#1) I hooked my AstroLab 61 to an old Roland MC-50 sequencer via the 5-pin MIDI cables, and recorded passages. The notes, continuous controllers etc. all recorded correctly, but the AstroLab didn’t play back the sequence correctly. I stepped through the sequences with what’s called the Microsope view, and everything’s there. If I scroll this list slowly, most of the notes play, but also some notes sustain forever. #2) I then hooked up the AstroLab to my Yamaha Reface CP, via the same old school MIDI cords, to hear if I could play the AstroLab from a controller keyboard. This was much more interesting. I could play the AstroLab, but the notes sounding from the AstroLab only marginally correlated with what I was playing on the Reface. Often, the first note I would play would correspond one-to-one, but then some random note way above the played note would sound.
Any idea how I should fix this issue? I do know the MIDI cables I am using are fine. They work with other keyboard combinations I’ve used: for example, I used them in a combination of MIDI Master → Prophet XL → Nord Stage 2, and they worked absolutely fine, without any issues.
This is a very strange one indeed! I’ve experienced things like this in the past over ‘DIN Midi’, but only when i’ve tried to force too much data at a time.
DIN Midi has VERY limited bandwidth compared to USB Midi, so cannot cope with large amounts of event data very well.
Are you using a lot of pitch bend/mod/NRPN etc? As this is a pretty quick and easy way of doing just that.
‘Back in the day’ we would often have to ‘thin out’ midi date to prevent buffer clog and this type of symptom, by looking through individual midi events and say removing every 3rd or 4th pitch bend event until things stabilised. Cable length and quality can cause issues too, but you’ve already eliminated that one.
That aside, i’d be inclined to log into your account to contact Arturia Support. see see if they can help.
Please update us on your findings as it may help others too.
That is odd, indeed!
I use both USB-MIDI (from a USB-MIDI keyboard such as a KeyLab, or from a computer/DAW) and 5-pin MIDI (from an MPC4000, or from a MIDI keyboard).
Check the AstroLab MIDI setup in the Home / Settings / MIDI In/Out menu.
Set MIDI filter to “Keyboard Only”: AstroLab will send Mini Notes from its keyboard, as well as PitchBend, Mod Wheel, Aftertouch, Sustain (and Macro/FX encoders if “Knobs send CC” is enabled) on the Keyboard Channel.
Set Secondary MIDI Channel to the channel you want AstroLab to receive MIDI data on. If it’s set to All, MIDI will be received on any channel. If it’s set to a specific channel, MIDI will be received only on that channel.
Note that Macro/FX (and virtual faders) data can only be received on MIDI Ch 1.
#1) Make sure you do not have a MIDI Loop. i.e., that the MC-50 is not sending the MIDI data it is receiving from AstroLab back to AstroLab while recording.
If I scroll this list slowly, most of the notes play, but also some notes sustain forever.
That would mean that AstroLab is not receiving the MIDI Note Off messages when this happens.
#2) Also, check for a MIDI Loop.
If you just want to play the AstroLab from the Reface, you only need one MIDI cable from Reface Out to AstroLab In.
Often, the first note I would play would correspond one-to-one, but then some random note way above the played note would sound.
Are you sure you don’t have Scale enabled on AstroLab? This would be the typical effect of a Scale correcting the notes that are outside of the scale.
I tried your suggestions; they all failed. My results are the same. It does act like a MIDI loop—the sent notes are not being “double-recorded” though.
I also did the following: disconnected the MIDI output from the MC-50 at recording time (thinking that might be the source of a loop), then reconnected the MIDI cable while removing the AstroLab output to the MC-50 input at playback time. Same results.
I’ll continue to look at the MC-50, in case there is a hidden MIDI routing function.
Another alternative for me might be if there is a USB-to-MIDI cable solution. If that’s the simplest solution, I might need to go to that.
Thanks for your input As far as ‘thinning out’ MIDI info, I’m just playing notes with no real aftertouch or wheel action.
I’m going to dig further into the MC-50 and see if there is some sort of MIDI setting that is gumming up the works. See, I used to own an MC-500, and I’ve recently got the MC-50 out of the closet—after I even replaced the disk drive with the thumb drive to update the thing—and I’m proceeding from my old knowledge. There might be something there that has bypassed me, but so far I don’t see it.
If I have luck with some esoteric setting on the MC-50, I will let everyone know. That should have been my first call I think (on hindsight.)
Hey @fission99 thanks for updating us, it’s appreciated!
As you’ve tried all that and still no joy, i think your hunch around it being some kind of esoteric setting on the MC-500 is looking more likely.
I highly doubt it’s any kind of corrupted software or component failure etc as everything else appears to be as it should be…
It’s still a weird one for sure though…
Please DO update us if you get to the bottom of it.
I FOUND THE ISSUE & FIXED IT! It was an MC-50 setting. There is a set of MIDI settings somewhat hidden as a 5-digit base-4 integer string in the interface that deals with the routing of MIDI on the MC-50. I set them all to zeros (0), and I can record now without issue. These settings revert back to their default settings on power cycling, so I’ll just have to go in at boot & change these settings back to where this is usable.
Thanks for all the input! I should have checked this in the first place.
HI @fission99 that’s great news that you’ve got to the bottom of the issue, these kinds of things can be really frustrating for sure, great to see you have a resolution though.
