USB and Sysex

[-CALC-]

Hey There folks.

Happy recipient of the MRCC here... its a bit of a game changer for my room.... no more reaching for MIDI cables or re-plumbing every other day... Hooray!

I have found a little idiosyncrasy though, this might be a very fringe case but non the less.... 

I am using a Novation Circuit Tracks MIDI via USB Host A, when I patch this through to the MIDI Din port 1 on channel 1 to drive a Buchla Easel command 208C all is good... until I start navigating around the Circuit Tracks. The Sysex messages sent when changing a view or page on Circuit Tracks seem to be randomly combining with a note message to trigger a very high note. I noticed that some of the MIDI notes are also being stopped outputting while navigating around the Circuit Tracks too.

This is also the same on the Circuit Rhythm again I'm fairly certain it's caused by the sysex messages being sent out of the USB on the Circuits.

When I switch to a Din output on the Circuit Tracks or Rhythm this problem is not there. The sysex messages are not being sent out of the DIN ports on the Circuits so that makes sense. 

The issue is also not there when I send MIDI from Circuit's USB to other synths either so it could be something within the Buchla 208C's MIDI implementation not enjoying being sent a spurious sysex message.

So for my two pence.... it would be great if Sysex was a filter option which I think would solve the issue from an MRCC perspective. 

I work at Novation too so I'll be asking the engineers about the need for these sysex messages. I'm not 100% certain they are actually needed unless its a requirement for the Novation components software to manage the synth editor in Circuit Tracks. I certainly don't see any particular need for these Sysex messages in the Circuit Rhythm though. 

The good news is that I can confirm that (except this strange sysex thing with Buchla) the Novation Circuit Tracks and Circuit Rhythm are class compliant enough to happily work with the USB host ports. As does the Summit and Peak synths.
I'll be testing out the Launchpads Mk3's Launchkey Mk3s, SL MKIII, Bass Station 2 and the LaunchControl XL in due course soon too so will report back on their compliance.  

Sadly the Monome Norns music computer isn't class compliant enough for MRCC to show up via USB though.

Other than this small (and not insurmountable) issue MRCC is a joy to use and is taking pride of place in the studio.

Cheers
-CALC-

[Jesse Johannesen]

Hey CALC, glad to see you getting along with the MRCC! It sounds like you might be right about the SYSEX, I feel like I may have already requested SYSEX filters during the beta, but now it's a bit hazy. I'll run it by Steve in our meeting on Monday and see how hard that would be to implement.
Thanks for the great compatibility feedback, I'll pass that on to Darryl and get those items added to the list.
Cheers,
Jesse

[Dark Waves]

Plugging in my 61SL Mk3 to a USB port worked straightaway, no problems except a stuck note on my receiving synth, but don't think that's anything to do with the MRCC.  It's a nice feature to just briefly open the routing by pressing the output port button to get the all-notes-off message.

Anyway, I enjoy your videos, Calc, I have much to learn yet.  Thankfully the MRCC is pretty easy.

[-CALC-]

A little additional info ;o).

I tested this a little bit more and the issue at this point feels to be more at the Buchla's end. Any sysex message, regardless of manufacturer or where it's sent from to the Buchla makes it do strange stuff while a note sequence is being sent to it.
So thankfully I don't think its a "Novation" issue on its own.

@ Jesse - A sysex filter would be a lovely addition from my point of view... I'm not sure how earth shattering it would be for everybody, but I can sure think of use cases when it would be really handy to filter that type of message out and if only for helping with thinning in certain situations too.

Anyhoo I've opened a ticket with Buchla to see what they say but for sure +1 from me for Sysex filtering on the MRCC ;o).

And thanks @Dark Waves for the kind message too ;o). Glad you like the videos.

BTW in further tests I've used the Launchpad Pro MkIII too and that seems to be fully working from USB as well.
Oh and a lovely Preen FM3 arrived in the post today too and that all seems good from a USB class compliance at this point as well.

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And before it gets retired... the Preen FM2 is all good with MRCC via USB too ;o).

[MickG]

Hi - I've re-arranged all my MIDI gear and Pro Tools DAW so that everything is routed via the MRCC. It's a fantastic device! Everything is now instantly available, such that, for the moment, I'm not even bothering to save presets - it's so easy to route paths of MIDI data.

However, I have a problem with Sysex messages not being transmitted from MRCC input to output.

I have a Roland JX-8P synth and I use an iPad app (IPG-800) to edit patches. Routing via a single MIDI cable from the iPad (which is mounted in a Focusrite iTrack Dock MIDI interface) to the synth works fine, as usual.

However, if I patch the iTrack Dock to the JX-8P using the MRCC, the Sysex messages don't get through. All MIDI note data is transmitted OK.

Thanks, Mick

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I've just been searching back through the messages on the forum, and I found a message about Sysex data posted by Jesse on 4-25-21:

"I am not sure about the length of the messages, but I think the philosophy as far as I've seen has been to pass everything. The exception is that the DIN ports above 6 use a hand written code to send MIDI data, and SYSEX hasn't yet been implemented on that protocol yet. I will report back once I know more."

I've been trying to send data out on Remote7, output 1. Having re-patched my MRCC MIDI setup to send the data out on main output 6, the Sysex data is successfully transmitted to my JX-8P.

Has there been any development in the coding? It would be convenient to be able to send Sysex on any output if possible, please.

[microbug]

hey Calc,

nice to have you here, love your videos. I am a hardcore Novation User with Supernova II, KS Rack and now Summit

I also support that request for a Sysex filter, since sysex can mess up all data transmissions because it must not be interrupted.