1 (edited by ramses 2017-12-23 18:37:30)

Topic: Octamic XTC: Aux Device issues

Hi,

I have 2 UFX+ in use
1. primary connecting 2 XTCs as AUX device
2. secondary soleyly for guitar rig purposes

On my PC I have connected these 2 UFX+ and an ADI-2 Pro.
(Side note: plus a RayDAT, but this is not important for this issue here)
So the MADIface driver connects 3 devices to my PC.
But depending in which order I turn on or off the devices,
they do not always have the same device ID in the driver.

Therefore sometimes remote controlling the 2 Octamic XTCs as AUX device
doesnt work, because the AUX device settings need to reflect exactly, via which
MIDI ports the XTCs are being controlled (via Midi over MADI of the 1st or  2nd UFX+).

So .. to sum up and to put an example:

sometimes the primary UFX+ is recognized as the 1st device by the MADIface driver and sometimes as the 2nd device. If this changes then the AUX device configuration is not valid anymore.

Usually I have these AUX device settings:
MADI 1-8, Octamic XTC, Midi In/Out   UFX+ Midi Port 3 (optical)
MADI 9-16, Octamic XTC, Midi In/Out UFX+ Midi Port 3 (optical)

But if the primary UFX+ is being recognized as 2nd UFX+ device, then I have to change this to:
MADI 1-8, Octamic XTC, Midi In/Out   2-UFX+ Midi Port 3 (optical)
MADI 9-16, Octamic XTC, Midi In/Out 2-UFX+ Midi Port 3 (optical)

Solution would be, as somebody else also requested some time ago on forum,
to be able to configure the MADIface driver, which device is #1. #2, #3.

Especially as the MADIface driver supports a lot of interesting / popular devices which much likely can be connected to the same PC in parallel like UFX+ and ADI-2 Pro. And for my setup this makes much sense, to have full control via TM FX over both UFX+. So I do not want to change it.

Are there any plans to make it possible in the MADIface driver, to configure a certain order in devices ?

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

2 (edited by ramses 2017-12-24 10:28:42)

Re: Octamic XTC: Aux Device issues

Even more curious ...
I turned out now the 2nd UFX+ and the ADI-2 Pro.
Now the primary UFX+ with the 2 XTCs is the only device active.

1. observation: although the ADI-2 Pro was turned off already since about half a minute or a minute, the MADIface driver had still a TAB for it. But then it vanished.

Expectation: I expected now, that the primary UFX+ would now become the 1st device again from driver perspective, so that my AUXDEVICE configuration in Totalmix FX would now be again valid. But surprisingly not.

In the MADIface driver settings dialog I see the UFX+ as UFX+(1), no other device.
And now the TotalMix FX Aux Device settings show nothing (!!!) anymore for MADI 1..8 and 9..16.

And when reconfiguring it now, then TotalMix FX only gives "2- UFX+ Midi Port 3" as selection in the MIDI settings.  I would have expected "UFX+ Midi Port 3".

I have a certain feeling, that at boot time it needs already to be taken care, that maybe only the primary UFX+ is turned on, so that MADIface Driver and TotalMix FX have the same opinion about, what is primary and secondary device.

But even if I would do so I am skeptical, as I like to turn on / off the devices as I like / require .. whether this would stay stable then ...

It would be highly appreciated if the this could be fixed on RME driver (Madiface) and Application level (TotalMix) so that Auxdevice configuration works stable in such a changing environment.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

3 (edited by ramses 2017-12-24 11:35:05)

Re: Octamic XTC: Aux Device issues

After some more testing and thinking:

Situation again in short:
1. after new installation of Win7 and loading the old work workspace config into TM FX Auxdevice configuration didnt work anymore for controlling 2 XTC on my primary UFX+ using "UFX+ Midi Port 3" as MIDI port
2. found out that my primary UFX+ needs now of all sudden "2-UFX+ Midi Port 3" for Midi over Madi to work again
3. my 1st guess that it depends on the order of powering-on the UFX+ is not the case.
No matter which UFX+ I turn on 1st, even if I use only the primary UFX+ I need to use now "2-UFX+ Midi Port 3"
to remote control the UFX+ via MADI.

So at the moment it appears to be stable and seems to works with "2-UFX+ Midi Port 3" no matter in which order I power-on the 2 UFX+ even if I use only the primary with the 2 XTC connected via MADI.

I will test my observations from yesterday evening again to be sure that its valid.

I question myself at the moment:

A) when exactly is it determined which of the two UFX+ are regarded as the 1st and 2nd device in terms of whether you have to use for Midi over Madi control
- "UFX+ Midi Port 3" (that was the case in my old config before Windows new nstallation) or
- "2-UFX+ Midi Port 3" (which is the case now after new installation of Win7)

B) this seems to be independend on the order of devices to be seen in driver settings dialog
I mean how the devices are numbered in the TABs of driver settings dialog.

Then another observation in terms of the Order of Devices:
I turned on 2 UFX+ and ADI-2 Pro and see three TABs "UFX+ (1)", "UFX+ (2)", "ADI-2 Pro (3)"
In MusicBee I see in the ASIO driver settings 3 blocks of output devices according to this order, UFX+ 1, UFX+ 2, ADI-2 Pro.

Now I want to try to provoke a change in the order of output devices in Musicbee by
- turning off the 2nd UFX+, so that ADI-2 Pro will be shown as "ADI-2 Pro (2)" and
- turning on the 2nd UFX+, so that it will be shown as "UFX+ (3)".

When looking then in to driver settings dialog I see now: UFX+(1), UFX+(3), ADI-2 Pro (2)
When restarting MusicBee and looking into the ASIO configuration
I thought that this might impact the order of interfaces for that output devices are found.
But it doesnt change anything ..
- 1st: primary UFX+ "UFX (1)" according to driver settings dialog
- 2nd: secondary UFX+ "UFX (3)"
- 3rd: ADI-2 Pro "ADI-2 (2)"

Conclusion: I think it needs to be separated between 2 things:
- the order of ASIO devices found by applications depends on the driver and most likely to what USB ports and in what order you connect it to multi port cards
- the change of MIDI port for "Midi over Madi" Remote Control seems to depend on other things

So my "bugreport" seems to have no relationship to the topic, that some people need to determine the order of devices i.e. because of limitations of Protools.

Its simply the question remaining why my MIDI over MADI control port changed now
from "UFX+ Midi Port 3" to "2-UFX+ Midi Port 3" after new installation of Windows.

All three devices are and were connected to the Sonnet Allegro Pro card
- port 1: primary UFX+ (with the 2 XTC via MADI)
- port 2: secondary UFX+
- port 3: ADI-2 Pro
- port 4: unused

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13