Also issues with firmware update -- Axe-Edit

henryrobinett

henryrobinett

Fractal Fanatic
I got the Axe-Edit to work reliably with a Novation 25SLCompact. It almost never worked with my little fastlane.

I launched the Axe-Edit and installed the firmware. This was from 10.03 to 10.05. As soon as it installed, and it says 10.05 in the Ultra, the Axe-Edit crashed. Well maybe 3 minutes later. And I have not been able to get it to launch beyond "getting version info . . ."

I have tried resetting midi settings. I've rebooted the Ultra, the application and the Mac. No change. I've gone to the Audio/Midi Core Audio set up to look, change, toggle. I've trashed the prefs.

Of course the app was working fine up to the point where I upgraded the firmware.

Mac Pro 10.28, OS 10.6.6.
 
I am really, really, really getting annoyed. I'm not stupid. I own two recording studios and beta test for a musical software/hardware company. I generally speaking have a clue about how to make this stuff work. I've and nothing but crappy luck at getting the Axe-Edit to work. And I get no support either. I know this is not supported by Fractal. But its buggy as hell.
I have tried re-installing Edit. Trashed the prefs, which is what finally made it work before. But it's getting ridiculous.

Is there something else I need installed or uninstalled in order to make it work with my Mac?? Is it not compatible with certain applications? Is there a list of things that work and don't work? Other than the midi interfaces?
 
Probably a long shot, but if you have any connections set up in Audio Midi Setup, remove them (IOW, when you display the midi window you should see your midi interface, but it should not show any connections to devices). AxeEdit did not like to use aliases on my Mac.

Can your AxeFx talk to another app, such as SysEx Librarian (i.e. can you do a Dump System)?

I know you had it working before, but would you list your settings from the AxeEdit MIDI settings page? What happens when you try the loopback test?
 
Thanks for the response LMO. Well nothing is connected in the Audio/Midi. I can try deleting those others. But I have the fastlane and Axon AX up there looking active but disconnected from anything else.

I'l list my settings in a minute. Thanks. Lop back test fails. And just for the hell of it I tried every cable combination to test it.
 
Hi

No long story's but the MIDI is the hard part of Axe

For me (PC ) was same till i shortened* the Midi cables-->has to do with the writing rate of the Axe Eprom.In my case I asked here for help and after 5 topics Cliff moved in

Roland

*one of the few things where shorter is better as then was heavy commented ;-)
 
That's the only thing that kind of makes sense. There's got to be a bug in the CB/eprom of the Fractal. So no matter how many iterations and updates of the Axe-Edit software, there will always be bugs until this is addressed. And this might mean either returning it to Cliff, or them sending out replacement boards with clear instructions. This is what Metric Halo has done to keep their hardware updated and current.
 
LMO said:
Probably a long shot, but if you have any connections set up in Audio Midi Setup, remove them (IOW, when you display the midi window you should see your midi interface, but it should not show any connections to devices). AxeEdit did not like to use aliases on my Mac.

Can your AxeFx talk to another app, such as SysEx Librarian (i.e. can you do a Dump System)?

I know you had it working before, but would you list your settings from the AxeEdit MIDI settings page? What happens when you try the loopback test?
Click to expand...
I regularly use a midi foot pedal. So it communicates with midi that way -- midi in.

The light on the front panel of the Ultra is lit indicating MIDI IN.

The midi page indicates:
Midi 1
prgm change ON
Mapping OFF
sysex ID 00 01 74
Ignore Redundant PC - OFF
Midi PC Offset - 0 and everything else is 0%

AS I said the loopback fails.
 
LMO said:
If the loop back test fails you need to address that first.
Click to expand...
Well yes. That's the point. How do I do that? I haven't been able to get past that. Thats the point.

It's stuck on "get version info." If I disconnect it says no connection. The light on the Fractal indicates midi in. Bt it won't go past this point. What do you suggest I do to get past that?
I've tried other cables, other interfaces.
 
If the foot controller is communicating with the Axe-FX properly, then it must be your Mac or MIDI interface device that is having issues.

I don't really understand why so many people are having these difficulties, or why it is necessary for one particular MIDI interface (a midisport anniversary edition) to be recommended to users. MIDI has been around for decades; this is not new technology. Transmitting and receiving MIDI data should be trivial today. Aside from the Sysex ID change (to an officially registered one), there is no reason for a previously working setup to fail unless a piece of hardware has suddenly broken.

Of course, getting a computer to talk to the Axe-FX at the same time as a foot controller is another matter, since that appears to require a user-modified MIDI merge device to accomplish. But a properly configured MIDI interface should work without fail. How there can be so many issues with a primitive, decades-old serial data protocol is quite bewildering.
 
I agree. I have had issues, the same, or seemingly similar issues with four different computers, three different OSes and three different midi interfaces. When I got them to work, in some circumstances, the "fixes" were all different. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason.

System 1- Mac Dual 2.7 on 10.4.11 - with fastlane. Nothing. Eventually got connection twice, but failed.

System 2 - Mac Pro 2.66 10.5.8 Motu MTP II - never have gotten it to work.

System 3 Powerbook 1.67 OS 10.4.11 and fastlane. Never has worked.

System 4 Mac Pro 2.8 Quad OS 10.6.6. Snow Leopard (latest). Worked with Axe-Edit (latest) and 10.03 firmware. and a Novation ReMote 25SL Compact as the interface.

So I thought the Fastlane was the culprit. I figured my problem was discovered and solved. As soon as I did the firmware update the Editor crashed and I haven't been able to recover it.

Midi is ancient technology by our standards. Its been around forever guys. It should be standard. It should not matter what interface you use. And at this point what's to guarantee that if I get a Midisport 2x2 it'll will even work? What are those, $90?
 
henryrobinett said:
Midi is ancient technology by our standards. Its been around forever guys. It should be standard. It should not matter what interface you use. And at this point what's to guarantee that if I get a Midisport 2x2 it'll will even work? What are those, $90?
Click to expand...
The problems are likely related to sending very large sysex transfers, which is not something that all the midi adapter folks were likely to have tested for.
 
henryrobinett said:
So I thought the Fastlane was the culprit. I figured my problem was discovered and solved. As soon as I did the firmware update the Editor crashed and I haven't been able to recover it.
Click to expand...
Based on what you have posted, I wouldn't call that an editor crash. The editor is up but unable to do a simple midi transaction with the AxeFx.

How are you connecting the midi cable for the loopback test? Have you tried using a midi librarian program to see if it can communicate with the AxeFx? I understand that you are frustrated, but we need to take this step by step to troubleshoot the issue.
 
It was definitely an editor crash. The Edit was opened after the update, then after a few minutes it crashed. It quit all on it's own and an APPLE crash log appeared. The log indicates bad access and invalid address:

Process: Axe-Edit [231]
Path: /Applications/Axe-Edit.app/Contents/MacOS/Axe-Edit
Identifier: com.fractalaudio.AxeEdit

So the crash is without question the editor.
 
Just now it was connected. I then opened the settings and immediately I lost the connection! "Not Connected <- check mini I/O)"
 
Regarding sending large transfers - these midi boxes were designed to handle huge sysEx data dumps. I used to do midi bulk dumps fairly often back in the day.

I do not have a current midi librarian. Unisyn? I don't even think it talks Snow Leopard. I haven't used that in years. I used to use Galaxy .. . .
 
Let me say a couple of things in closing! Thanks LMO and anyone else who chimed in to help. The problems may continue. This time I may not have checked the Fastlane on B channel. I guess I had thought that A not working was a weird anomaly, until I saw that someone else mentioned it. That seemed to work. Also having nothing connected in the Audio/Midi Core audio application. But the Novation had worked perfectly until the crash. Then something obviously wasn't recoverable with the Novation.

There needs to be clear and obvious, IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE SO THERE'S NO MISTAKE documentation of these wierd-nesses. Something like, "when installing the editor . . . " and big asterisk - "TROUBLESHOOTING. This is Beta (that part's good!). Many people have had various problems. Here are the problems and solutions." Then installing instructions, or something.

Second -- there is absolutely no good reason there should be so many strange hoops to jump through. There shouldn't be an issue between Channel A and B on the fast track. And communication between manufacturers is for this very thing -- fixing bugs. It should be fairly easy, as a developer, to request MOTU or Apple, or whomever, to provide info for making sure the devices are compatible. And there should be no reason to favor midi sport over other devices.

There. I've said it. Thank you!
 
Last edited:
Henryrobinett and others:

I love my axe-fx, but not the axe-edit software for some of the same reasons. Of course, the axe-edit is virtually necessary for creating, editing, and backing up patches, but it is so buggy. Overall it works most of the time, but it is so RANDOM!!!!! Sometimes it won't find that the unit is connected, other times it will "disconnect itself;" sometimes it crashes for various reasons (based on my theories) and at other times for no apparent reason at all. Midi IS ancient and SIMPLE. I sure hope there are no problems w/ the internals of the axe-f,x as thunder100 thought, that is leading to some of the midi issues and axe-edit issues . I hope Fractal can finally release an updated NON-beta Axe-edit soon AND begin to support axe-edit.
 
Until Axe-Edit is out of beta, all this makes me think I should write down/type in Word/Excel my patch data as further backup.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom