MIDI over USB/midi din issues w/Ableton

MIDI over USB/midi din issues w/Ableton
« on: January 04, 2020, 01:07:05 PM »
Hey Guys, long time reader first time poster.
Been a proud Rev2 owner the past 4 months. When I initially received my Rev2 I tried sending MIDI over MIDI cables to my interface, the issue was no MIDI In/Out ports would show up in Ableton's MIDI preferences, nor would the Rev2 show up as a device in the 'Audio/MIDI setup' on my mac.

Out of frustration I gave up, and have been using MIDI over USB without issue until about a month ago when I started getting a severe hiss/hum completely out of the blue. A quick google search told me this is a common issue for MIDI over USB.

So my question is;
1. Would a ground isolator solve the hiss/hum issue without sacrificing any of the signal?
and
2. What would be causing my Rev2 to not be recognised when using MIDI cables?

*I've made sure to change global setting's accordingly. Also, both Interface & MIDI cables have been tested and are working fine with other gear.

Thank you for any help!

maxter

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Re: MIDI over USB/midi din issues w/Ableton
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2020, 02:48:30 PM »
When connecting by MIDI cables to your interface, the interface's MIDI ports should show up in Ableton, but MIDI DIN ports don't "know" what device (Rev2 in this case) is connected to it. But you should be able to find the MIDI ports of your interface, if they aren't disabled or anything like that. I don't use a Mac, but the equivalent to the Device Manager of Windows should help you sort it out. The MIDI ports will most likely be named to reflect the name of your interface in some obvious way.

Concerning MIDI via USB, yes that's a very common cause for Ground Loops, and I would bet (if I had to, as I don't bet) that just disconnecting the USB cable will solve the hum. Try! I know you can't use MIDI at the moment you do this, but you'll get the answer in a second.

I personally, in general, try to use as few USB cables as possible, and go for DIN MIDI to a dedicated MIDI interface as much as possible. Especially when connecting multiple gear that use both audio and MIDI. This because of having had problems with said ground loop issues in the past.

1. Hard to tell, it's like a guessing game. My personal experience of USB ground loops and ground isolators. Works in some cases, in others not. I never figured why or how.

2. The Rev2 itself will not be "recognized" as a unit/interface of its own when using MIDI DIN. Instead you'll be looking for the MIDI ports of your interface. You can probably, however, rename the MIDI DIN ports of said interface to say "Rev2" instead of their standard generic name, once you've found them.
The Way the Truth and the Life

maxter

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Re: MIDI over USB/midi din issues w/Ableton
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2020, 02:56:43 PM »
The Way the Truth and the Life

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Re: MIDI over USB/midi din issues w/Ableton
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2020, 12:56:38 PM »
We only use Ableton for our live shows to trigger certain sounds so I can’t speak to the Rev2 + Ableton, but we do use our Rev2 with Logic and I have spoken about this in the past here on other threads..when we first got our Rev2 we initially hooked it up to Logic vía USB but for a few days we had a nightmare trying to figure out why the hung notes after turning the Filter Frequency knob, hell any knob for that matter and a few seconds later..hung notes.  It was so frustrating I had called my sales guy at Sweetwater and arranged an exchange for a different poly synth.  Even was on the phone with Carson at DSI a few different times trying to figure the issue out but to no avail.  Before I was about to pack the Rev2 up back to Sweetwater a thought hit me and I decided to try using 5 pin Midi and hook the Rev2 up to our Motu Midi interface.  Instantly it solved the problem! 

I agree with Maxter, we now never run any of our synths vía USB Midi.  Always a best practice to just get a midi interface as they are so inexpensive and hook all your synths up that way for any midi purposes. 
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