#1

Hi all

I’m wondering, has anyone here successfully managed to use midi(cc) output from an aleph into an op-1, without the op-1 freezing/crashing?

Sometimes i can get a few minutes of use out of the pair, but often the aleph/midi output will crash the op-1 within moments.

When it crashes, i either get lines of white text on the op-1’s screen and a high pitched tone, or a completely unresponsive op-1 (sound still plays, but it wont respond to any input from the aleph or itself).

My setup for testing is quite simple, just a midicc_out operator mapped to an encoder on the aleph (with a Bignum to observe the value changes). This is then connected to the op-1 using the Host USB output from the aleph.

I’ve been trying to get this working for some time now but cant figure out what (if anything) i’m doing wrong.
Whether it’'s some setting on the op-1 that i should change? or, an issue with midi messaging on either device? Should i be using the Device USB output from the aleph instead? etc.

The op-1 is the only external device i own that accepts midi messages, so i’m unable to test the aleph on anything else.
I seem to recall successfully using ableton to output midi to the op-1 without these issues, but i may be wrong or just have been “lucky” that day.

If anyone has any advice or input to help out with this please, it would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

#2

have you successfully sent midi notes to your op-1 from your computer?

i’ve never tried this before, but this would be a good first step to rule out an op-1-only issue.

#3

hi tehn

I’ve just tested this and can confirm that the op-1 will receive midi notes and cc values from the computer.

#4

I don’t have an op-1 buy apparently it only likes to receive one channel at a time. Maybe tell us more about the aleph midicc_out setting and ensure that the channel value is not set to -1 (which means, all channels.) Its totally weird that you can crash the op1 with midi input at all though…

#5

Hi zebra

Settings wise, i’ve got the midi cc channel set to 0, and the cc number set to 1.
An encoder with a min of 0, and a max of 127, is connected to the cc value.
I can see the op-1 responding to the received messages on midi channel 1.

I have to admit, after testing some more, I’ve noticed that I can’t actually get the op-1 to crash with the midi messages themselves.

It’s only after i’ve sent the op-1 some midi messages from the aleph (either cc or noteout), and then press a note key on the synth, that it crashes.

This wont always happen immediately, but can usually be reproduced within a minute or so.

If I replace the Aleph for a computer to send cc or note messages to the op-1, and then play notes, i can’t get it crash at all.

#6

ok, well that’s suggestive. is it possible to disable the midi controller feature of the op-1, just to see what happens?

by the way - i wrote the aleph midi drivers, and they are definitely wonky - i barely have any midi hardware to test with. bear in mind that there are (at maximum) 100 aleph users - i have been adding connectivity features when i can, as they are requested, but it is a work in progress… and there are a lot of possible MIDI setup permutations.

to debug this, we need to know more precisely how the op-1 shows up to a MIDI host. is it multiple devices, or one device with multiple endpoints, or what?

and if you can, it would also be helpful to get a log of the actual packets going to/from the op1 usb port when you use it with a computer. here’s some midi monitor app that might help on mac (i haven’t tried it): [http://www.snoize.com/MIDIMonitor/] ; on linux you can use the usbmon command.

@Yann_Coppier , have you been using midi cc out much? notice anything weird?

#7

Hi @zebra, I have used it extensively during 3 months, including one month of performances on stage during a theatre play and in front of 200 to 400 people per night. No problem on my side, really, and I used it to control two machines at once (an Eventide H9 Max and an OTO Biscuit, connected in series) with various parameters. It did the job every single night!

#8

One thing I will add, though: when changing CC number, make sure you are putting your MIDI channel to something else than the one you are aiming for, or disconnect your USB to MIDI cable temporarily. A couple of times, during rehearsals, I shut the entire system (level-wise) by unintentionally sending CC32 with a value of 0 to the H9, which levels its audio input value. It stayed like this until I could figure out what happened: when you change CC, the corresponding value seems to be sent for each CC you scan, and as you scroll through them with a knob you might send a lot!

So in the end, I made my programming carefully in order to avoid this type of “mistake”, and nothing went wrong from then on. About the OP-1, maybe there is a specific CC you should avoid? If so, disconnect it simply while programming, as you can’t go from CC6 to CC8 without sending CC7 here… And I suppose it’s the same with MIDI channels. Hope that helps!

#9

ok that’s good to know, midicc_out should only update when value is changed, not when cc number is changed