From our Readers . . .

Read last month's "From Our Readers"

|

We take the time to answer the little questions that sometimes slip through the cracks of day to day coverage of Macs & Music. Questions from our readers are one of the best ways for us to know what direction to go with our coverage. Remember, the only stupid question is the one left unasked. MIDI not Sporting on B&W G3: We have been telling everyone with an iMac or B&W G3 to wait for drivers from Apple to buy into USB MIDI adapters. The blame is shared amongst all parties. Finger waging and I told you so's are not useful in this situation. Apple has been promising the drivers since April, yet nothing. We feel this is because no one's sure if FireWire will leapfrog USB for MIDI & Audio. Yamaha is pushing for it's FireWire (IEEE-1394) implementation called mLan that will appear on a hot new synth yet to be released. Fortunately, there will be or could soon be a solution to everyone's MIDI woes. Here's an example of the many letters we have received about MIDIMan's MIDISport 2X2 and their Blue & White G3's: "Below is a copy of the e-mail I sent to Midiman. I haven't heard from Midiman yet: 'This question is in regards to the USB Midisport 2x2. I hooked it up to my Mac G3 and installed the drivers and OMS software. The USB light on the Midisport glows and pulsates. My Midi sound module's Midi-in is connected to the Midisport's port-A-out, and the sound module's Midi-out is connected to the Midisport's port-A-in. The sound module is a Korg AG-10 Audio Gallery. I then did the New Studio Setup on OMS and clicked on OK. I then got a dialog box that says "Click to check the external ports to search for MIDI interfaces: There is an icon of a phone and a printer. As per the Midisport's instructions, I didn't check either box and just clicked on "Search". The next dialog box says, "OMS has detected the following devices installed on your computer." The list shown is as follows: Studio Patches pgm chg MIDISport IAC Driver QuickTime Music I then clicked on "OK." The next dialog box says, "Below is a representation of your studio setup." It shows MIDIsport and two piano keyboards with question marks in them. Each has a check box next to it. The first is labeled Port 1 and the second is labeled Port 2. At the bottom of the list is "IAC Driver". None of the check boxes is currently checked. I checked the box next to Port 1 and clicked "OK". The final dialog box shows a line going from MIDISport to "1" and there are arrows in each direction connecting "1" with the keyboard icon. I said "Save" saved it as My Studio Setup. When I then select "Test Midi", nothing happens. None of the port lights on the MIDISport are lit. The only light that is on is the USB light. Why don't the port lights come on? What am I doing wrong? If there are any more details that I can send you, please tell me. Thanks. I poked around on MIDIman's web site and found the info below on their tech faq page for the MIDISport 2x2, perhaps this has something to do with your problem.  In any case, the first thing Tech Support will ask you about are system version and what extensions you're using. "Q1: I have a G3, I did the update to OS 8.6, but the USB light on the MIDISport is not lighting up. I also get a message that software needed to use the USB device "Unknown Device" could not be found. Help! R. If the extensions are not being recognized properly, then the MIDISport will have no communication with the computer, yet be seen as an unknown device (it should recognize it as the MIDISport). The USB light on the MIDISPort will not light if the unit does not receive power from the USB port, typical in this situation. This could occur if the update to 8.6 had not been done properly. It is necessary to boot from the 8.5 OS CD-Rom when doing the update as described in the 8.6 Update readme file. Failure to do this (i.e., updating from a normal boot) will not properly update the computer’s firmware, which is essential. Also, one might check the MIDISport’s extensions. View them in a list form and verify that they are being recognized as system extensions and not as documents. If not, try downloading the drivers and replacing the extensions. There are still some extensions from other manufacturers that may conflict with the MIDISport. We worked very closely with Apple in developing the MIDISport drivers, and are certain of their reliability in OS 8.6. One extension that we know conflicts is the USB Floppy Enabler for the Imation Super Disk and other floppy drives. We understand that this comes as an optional download, but may be included in the later driver packages for the Super Disk. We have also found that the Keyspan USB to Serial Converter causes a conflict."

|