still, when I hit play on the daw, nothing happens. And when I play a chord, nothing happens.

See the video I made below. Auto is set to 11. DX set to 11. But nothing registers.

#7

Also, I don’t receive transport either. As far as I can tell, nothing is going in the midi channel. And I’m using a totally new project with no audio or anything. All the defaults are still in use.

#8

Just to help you find the culprit …

I suggest to test the OT without any computer or interface in between and check, whether the OT receives/sends notes and CCs on midi-channel and transport messages at all. There are too many options in your setup, which could be the problem.

Typically the old-school MIDI-DIN connection is very reliable and I don’t suspect your OT to be the cause of the problem, but we never can be sure.

If you have a MIDI keyboard with MIDI-DIN connection, plug this directly to the OT (out-to-in / in-to-out). Now with this simple set-up you can check, whether your OT receives/sends MIDI at all. Example: If your keyboard is a sampler or a synth, just send some notes from the midi-sequencer to the correct midi-channel of the keyboard. If now the keyboard plays any sound, then I would say, your OT is fine. It’s not to be expected that only one dedicated midi-function is down.

On the computer you can use one of the available midi-tools, which just show us the midi-traffic. Now you can check, whether the OT sends midi into the computer and whether your software sends to the midi-interface. If you are on a PC, I can recommend MIDI-OX for this task.

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#9

I’ll try that after work. thanks. IIRC, my old MPC 1000 had a little screen that showed incoming MIDI, like you’d see with MIDIOX or its PC equiv. I miss that function.

#10

Yeah so I tried that. both just between my DX and the OT and then my OT and my DAW. In>Out, Out>In.

I believe I have it set up correctly. I have my DAW sending out on 11 (or 1) and the OT picks up nothing. If I send MIDI from DAW to DX on 11, it plays. If I send MIDI from OT to DX on Channel 1, it works. But I can’t send any MIDI from DAW to OT and route it back out to my DX. There is something funky with the MIDI in.

Since I can run MIDI back and forth between DAW and DX or DAW and D-05 or DAW and TB-03, I reckon that it’s the OT. and whether I change any settings or not, it doesn’t seem to make a difference. There aren’t that many settings to change.

but thanks everyone. I’ll let you know what the Swedes say.

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#11

Now this points to the OT midi-in. Good testing by the way… :thumbsup:

Just a question. When you say the OT picks up nothing, was it in midi or audio mode? Have you also checked the settings in the “SYSTEM” menu …

  • “MIDI” page. Audio CC/Note can be set to ON/OFF there.
  • “SYNC” page to switch all sends/receives ON/OFF
  • “TURBO STATUS” page should be “1x”
#12

Just to be sure, I tested again. Pics are attached.
Videos too.


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1014171031a_HDR.jpg3292×1852 1.55 MB
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1014171031b_HDR.jpg3292×1852 1.55 MB
1014171030a_HDR
1014171030a_HDR.jpg3292×1852 1.78 MB
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1014171031.jpg3292×1852 2.43 MB

#13

Honestly … this is weird …

I have checked with one of my working midi-projects and I have the same settings as you … well, AUDIO NOT OUT is EXT but this should not make a difference.

If I saw correctly in your second video, there was no little flashing dot in the left upper corner of the display, which indicates whether midi is received at all. That’s a clear indication that there is nothing at the midi-in.

I guess the OT is in “CHROMATIC” mode. Since my display shows a quite different image, I ask, what OS are you on? Maybe an update to 1.25 could help.

Have you ever switched cables? You seem to use quality cables, and they are almost reliable, but also may be broken unfortunately. We never know.

#14

I’m on 1.25H and I’ve three different cables that I’ve tried. I appreciate you coming back to the thread.

As for “Audio Note Out” I honesty don’t know what those mean. I haven’t really dove in to MIDI until recently and everything is at it’s default.

I sent an email to my Sweetwater guru. It’s actually still under their 2-year warranty. If they can’t fix it, they’ll point me to Elektron. But I have a lot of faith in the guys and gals at SW.

I’ll update when I learn more.

#15

keep in mind that a few systems will reference the true midi channel value (i have a Yamaha device which does)

it’s almost certainly not this (probably obvious from your device too), but worth checking that you don’t need to set the controlling midi device to 10 … i.e. the 11th channel from 0>15 (4bit number range, 0>F hex)

I think you should run it past elektron support or at least try the test mode on the unit, sounds like it’s broken, perhaps the optoisolator (unsure how vulnerable these are) or a dry joint or something

here’s something worth doing because it is independent of settings >

try using the OT just as a thru

connect a controller to a synth, get it working (check two different cables)
now put the OT in the middle and connect controller to OT IN, power on OT
connect OT Thru to synth with a second cable
if there’s a fundamental electrical issue it’ll not work … settings don’t matter in this test

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#17

That test of the thru port is a very good idea. I will keep this in mind myself, Thanks :thumbsup:

1 Like
#18

Good to hear that you are not lost and have some expert at hand. Let’s know, what he says.

#19

I did try it as a thru. No joy. I’ll try the other suggestion. Thank you.

#20

It’s broken then. Zero doubts I’m afraid, speak to support.

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#21

Good to hear that you are not lost and have some expert at hand. Let’s know, what he says.

And that’s why i like to buy new! You never know what you’ll run into.

1 Like