Rev2 MIDI Stopped Working (Repair options?)

[bzjones]

Hi. Posting on behalf of my son. He's a gigging musician who plays a Rev2. He typically connects from the Rev2's USB MIDI port to a MacBook, using Logic Pro. Suddenly, on Friday, his Mac no longer sees any MIDI data coming from the Rev2.

He's tried various troubleshooting ideas:  (1) tried a friend's keyboard to make sure problem isn't with the computer (other keyboard works fine); (2) tried another USB cable (still no MIDI data); (3) tried using a MIDI cable to USB interface cable instead, rather than the USB port on the Rev2 (same problem); (4) Double checked the Rev2's Global parameters to make sure they hadn't changed (and of course changed them to use the MIDI port when he tested with that interface cable (no luck).

So far, it appears that maybe the Rev2's ability to output MIDI is broken? The keyboard still plays fine -- just no MIDI. The unit is still under warranty (it is about 10 months old). A few questions:

1) Any troubleshooting he has missed?
2) Does Sequential have warranty repair shops in NYC? Or do you have to ship to Sequential?
3) As a gigging musician, it would be hard to be without his keyboard for a long period. Will Sequential ship you a replacement unit? Or do you have to wait to get your original unit back? Any sense of how long things take?
4) He has emailed Sequential, but not heard back yet. He has gigs coming up in a few days, so trying to scramble to figure out his options. May have to rent a replacement.

Any suggestions would be welcome! Thanks.

[bzjones]

A follow-up:  Has anyone seen this before? Could it be a software problem of some sort? Or more likely hardware? If anyone has additional troubleshooting ideas we should try, please let me know. I really appreciate it!

[maxter]

If it can still receive MIDI, I'd suggest updating it with the latest OS. Then reset globals, Global menu #31, and calibrate. If you can't update, try resetting globals anyway!

If it's software-related corruption, that should do it... if not, I'd go for a warranty repair/replacement. I hope SCI get back to you soon, and help you sort it out!

[bzjones]

If it can still receive MIDI, I'd suggest updating it with the latest OS. Then reset globals, Global menu #31, and calibrate. If you can't update, try resetting globals anyway!

If it's software-related corruption, that should do it... if not, I'd go for a warranty repair/replacement. I hope SCI get back to you soon, and help you sort it out!

Thank you for this advice! We will definitely try resetting the globals first -- it can't hurt. I'm hoping that Sequential will get back to us soon before we attempt the OS update route, but that might be a good idea (I'm also not sure if the unit can even receive MIDI, so that might not be an option. We should try sending a patch to it from Sysex to test).

My son emailed them over the weekend, but with today being President's Day, I'm not sure when we will hear back. My son has a big gig on Wednesday and another on Friday, so that's not looking great. He's contacting a friend who owns a Prophet to see if he can borrow it for a while. (Of course, if he ends up needing to mail the unit to Sequential, he may need to borrow one for a while!)

Thanks again!!

[bzjones]

Problem Solved!!  Great news. The Prophet is working fine!  Believe it or not, both the original USB cable and a second one he tried both were bad. 

Since he'd tested two different cables, he assumed it wasn't cable related. But as part of the troubleshooting, he borrowed a Prophet from his cousin and that one also didn't work!  Hence, he knew the problem was either a cable or his computer. He then borrowed another computer and it didn't work. That narrowed it down to the cable. Sure enough, he got another USB cable and it works fine.

Thanks everyone!