[SOLVED] Midi keyboard isn't working with mm

Bug Reports and Fixes
1

i’m trying to get this EllitoneSynthesizers KeyControl keyboard to work with mm via usb so i can utilize the polyphony. the mm powers it on ok(theres a power light that turns on), but doesn’t receive any midi notes from the device. this device works just fine with ios/windows apps (tried w sunvox, koala, vcv, ableton).

after speaking with ellis, he mentioned to pass along this information- that it might help aid getting the thing to work w the mm:

“The KeyControl is using an atmega328 as the main processor and an atmega16u2 running the Hiduino firmware for usb midi output”

if there’s anything i can try to do on my end to get it working, i’d love to know. im also open to shipping it your way(and back) if that would help.

2

fwiw i do have two other custom midi knob/fader controller that both use arduino leonardos and they work/load just fine with mm.

3

Looking at the Hiduino source code, it says it won’t run on the Leonardo, so it could be something specific to the Hiduino project?
Yeah if you really would want to ship it here, I can try it out with a debugger attached and see what’s going on. Email us!

4

so the custom keyboard (that isn’t getting midi to the mm), thats the atmega16u2/hiduino combo.

i have 2 other different controllers that use leonardo arduinos- and those both work great sending midi to mm. those aren’t related at all to the atmega16u2/hiduino keyboard.

but anyway, ill be in touch about possibly getting this thing shipped your all’s way.

5

in the past, Ive seen quite a lot of issues getting particular midi controllers working with SoC (in particularly when working on Axoloti).
it can be a real pain, during initial development, as its never possible to test every possible controller… and usb is not as ‘standard’ as it pretends :wink:

it does get better, over time, as you fix each of the ‘special cases’

power

for debugging, the first thing I found useful is to remove power from the equation…as this can lead to all sorts of oddities with controllers.

unfortunately, MM doesn’t support USB hubs at this time…
(as, Id usually, Id just stick a powered hub in-between)

I guess it might work to use something like blokas MidiHub.

also I think there are some adapters that add power… but Im not sure if they present themselves as the native usb device or a hub

usb end points

USB supports multiple endpoints, ive seen many hosts not handle these correctly , often they will just connect to the first one.

there are two particularly situations:

  • multiple usb midi ports (e.g. Push/Osmose have 2 usb ports),
  • hidden end point (or non midi)
    many usb devices will have secondary endpoint for ‘other purposes’ , sometimes they are hidden as they are proprietary (e.g. for firmware update), or for other purposes (e.g.) audio/ mass storage

you can try to diagnose this plugging into a computer, and this can reveal hidden endpoints or additional usb midi ports

midi messages

sometimes there are ‘extra messages’ sent with can confuse host if not coded.
a common one is sysex being sent as a kind of ‘initialisation’.
the issue here, is it ‘corrupts’ the midi stream (as far as the host is concerned)

this is less common on usb (compared to din) , as it uses a 4 byte structure, but still happens.

this can be diagnosed by looking at the raw midi stream on a computer, and looking for something that might be a bit ‘unusual’ :wink:

I think those are the main ones Ive had issues with…
(apart from device enumeration, though thats usually an issue with end points too)

1 Like
6

all good points! i will try and look in the device manager(win 11 ovr here) to see if anything secondary tries to load when plugging in the device. in ableton/ios it just shows up as a single midi device. not sure if i can monitor if the thing sends extra initialization messages right when plugged in, since on windows one needs to have a midi device plugged in first, then 2nd open up the daw (w midi monitor). im guessing there’s a more powerful midi monitor for win11 that could maybe sniff for initialization messages, will have to do a little digging (unless you know of something?).

7

was able to get the keyboard working ok with the mm via a 3.5mm trs midi out (that i wasnt aware the keyboard even had until recently). the din from that adapter into a usb din midi interface did the trick