M3 MIDI Driver problems with OS X 10.5.7?

[Christian Baum]

Hi Mac users,

does anybody else experience problems with the editor plug-in after upgrading to OS X 10.5.7? Mine doesn't find the M3 hardware any longer. The driver is activated in audio midi setup, and I can record MIDI with the M3 keyboard. It's also played back but seems to go nowhere - the M3 doesn't react on the midi data that is supposedly sent out on the M3 usb midi port.

Restart of M3 and the Mac doesn't help. Re-plugging the USB cable doesn't help, neither does re-installing the recent driver or editor version. The "Keyboard" part of the driver seems to work, but not the "Sound" part, i.e. the output to the M3... Do I really have to go back to classic midi cables and dump the editor for now?

Bad, bad, bad... Just about every project uses the M3 at the moment... Sniff...

Any ideas? Anybody else with the same problem?

Best regards,

Christian

[Daz]

I wonder if that problem with 10.5.7 relates to this problem Euphonix users have had ?

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2009/05/1 ... #more-5895

Daz.

[Christian Baum]

Hi Daz,

yeah, I read about that yesterday and thought the same... However, with Euphonix, it seems to have been kind of a network protocol problem, not a midi or usb driver problem. Or did I get that wrong?

Tomorrow, I'm gonna connect the M3 to my MacBook. If it works there, then at least I know it's not broken inside. I'll also circumvent the usb hub, maybe that's the problem suddenly. Anyway, I think Korg should quickly look into this and do some tests.

Best regards,

Christian

[Rob Sherratt]

Hi Christian,

Just to check - have you re-installed the Korg USB device driver software after you upgraded to OS X 10.5.7. Then, having re-installed the device driver, did you subsequently run the software with the USB link connected, and select the "Install" option from the menu?

Also if you select the "Uninstall" option from the menu, you can see a list of currently installed MIDi drivers. Please let me know what the list says?

Best regards,
Rob

[Christian Baum]

Hi Rob,

sorry, I didn't get that... Which software, which menu, which install/uninstall option? I didn't do anything like that. Just ran the recent USB MIDI Driver Installation directly from the DMG, installed the newest editor and restarted my Mac.

Best regards,

Christian

[Rob Sherratt]

Hi Rob,

sorry, I didn't get that... Which software, which menu, which install/uninstall option? I didn't do anything like that. Just ran the recent USB MIDI Driver Installation directly from the DMG, installed the newest editor and restarted my Mac.

Best regards,

Christian

Hi Christian,

I'm using the Korg USB Midi Driver version 1.11 under Windows XP. I assume that the MAC version of the software implements the same functions as the windows version. The documentation is poor since there is no installation note inside the .zip folder. Just a file called DrvTools_e.exe which has to be extracted and run. Windows then reports that installation is complete. However, what is confusing is that at that stage, the Korg USB MIDI driver is not activated. Windows still attempts to use its own USB MIDI driver and the Windows version doesn't work properly with the M3. You have to run another utility to cause the Windows version to be replaced with the Korg version as follows. Under Windows, under the "All Programs - Korg" program folder, there is a link to an Installation manual, and three utilities called:

Configure KORG USB-MIDI Driver
Install KORG USB-MIDI Device
Uninstall KORG USB-MIDI Device

After you plug the USB link to your M3, you have to select the "Install KORG USB-MIDI Device" option which runs a utility called EzSetup.exe. This recognises the M3 USB Midi link and installs and activates the final stage of the KORG USB MIDI driver installation. You can check the installation is successful by running the utility "Uninstall KORG USB-MIDI Device" and it gives you a list of all installed MIDI devices to choose which one(s) to uninstall. After checking the list, I just cancel out of the dialogue box. Anyway like I said I apologize if the MAC version of the Korg USB MIDI software behaves differently to the Windows version. Let me know the details in due course?

Best regards,
Rob

[Christian Baum]

Sure: On the Mac it's completely different. We're at 1.0.8, and we just double click the installer, go through a few dialogues, and that's it.

Still, there's no connection any more, and I wonder, if it's just me or if it's really a 10.5.7 problem. As soon as I find out more, I'll post it here...

Best regards,

Christian

[Christian Baum]

Okay, here's some more info:

- The Korg driver's MIDI Input (called "Keyboard") still works: I can trigger other MIDI devices or record in my sequencer.
- The Korg driver's MIDI Outpur (called "Sound") does NOT work anymore. I guess that's the reason why the editor can't find the M3.

I tested this with a simple MIDI patchbay program: Whatever I send to the USB MIDI Out (i.e. the M3's synth engine) is ignored by the M3. However, when I play on the M3 keyboard, its notes are sent via MIDI to a virtual MIDI monitor or other synths connected via the patchbay.

This applies for any USB connection and USB cable I used (hub or directly to my Mac, long or short cable, specifically USB 2.0 or some cheap cable from the electronic store - doesn't matter).

This points clearly to a driver issue, possibly created by the OS update to 10.5.7.

It would be really helpful if other OS X users could confirm that. If it's due to the update, Korg should soon release an update (compare Euphonix: They fixed an update bug that rendered their artist series useless within two days).
Is there a contact address where one can post bugs and issues with Korg?

Best regards,

Christian

[angelonyc]

Sure: On the Mac it's completely different. We're at 1.0.8, and we just double click the installer, go through a few dialogues, and that's it.

Still, there's no connection any more, and I wonder, if it's just me or if it's really a 10.5.7 problem. As soon as I find out more, I'll post it here...

Best regards,

Christian

I had been using the M3 stand alone editor fine, Then quit and booted up Logic Pro. I initiated a M3 plug-in and started working. About after 30 minutes, the plug-in ceased working and I got an error. They stopped communicating with each other. I got a message no hardware. Although playing M3 kbd, shows midi activity in transport midi window.

I have not installed any OSX updates.

[angelonyc]

My previous post, mentioned the M3 plug-in in Logic was not seeing the M3.. However I just quit Logic and booted the M3 stand alone and that hardware works fine.. Had been working earlier in the day. But as I mentioned before I am still at OSX 10.5.6

[Lone Starr]

I can confirm that problem.
Updated OS X to 10.5.7 during last week and tried to used the M3 the first time since then today.
The M3 Editor does not find the M3 on USB anymore. The Editor still displays the USB Midi option (I also have the FW interface installed and that still works, but as everyone knows that is not a practicable option for MIDI, because it's to slow).
I just updated the M3 OS to 2.0.3 and the editor to 2.2.0 and reinstalled the USB MIDI Driver (1.0.8 ), but the problem still remains.

[Christian Baum]

Thanks man, you're the first to confirm!

I hope, Korg is aware of the problem and can offer a solution soon. I don't really like and use the editor, but it's omnipresent in my projects, at least to send the necessary settings...

Best regards,

Christian

[Rob Sherratt]

Hi Christian and Lone Starr,

The problem occurs under OS X 10.5.7 but not under OS X 10.5.6, right? From other mails and your own experience you know that the Korg drivers work fine under OS X 10.5.6. So it's not really a bug in the Korg software. Other MIDI devices such as Edirol control surfaces do not work under OS X 10.5.7. You can search the 'net and find other reports about it. It seems to me that Apple have screwed up.

Is it feasible for you both to downgrade to OS X 10.5.6 temporarily?

Is there a mechanism for raising a bug report with Apple?

If you do want to ask for Korg's help, you could send a PM to JerryTheK ... give him the link to this thread.

Best regards,
Rob

[StephenKay]

I've forwarded this to the Korg Engineers.

[Christian Baum]

Hi Rob, hi Stephen,

thanks very much for your input, and thank you Stephen for forwarding this!

Rob, I'm very much aware of the blame game around Apple, and I hardly take part in it as in countless examples it's almost impossible to clearly tell who's to blame in the end.
In this case, my reaction might me biased because within minutes my workflow was screwed, so I have to be pissed about someone, don't I?

Anyway, I just watched how Euphonix reacted when Apple changed something with the network access and rendered the MC Artist series completely useless. Euphonix provided an update within two days and officially warned the users not to update prior to this. I found that exemplary and unparalleled in the "game". So it would be great if Korg could provide a statement or a solution soon, even if they aren't the villains.

Best regards,

Christian