FD MIDI Assignment Challenge

Steinberg Hardware
1

Hi folks,

I have several CMC controllers, three of which are FD’s. Here is the issue: I have configured the FD’s as follows:

FD1 → Midi in/out = Steinberg CMC – FD1
FD2 → Midi in/out = 3 - Steinberg CMC – FD1
FD3 → Midi in/out = 2 - Steinberg CMC – FD1

For the duration of a given session these assignments are persisted. When I exit Cubase 6.5.1 Build 117 64 bit and re-launch the FD assignments revert to:


FD1 → Midi in/out = Steinberg CMC – FD1
FD2 → Midi in/out = 2 - Steinberg CMC – FD1
FD3 → Midi in/out = 3 - Steinberg CMC – FD1

Is there any mechanism to persist the FD MIDI assignments?

I have tried re-arranging the USB connections to no avail.

I am not certain as to whether there are any other problematic interactions relating to the other CMC controllers but in case they matter, the balance of my CMC controllers are:

CMC CH
CMC TP
CMC AI

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Casey

2

It appears that the FD devices are enumerated based on a unique hardware identifier persisted as a serial number in the USB header. The FD devices have lower-case serial numbers beginning with ymhf. The other CMC devices appear to have serial numbers with the same prefix but in upper case. Perhaps this is how Cubase determines whether to permit the enumeration of more than one instance of each type of CMC controller. If the controller has a lower-case serial number it knows it is an FD device and therefore allows more than one instance.

In any event, the FDs are enumerated based on serial number so irrespective of how they are physically plugged into the hub or which MIDI controller is assigned to each device, they will always appear in the order of the serial number. Be advised that the internal serial number does not match the product serial number on the device itself.

Thanks

Casey

3

Casey (and anyone else running multiple FDs),

Recently my 4 FDs have started resetting their order. They have done so three times in the past two weeks and I’m getting tired of having to swap their positions around since I built a mount for them to keep all the wiring tidy.

I can’t see any consistency in the order in which they decide to arrange themselves these days - conflicting with your observation about hard encoded serial numbers determining which decides to be FD1, FD2, FD3, FD4…

Is any one else experiencing this? Anyone cured this issue?

I have the full compliment of CMC controllers, all on latest Firmware and CMCTools, Cubase 6.5.3, MacPro 2008 DualQuad MacOSX 10.6.8.
Power saving/sleep/standby is off
I have three Belkin USB powered hubs to handle all the USB connections, All FDs are on the same USB Hub

Regards,
Sean

4

I’m experiencing the same thing in my setup.

I have custom made a desktop to fit all of the CMCs in and the FDs are constantly changing their order. I’m using one 10-port powered USB hub to hold all of them …

Every few weeks I’m having to completely change the order around. I use them several hours a day and don’t reboot much, but it seems to happen around reinstalling or upgrading of Cubase?

Not sure …