MIDI Device recognised only if power on during launch

Dorico
#1

Hi,
I’ve found that with my set-up, iMac with M-Audio Keystation 49e (USB) keyboard,
Dorico only recognises the keyboard if it is on during launch of Dorico.

If I am a bit late switching on the keyboard, or if I need to turn it off and on in the middle of writing process (sometimes the keyboard freezes due some disturbance in the electrical circuit of my apartment, probably the fridge…:smiley:) then Dorico does not seem to notice the keyboard anymore. I have to restart Dorico, with the keyboard switched on.

I can’t recall any other already running programme not being able to recognise the keyboard as soon as it is turned on, or at least after an “Audio MIDI Setup” rescan it would always work again.

I did not find information regarding this with a search, except Daniel was saying somewhere that “Dorico will for now listen to all connected MIDI devices”, and due to this there is no MIDI device dialog.

Is the behaviour I described intended, that a USB MIDI device is only recognised during programme launch but not later? It may be a bit hard for me to find electricity with no disturbances (no fridge), and this would mean I would have to relaunch Dorico every 20 minutes…Like I said, no other programme so far has had this behaviour…

#2

There is no control over Midi setup in Dorico (so far), which is of course rather unusual, so you’ll just have to be grateful that it works at all :slight_smile: I think you’ll have to live it for the time being…

#3

I own a keystation 88 and that’s always the case. With any midi keyboard and Finale & Sibelius as well. If the power is not on, how can the software recognize it. When you turn the power on, the software is already using whatever default it has. This is not a bug, it’s how midi works. Just make sure you turn on the keyboard before staring Dorico.

#4

Well Cubase had this until version 9…imagine loading a full orchestral template everytime your keyboard shuts off.

But yeah, the working seems inconsistent. Sometimes I think I have had to reset my whole computer to get it work.

#5

Yes, for the moment it is like this, only during launching does Dorico look for available MIDI ports.

What is odd though, even if your Keyboard goes away and comes alive again, it should connect again. At least that is what’s happening with the audio device.

I’ve just exercised this with my combined audio/MIDI interface and if I unplug the USB cable, sound does come out again immediately when I reconnect, however, no more MIDI input. But I don’t need to restart Dorico, just reopening the current or opening a new project brings back MIDI input.

I will put this in our bug database.

#6

Thanks everyone,

Ulf, I tried your method, and it is true also with my equipment: reopening a project is enough for the programme to recognise the keyboard again. It’s a little less clumsy than what I thought of, but still not optimal.

I really appreciate you taking this bug to be corrected, I wish it will be fixed already in the next update. It does not sound like a complicated problem for Steinberg…

Thanks,
best wishes,
Jouni

#7

This isn’t a bug, Jouni, but rather a limitation in how the engine and Dorico work together at the moment. We hope to be able to address it in future, but it’s by no means the highest priority item we have before us at present. Sorry to give you a disappointing answer.

#8

As far as I know you always need to start up your midi keyboard before opening any program that uses it (Sibelius, Pro Tools, Reaper) or it won’t be recognized. Same for sound cards, and other midi controllers (mixing boards with motorized faders, etc.), Not sure that this is a bug.

It’s quite remarkable that Dorico will continue to work after disconnecting the sound card – most programs I know will freeze and then die if something happens with the sound card while it is running. You may have to force quit it, and if you are really out of luck, reboot after a blue screen of death (or the spinning ball of death for macs).

#9

… in the mean time, the electricity problem needs to be investigated. I’ve never had a keyboard “drop out”, and I have a fridge :mrgreen: , and, recently a KeyStation 88 Pro; but all the other keyboards with which I’ve worked over the years, have stayed for the duration of the session.

Could it be a “weak” USB port on the computer, not sending consistent power to the keyboard? I’ve heard of people being advised to avoid specific USB ports on LapTops for that reason, but in other scenarios.

#10

We’ve encountered lots of problems where keyboards haven’t worked properly, or worked intermittently, and then once the user plugs them into a different USB port or hub then magically they start working again. So that’s worth trying.

#11

If you want some possible ‘work arounds’ for a Mac:

Method 1 (More ideal, but not exactly cheap):
Invest in a power power conditioner unit. You should be able to find simple units for under $100 USD that level out AC voltage changes. If you want some backup power as well that is also an option but it might bump the price closer to $200 USD. If you look around at places that sell used/refurbished enterprise class equipment you might even find a nice UPS on the cheap somewhere.

Method 2:
Go ahead and create an IAC virtual MIDI port. Give it name you can remember such as ‘loopBack1’. You’ll need to do this before launching Dorico. Such a port can come in handy for many things (inter-app communication running on the same Mac), so if possible I’d just make it a permanent part of my OS Configuration.

Now if your MIDI Controller crashes in some way that the USB driver gets dropped launch something like Bome (not free) and direct it to take input from your reconnected MIDI Controller and send it to your virtual ‘loopBack’ port.

Since I don’t have a Mac to test with I can’t check it, but midiStroke might serve as a free alternative to Bome (if it can pass through all incoming MIDI events as well as any key-stroke translations you build).

It may also be possible to directly connect your MIDI Controller to your ‘loopBack’ port without a third party utility. Unfortunately my Mac knowledge is limited but this article might help: http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/audio-midi-setup

Do realize that if you try the loopback port hack, that you should only enable the hack ‘IF and after’ your MIDI Controller crashes (its USB driver gets dropped and comes back, but is no longer recognized by Dorico), otherwise you might get ‘duplicate/ghost’ events coming into Dorico!