Korg Forums

Greetings all, and thanks in advance to anyone who answers my plea for help!

I just purchased a Plugiator made by Use Audio and I'm having trouble getting it to respond correctly to my Oasys.
I am hoping someone here may know the cure or have a suggestion.

Okay. First, there is nothing wrong with the Plugiator as it works perfectly when slaved to my 01/Wfd.
Using the same (known to be good) MIDI cable it will not play properly (if at all) when connected to my Oasys.

I'll do my best to describe what happens.
When I play the first note the Plugiator will probably sound (but no guarantee).
Assuming the first note sounds, then the second one probably won't (but it might on rare occasion).
The third or fourth note I play will sound and at that point I've got hung notes and have to hit the panic button (Plugiator has one!) or, if that fails, turn off the Plugiator.
It's as though there is some huge delay between notes (assuming they sound at all).

Note that it does respond to program change messages as expected, but not all the programs will make a sound.
Oh, and it doesn't matter what plug-in I use in the Plugiator (it came with all eight).

In Global Mode I turned off all the major MIDI filters (Prog Change/CC/Exclusive, etc). No change.
The Oasys is set to send all MIDI notes, not just odd or even.
I made sure the controllers (sliders, knobs, etc) are NOT set to external and Karma is turned off.

It acts the same whether the Oasys is in Program mode or Sequence mode.

Again, none of this happens when slaved to my 01/Wfd.

I'm hoping someone has had a similar experience somewhere along the line and can point me in the right direction.

I'm stumped and am really looking forward to using my Plugiator with my big O.

Thanks for listening!

David -

This sounds like a possible MIDI feedback loop to me.
I'd recommend calling Korg USA tech support, so that they can help you to troubleshoot in real-time.

- Dan

danatkorg wrote:This sounds like a possible MIDI feedback loop to me.
I'd recommend calling Korg USA tech support, so that they can help you to troubleshoot in real-time.

- Dan

Okay, but presently, the only MIDI connections are from Oasys MIDI Out to Plugiator MIDI In.
I normally route my MIDI connections through my patchbay. an Ensoniq KMX-16, but in the earliest stage of troubleshooting I eliminated all connections except from the big O to the Plugiator. How could there be a MIDI loop?

David -

hermanmusic wrote:

danatkorg wrote:This sounds like a possible MIDI feedback loop to me.
I'd recommend calling Korg USA tech support, so that they can help you to troubleshoot in real-time.

- Dan

Okay, but presently, the only MIDI connections are from Oasys MIDI Out to Plugiator MIDI In.
I normally route my MIDI connections through my patchbay. an Ensoniq KMX-16, but in the earliest stage of troubleshooting I eliminated all connections except from the big O to the Plugiator. How could there be a MIDI loop?

David -

If it's only MIDI out to MIDI in (and not back again), of course you're right, there would be no loop.

I'm sure that tech support will be able to sort it out.

Best regards,

Dan

hermanmusic wrote:Okay, but presently, the only MIDI connections are from Oasys MIDI Out to Plugiator MIDI In.

Try this little experiment ... connect the MIDI OUT of your Oasys to the MIDI IN of another synth and connect the MIDI THRU of that synth to the MIDI IN of the Plugiator.

So you have :

Oasys -> Some other synth -> Plugiator

Your old 01/W might be a good candidate for the synth in the middle.

With that setup how does the plugiator now behave ? How does the synth in the middle of the chain behave ?

Also, with your original Oasys->Plugiator set, you might like try connecting the MIDI THRU of the plugiator to either the MIDI IN of your computer and monitor that with software or connect it to the MIDI IN of another synth and see if it behaves similarly to the plugiator (missing notes etc.)

Daz.

Daz wrote:

hermanmusic wrote:Okay, but presently, the only MIDI connections are from Oasys MIDI Out to Plugiator MIDI In.

Try this little experiment ... connect the MIDI OUT of your Oasys to the MIDI IN of another synth and connect the MIDI THRU of that synth to the MIDI IN of the Plugiator.

So you have :

Oasys -> Some other synth -> Plugiator

Your old 01/W might be a good candidate for the synth in the middle.

With that setup how does the plugiator now behave ? How does the synth in the middle of the chain behave ?

Also, with your original Oasys->Plugiator set, you might like try connecting the MIDI THRU of the plugiator to either the MIDI IN of your computer and monitor that with software or connect it to the MIDI IN of another synth and see if it behaves similarly to the plugiator (missing notes etc.)

Daz.

Yes, tried that with the 01W in the middle. No change. I will try your suggestion with the computer first thing tomorrow morning unless I can steal some time later this evening. I do have a computer in my studio but don't use it for sequencing or recording (that's why I have my O!). But I am very curious what will happen when routed as you suggest. This is the weirdest thing. I've gotten pretty good at MIDI troubleshooting over the years, but this one has me scratching my head.

I appreciate you and Dan coming to my rescue and I will certainly give Korg a call I don't resolve this tomorrow.

Thanks, guys!

David -

My two cents:

- use O as middle synth, a variation on Daz suggestion
- does the connection O -> 01 works properly? (does the 01 sound?)
- OK you filtered outgoing MIDI messages, try to play the plugiator with
your Oasys set in program mode with an Init patch

Good luck

You might want to try turning Local Control off on the Oasys and then connecting it's MIDI OUT back into it's MIDI IN, just to confirm MIDI is working properly on the Oasys. Some of your testing might have covered that already. Additionally try setting the Oasys MIDI clock to external, so it isn't sending clock to the plugiator. Clutching at straws a little

Daz wrote:You might want to try turning Local Control off on the Oasys and then connecting it's MIDI OUT back into it's MIDI IN, just to confirm MIDI is working properly on the Oasys. Some of your testing might have covered that already. Additionally try setting the Oasys MIDI clock to external, so it isn't sending clock to the plugiator. Clutching at straws a little

Daz, your 'straw' was spot on! Setting MIDI clock to External did the trick! Not sure why this should be an issue since the Plugiator Delay Effect does not currently sync to MIDI clock. Also not sure how this will affect working in Sequence mode, but for the moment I'm elated just to be able to try out my new synth with my Oasys in command.

Here's a Big, Big Thank You to Daz, Dan, and Tony.
This is a fantastic Forum where people genuinely care!

Thanks Again!
David -

MIDI Clocks are sent 24 times per quarter note, so it's a relatively high amount of data. Also, they are realtime messages, which means that they take precedence over user-generated messages such as notes and CCs. If memory serves, they can even be inserted into the middle of multi-byte non-realtime messages.

My guess, then, is that the Plugiator doesn't handle clocks correctly. It might be helpful for you to bring it up with Use Audio, as you will not be the only person who has encountered this problem (a quick Google search netted this thread, in which someone notes a similar issue with clocks from the RADIAS: http://forums.planetz.com/viewtopic.php ... 9&start=40).

Best regards,

Dan

danatkorg wrote:MIDI Clocks are sent 24 times per quarter note, so it's a relatively high amount of data. Also, they are realtime messages, which means that they take precedence over user-generated messages such as notes and CCs. If memory serves, they can even be inserted into the middle of multi-byte non-realtime messages.

My guess, then, is that the Plugiator doesn't handle clocks correctly. It might be helpful for you to bring it up with Use Audio, as you will not be the only person who has encountered this problem (a quick Google search netted this thread, in which someone notes a similar issue with clocks from the RADIAS: http://forums.planetz.com/viewtopic.php ... 9&start=40).

Best regards,

Dan

Yes, I will contact Use Audio and make them aware of the problem.
I have discovered (as I expected) that the Plugiator cannot be used in sequencer mode (since clocks have to be set to External). This effectively makes it next to useless to me as I use the sequencer in my Oasys exclusively and my Oasys is my Master controller. I tried setting MIDI clock to Auto but the problem returned.

After reading that thread it looks like Use Audio promised to fix this issue in their next update. The date of that post was April 2009, so maybe something is coming soon (fingers crossed).

Thanks again, Dan. I'll report when I learn anything new hoping my experience may benefit others.

David -

CHALLENGE MET!

I contacted Use Audio as Dan suggested on Friday evening via email.
I was surprised to find a reply in my Inbox this morning (Monday) at 6:00AM!
They are aware of the problem and it is being addressed in an OS update that will be available in a few weeks.
Meanwhile, they sent me a link to a patch that worked perfectly.

I must commend Use Audio for their super fast response and for providing a solution that was easy to implement.

I am just starting to get to know the synth, but it has delighted me so far. Lots of good stuff here.
There are eight proprietary plug-ins, so essentially there are eight synths under one hood.

I want to thank all who responded to my plea for help. Oasys has a baby sister!

David -

@hermanmusic
I have exactly the same problem as you and although I am using a M50 and not the mighty Oasys with Plugiator, I have been unable to use it unless I switch the M50 clock to external.

Would you be kind enough to share the patch you received from Use Audio with me? I am using the latest OS but obviously this has not been addressed.

Many thanks in advance
expilatio.

Hi, unfiortuantely, I sold my plugiator and don't have the patch. I remember they were really great at Use Audio though. If you send them an email I'm sure they will send you the patch. Good Luck!