So I’m kind of stumped with this one and can’t figure out if syntakt is at fault or if it’s astrolab.
I have syntakt sending clock and transport to astrolab, and a midi track on syntakt playing a single 64 length note (sending to astrolab on channel 8).
The issue is when I press stop on syntakt Astrolab keeps playing the note that syntakt is sending to it, infinitely. Double stop doesn’t work either. The only thing that makes astrolab stop playing is either changing the preset and pressing a note, or pressing the offending trig key on syntakt. 1/10 times the stop button does decide to work.
The weird part, this conveniently only happens when note length on the syntakt midi track is 64. If I set it to 62 or less it stops fine.
Troubleshooting steps:
Checked astrolab with digitone 2.
Checked syntakt with minifreak
Both work fine and the note stops
So I can’t figure out which device is misbehaving.
Install something like “Pocket MIDI” on your PC and look at the MIDI data sent from the Syntakt. See if there’s a missing “note off” when you press STOP.
This will at least tell you which device is the problem.
(FWIW I just made a MIDI track on my Syntakt to send length 64 note and it sends an “off” when I press STOP ).
So I’ve narrowed the issue down to the Nektar midiflex. I used the showmidi ipad app though and still cannot figure out what’s causing the issue. The midi monitoring app IS registering note off messages.
Basically the midflex is a midi splitter/merger with 4 ports. The first port is always an input and the only port that can recieve sync and transport along with note data. Port two can be hardware switched between being an input or an output and can only recieve note data if set to be an input. Ports 3/4 are always output. I’m using the midiflex dawless
Syntakt is sending a 64 length note on channel 8 from a midi track
The stuck note happens only when port 2 on midiflex is set to be an output. If I set port 2 to be an input the issue goes away. Astrolab midi in is plugged into port 4 output on midiflex.
The very wierd thing is that I don’t have a midi cable plugged into port 2.
I tried plugging astrolab into port 4 instead of port 2. Exact same issue.
Now the astrolab has started randomly only playing the starting part of the sequence, as if it’s retriggering just one note instead of sustaining it for a length of 64, and when I press stop on syntakt then it starts playing the entire sequence
Syntakt is set to send clock and transport out
I plugged in my ipad to monitor the midi out of port 4 via a midi din to USB adapter. Tested what the port 4 output shows when port two is in both input and output configuration and I can’t see any issue. In both cases there is a note off message being registered regardless of if port 2 is set to be an input or an output.
I’ve literally never had this issue with any other piece of gear. I’m totally stumped.
And unfortunately I need port 2 to be an output so I can sequence my minifreak as well.
Edit: disabling transport send on syntakt fixes the issue. Thing is I need it to be on to control the rest of my gear.
Switching preset while a note is stuck and pressing play on syntakt stops the hanging note.
Digitone 2 started showing the same behavior now, worked fine before.
So I’ve removed the Nektar midiflex from the equation and the issue persisted even when syntakt’s midi out was directly connected to the astrolab midi in.
This seems to be an astrolab specific issue where notes hang when it receives transport. The midiflex somehow resolves this issue when configured a certain way even though the port on the midiflex that causes the issue to resolve isn’t even connected to any piece of gear.
I would like to rule out a hardware fault though, wouldn’t be so paranoid if the last two arturia products I bought weren’t defective. The first AL37 I bought was dead on arrival. Can anyone with an astrolab please test this?
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