Bug using OASYS & BFD2, switching from global to program

elvisjohndowson · Post by **elvisjohndowson** » Wed May 07, 2008 7:49 pm

Hi,
I just discovered that BFD2 stops responding to any MIDI input, when I switch my OASYS from Global to Program mode.

If I launch BFD2 with the OASYS in Program mode and play the keyboard, the MIDI notes get sent from the OASYS to BFD2 Standalone, and all the drum sounds and grooves play fine. If I switch programs, etc, its no problem.

Now if I switch to Global mode and then back to Program mode, BFD2 doesn't respond anymore.

Could someone tell me what sysex messages are being sent from the OASYS when switching from Global Mode to Program Mode? I think some specific sequence of MIDI SysEx messages are causing BFD2 to stop responding.

Best regards,

Elvis Dowson

elvisjohndowson · Post by **elvisjohndowson** » Thu May 08, 2008 2:24 pm

No response from anyone! I took a look at the crash dump log on my mac and apparently there is a buffer overflow PortMIDI something. I am using an M-Audio MIDI Sport Uno USB MIDI interface.

From what I've gathered from the FXpansion BFD2 forum, it doesn't appear that the software is that stable. It has some issues operating in stand-alone mode.

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Thu May 08, 2008 2:41 pm

I have had a similar problem in the past where a MIDI'ed hardware device got upset with the amount of sysex the Oasys sends. The device in question pretty much crashed, and I suspect it was a similar buffer overflow as your software has suffered from. The Oasys is doing something perfectly legitimate, but it's not always something that other music technology can deal with.

I think the solution in your case is to go into Global mode on the O and on the MIDI tab disable sysex sending using the MIDI Filter option called Enable Exclusive. The downside of doing this is that when using the Oasys with Local Control off and your DAW to loop back MIDI, things like the control surface not behave as expected. Similarly if you're using the internal sequencer and Local Control on, then Automation etc. won't be recorded. So you'll probably want to toggle Exclusive Enable on/off according to what you're doing. Alternatively stick something like MIDI-OX/MIDI-Yoke between the Oasys and BFD, and use that to filter MIDI events coming into BFD.

FWIW, PortMIDI is a generic cross-platform MIDI API that hides the differences between Mac's CoreMIDI and Windows MultiMedia MIDI API.

Daz.

elvisjohndowson · Post by **elvisjohndowson** » Thu May 08, 2008 2:48 pm

Daz wrote:FWIW, PortMIDI is a generic cross-platform MIDI API that hides the differences between Mac's CoreMIDI and Windows MultiMedia MIDI API.

Wow, Daz, I think you've nailed the issue!! I recall a thread on the FXpansion BFD2 forum, where a developer was talking about how they found that the (open source ?) PortMIDI library wasn't so stable and how it was causing a lot of stability issues.

I'm going to try to get the OASYS to disable sending SysEX messages. I also use Karma Oasys, so I guess, when I switch to KO, I should re-enable SysEx ? Can either you or Stephen confirm that KO requires SysEx for the OASYS control surfaces to Sync with the KO control surfaces?

Do you have to have SysEx enabled for the OASYS to act as a MIDI controller surface for BFD2?

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Thu May 08, 2008 3:12 pm

Woops, oh yes you will need Sysex enabled for KO. So I think using MIDI Yoke / MIDI OX to pre-process data going to BFD is the way to go. Ouch !

[MIDI Keyboard In]==>[In MIDI-OX Out]==>[Out MIDI Yoke In]==>[In BFD]

It's a little Heath Robinson

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Thu May 08, 2008 3:29 pm

Another option for the sysex filtering possibly -> http://www.hurchalla.com/