MOTU Sucks (apparently)

steadystate

Fractal Fanatic
I tried MOTU support, but no reply as of yet. So I figured I'd inquire here since some of you are pretty sharp.

I have a MOTU MIDI Express 128 that won't work with some of my MIDI devices. After checking with a scope, it seems that the input ports of the MOTU force pin 5 of the transmitting device to 5V, even when the transmitting device wants to go low.

If I use a different MIDI interface (even a cheap one), the problem goes away. The MOTU works with some devices, but not others. My other interfaces work with all devices. It seems that the MOTU wants an excessive amount of current.

This isn't my first problem with MOTU designs. Does MOTU suck? Thoughts?
 
Everything sucks now. This is the worst timeline. This is the dystopia. It’s just hard to recognize because of how incremental it’s been.

It actually started in 1915.
 
I don't have anything specific but MOTU decided to not pay Apple for licensing for their midi devices. So some of them are semi broken without workarounds. It might take a terminal reinstall.
 
I put two stages of an SN74LS14N at pin 5 of one of the transmitting devices, and it still doesn't work with the MOTU (but still does with other interfaces).

I get a super clean midi signal on the scope at the inverter's output, until I connect it to the MOTU MIDI in. Then it's stuck at 5V. I'm confounded.

The final chip before I kludged the inverters was the PIC16F88-I/P, which should drive any MIDI in by itself as far as I can tell.
 
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Did you open a ticket or contact MOTU support? Like I said there is a fix. It's an easy one time only fix, The driver has not been installed properly. There's a workaround.
 
Everything sucks now. This is the worst timeline. This is the dystopia. It’s just hard to recognize because of how incremental it’s been.

It actually started in 1915.

Can't quite agree that this is the worst timeline. It's a bad one, and has been since William of Ockham started persuading people that Nominalism was right. (Marx and Hitler were both downstream of that blunder, along with many of the other net-negative personalities of the ensuing centuries.)

But given all the roughly-equal options up to the dawn of the 20th century, I think the worst timelines are those involving a nuclear false-alarm in the 1980's not being recognized as a false alarm, resulting in a full nuclear exchange between the (then-) superpowers. Those timelines suck pretty badly, and the mild upsides of Social Media and Snuggies never being invented just aren't enough to compensate.
 
Well I've had three MOTU midi interfaces. MTP original, MTP av usb and now Midi Express XT. Nwever any problems until I was having problems I updated the OS. Maverick? Mojave? Bought the new interface Midi Express. Still had some problems until I researched what I stated above and it fixed the problems.
 
I'm using Windows. I reinstalled the driver, even though I didn't think that was the problem. The interface is reliably recognized by Windows and all of my applications. Many MIDI devices work perfectly with it. Others do not, because pin 5 is always high when they are connected to it.

Just opened a ticket, but I'm not hopeful based on my past experience with janky Motu products. Their pcie stuff that I owned was an unmitigated disaster. Their solution was always to tell me to get a new motherboard.
 
What's on pin 4 with your scope?

Thanks
Pauly

I'm using Windows. I reinstalled the driver, even though I didn't think that was the problem. The interface is reliably recognized by Windows and all of my applications. Many MIDI devices work perfectly with it. Others do not, because pin 5 is always high when they are connected to it.

Just opened a ticket, but I'm not hopeful based on my past experience with janky Motu products. Their pcie stuff that I owned was an unmitigated disaster. Their solution was always to tell me to get a new motherboard.
 
FWIW, I've used MOTU's Digital Performer for decades, and have been on the MOTUnation forum for decades as well.

If there was a major issue with MOTU interfaces, I would have seen a flood of posts on that forum. They are generally very well-regarded in the industry, for their mid-level interfaces.
 
I tried MOTU support, but no reply as of yet. So I figured I'd inquire here since some of you are pretty sharp.

I have a MOTU MIDI Express 128 that won't work with some of my MIDI devices. After checking with a scope, it seems that the input ports of the MOTU force pin 5 of the transmitting device to 5V, even when the transmitting device wants to go low.
Isn't a fixed voltage to be expected? MIDI is a current loop protocol.

If I use a different MIDI interface (even a cheap one), the problem goes away. The MOTU works with some devices, but not others. My other interfaces work with all devices. It seems that the MOTU wants an excessive amount of current.

This isn't my first problem with MOTU designs. Does MOTU suck? Thoughts?
I've had a fair bit of MOTU gear over the years and I've found it to be high quality. Hopefully their tech support can figure out what's wrong with yours.
 
Hi Glenn,

Yes - a fixed voltage is expected when the device is not transmitting. Pin 4 should be the reference voltage, and pin 5 will be identical to pin 4 unless the device is transmitting.

Thanks
Pauly

Isn't a fixed voltage to be expected? MIDI is a current loop protocol.


I've had a fair bit of MOTU gear over the years and I've found it to be high quality. Hopefully their tech support can figure out what's wrong with yours.
 
Is it possible the thing just isn’t transmitting? Well…I guess of course it is…sorry - dumb question… I really don’t know what to suggest from there. It’s an interesting issue - I’m wondering if it’s hardware or soft/firmware that’s the culprit.

Thanks
Pauly


A constant 5v.
 
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