Hello,
For the past few days, my MOTU Midi Express 128 has stopped communicating with Cubase. It does appear in the Studio settings, but nothing is coming in or going out – not even transport information. Has there been an update that might be causing this?
Thank you !
I have a few MOTU Express 128s here and they’re all working fine.
I suggest trying a simple tool like Pocket MIDI. You can create your own loopback by connecting out to in with a MIDI cable. Send some messages and see if they come back to you
Pete
Microsoft
I have the MOTU Midi Express XT and important Windows updates would uninstall it every time…I got so used to it I kept a copy of the Driver Installation file handy. Unfortunately Microsoft thinks they’re Apple and they own my hardware…they don’t! 
Hello,
thank you for your help. I’ve downloaded Pocket Midi, and the software seems to be receiving messages from my beloved Waldorf Pulse+ just fine. I haven’t tested the cabling yet because I need to remove my Midi Express 128 from my rack, but I can already tell that the MOTU is communicating with Windows, which is reassuring. I’d previously uninstalled all the ‘virtual MIDI’ programmes, and I think the problem stems from one of those virtual programmes.
It’s late here tonight, so I’ll carry on sorting out the problem tomorrow, but I’d like to thank you very much for your reply, and for this software that lets me see the messages received and sent!
Midi Express is an old, fairly basic interface, but I think it’s a good piece of kit that’s still going strong!
Have a good evening, and I’ll keep you posted tomorrow!
Hello,
but the latest driver for the MOTU Midi Express 128 for Windows dates from 2021, so I get worried every time there’s a Windows update, even though it’s a simple and effective interface that I love!
- What version of Windows are you using please?
- Do you have drivers for any other MIDI hardware installed?
I know that’s what it seems like, but what actually happens on upgrades (not updates) is the driver gets reinstalled. If there’s an error during that (it’ll be in the logs), or the driver doesn’t properly reinstall itself (like some RME drivers) then it appears it was uninstalled.
It’s not about anyone thinking they “own” your hardware.
Pete
Microsoft
There are up to 4 updates per month (Weeks A, B, C, and D) so that’s a lot of worrying.
My MOTU Express 128 drivers have lasted through weekly OS upgrades (I’m on an Insider build and get a new full install every week).
It helps that MOTU drivers are properly signed and well-written.
Pete
Microsoft
Hello, so I uninstalled all my MIDI devices and reinstalled only the MIDI Express 128, and it’s working very well now. My other devices are USB MIDI, so I’m going to reinstall them one by one and see if everything works again.
Actually, whenever Windows does updates, I sometimes have to reinstall the MOTU driver, which is starting to get a bit old, so it’s always a bit of a worry…
Thanks for your replies; I’ll keep you posted on how the installation of the other drivers goes (Push 3, Moog Subsequent 37, Microfreak and Teensy controller).
And Pocket Midi is a great tool !
Psychlist1972 I will say that recent updates aren’t deleting my drivers…it used to be every update I had to reinstall the MOTU driver…something has changed for the positive!
I just want to know why an update would remove my driver so my device wouldn’t show up? I could be working in Nuendo or Cubase and notice an update down below…close the app, run the update, reboot, no MOTU device until I reinstalled the driver?
I’ve had the MOTU driver installed on my PCs since Windows 8-ish (Edit: Windows 7). I have never had this happen to me, so I’m not sure what is causing it. I never had to reinstall it after an update, and I’ve had as many as 6 of those Express 128 interfaces connected at once.
If you have another MOTU device attached, their drivers can sometimes conflict with each other. I did run into that when testing some of their audio interfaces with our new ASIO driver. In that case, I did end up having to uninstall and reinstall some of their drivers.
Pete
Microsoft
What is the trigger that makes you reinstall the MOTU drivers? I’m wondering if something else is going on.
This is the MOTU MIDI driver I currently use with the Express 128
I see it’s dated 2021, so I must have updated to their latest when I built this PC. But even prior to that, I didn’t have to reinstall their drivers after any updates.
Pete
Microsoft
I reinstalled the driver because the device was deleted from my system after a windows update…Clockwork would show no device and it didn’t show up as a sound device.
If that happens again, please go into Device Manager in Windows and post a screenshot of the Sound, video and game controllers section. That’s where the MOTU shows when the driver loads. If you see it someplace else with a yellow ! on it, that would also be helpful
The reason I’m trying to be specific here is because there’s quite a difference between an app not “seeing” a MIDI port, and Windows itself removing the driver.
For example, these are devices with media drivers loaded
And these are audio and MIDI 1 ports created from those devices. This is a separate step.
And these are MIDI UMP endpoints created from those devices. This is also a separate step.
There are many reasons why an app may not see a MIDI port, and it may be something as simple as having a KORG or other media driver kicking around that uses up all the registry slots the old MIDI stack sees, making it appear like the device didn’t get recognized, or the driver got uninstalled. That’s somewhat less of an issue with the new MIDI stack, but the registry can still get messed up, and then fixed by a reinstall.
Pete
Microsoft
In your first picture my MOTU device would be missing after an update…after an update I would either run Clockworks or open device manager to see if the device was there. Then reinstall the driver and all would be good. But this hasn’t happened to me for a while now…no idea what’s different with the updates but my MOTU stays installed now
I’m sorry, but in my case, the MOTU Midi Express 128 driver is completely unstable; it’s the first thing to crash at the slightest restart. This morning everything was working fine: the sync, the controllers, the Note On and Note Off signals. I restarted my computer this evening and now nothing works anymore. The MOTU does appear in Cubase, but I’ve lost all communication – not even the tempo. It’s a nightmare; I can no longer communicate with my devices, which only work via MIDI!
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And the communication problem is not only with Cubase, its with Windows, Pocket Midi does not receive anything too !
Once again, after reinstalling my Moog Sub37, my Push 3 and my Microfreak, Windows is no longer communicating with my MOTU MIDI Express 128. What’s the problem? Is the driver too unstable? Is Windows messing up or deleting the driver? I must admit I’m fed up with it, and I’m spending more time trying to sort this out than actually making music. I’m wasting loads of time on this and I’ve had enough because I can’t get any work done!!!