AlpSoandso
Member
I wrote this because someone may find it humorous, or possibly quite useful. I left a lot out, but you'll get the idea, I am sure.
My MFC-101 arrived at my door yesterday.
When I had the time to see to it, took a knife and proceeded to open the box. There was an envelop with customs documents placed right where I would normally cut, so I removed the documents for safe keeping first. I opened the box and was glad to see no styrofoam S's or 8's. The unit had form fitting slabs of dense foam material at either end. With the MFC-101 out of the box, I removed the plastic envelop that contained my manual. I put my custom documents into the bag (might come in handy if I need to return it, I thought) and went downstairs to start the process of... well you know, setting things up. It was about 1 pm.
I took the manual out and read through it a bit. There did not seem to be anything about the firmware required on the axe-fx in order to run an MFC. I thought I had seen something to that effect in the forums so I then hit the axe-fx forum.
There were a string of threads, many people had problems doing the firmware update, others did not. Seems one of the issues that might have caused a problem with updating was the number wires in a midi cable (2 or 3 vs 5) and what software one was using.
I decided to test my cables to be sure.
My midi cables are about 10 feet long. I only need 4 or 5 feet so I coiled them up and zip-tied them together to keep things neat. I use a midisport 1x1 which has a USB cable to the computer, and the midi in and midi out cables go to and from the midisport/Axe-fx. The ends of the cables were not marked so I didn't know which ends matched. I didn't want to break the zip tie so I used a multi meter to test the shielding on the ends until I found a pair that matched. I put the meter on the setting that would beep when conductivity was good.
No beep. I tried 3 cable ends. 2 of them shoul have been a match. Nothing. It seems the outer shielding at the end of my cables is not connected. I tried conductivity between the pins. I found my matching ends. I proceeded to test each pin on each end and then did it again for the other cable. I did indeed have two 5 pin midi cables.
I felt confident enough to move to the next step. I re-inserted the cables to the hardware and booted Axe-edit.
I was running either version 9.171 or 9.184. I had read about midi-ox being a better choice but I had used axe-edit before to download presets and did not have any negative feelings about the software.
When the software had booted up I found that it could not see the axe-fx.
I checked the sysex setting and midi channel on the axe-fx and they matched what the software settings were. I did not have any trouble with this software last time I used it (maybe 2 or 3 months prior). I kept trying but it wouldn't work.
I downloaded the newest version. Uninstalled what I had and installed the new one. It wouldn't run. I found another user on the forum with this problem, so I found the old 9.171 version and installed that.
The software refused to see the axe-fx.
I re-installed USB drivers. I uninstalled some midi related software thinking there was a conflict. No luck.
I unplugged the USB cable from the MIDIsport and tried another USB port. When I did I got an error message that the device could not be recognized and that it was malfunctioning. I had never seen THAT before!
I tried it on another computer. I got the same error message.
Great! Now I had a dead Midisport. Maybe I had shorted out a midi cable while I was testing which cable was which. One of the cables had been connected to the midisport and one had been connected to the ax-fx while I checked the other two ends if you know what I mean. I wondered if maybe I had damaged the Axe-fx as well. I thought I had turned the equipment off and removed the USB from the computer before testing, but had I? I did more searches on the support forum and found additional info but nothing i could put into practice because I could not get the computer to see the axe-fx. I also found out something about a Quick Start guide for the MFC-101. I searched the Fractal website for this document and the forum, but could not find it. All I had was the MFC-101 manual. I did not see a quick start.
It was getting late. I had been at it for hours. I decided to just try to plug the axe-fx straight into the MFC-101 without the update and see if it worked.
It did work, but not quit right. I could not see the preset name, and there was a flashing midi light on the Axe-fx that shouldn't be, and a pulsing to the output in time to the midi light flashing.
I posted a message or two on the support forum as I "progressed".
I took a video of the problem and posted it. Maybe someone would be able to see from the lights on the MFC or on the axe fx and listen to the audio output and know immediately what was wrong and let me know. In the forum I came across another post that described the same problem. The 5 pin midi cable issue came up in that thread. But I know mine are 5 pin.
I went to bed about 2 am.
The next day, I checked the forum for replies to my posts. Someone thought I should update my firmware. well I would if I could... but the axe fx and the computer were not talking to each other.
Next thing I bought a new midisport 1x1 and a 5 pin midi cable, just to remove some variables. I wanted a 7 pin but I couldn't find one. I removed the old midisport from the USB cable and put the new one in it's place.
"This is going to work" I thought. I plugged the USB cable into my computer.
I turned on the computer and when it booted I ran the Axe-fx program.
It didn't see the axe-fx.
I tried the other computer. As I plugged the USB cable into the other computer I got the error message again. Device not recognized and it has malfunctioned in some way.
The new MIDI cable did not work any better than either of the old ones on my MFC.
I wrote to fractal audio and told them I think there is a serious problem with my axe-fx and MFC-101.
The reply was I needed a 5 pin MIDI cable.
I wrote back that I had tested my cable and was sure it was 5 pin, and that I had purchased a new one.
A reply came back that added I should check my connections.
It was after that email that it struck me.... I had NOT tried the midisport with the NEW USB cable that it came with. I had tried it with the OLD USB cable that came with the old midisport.
I put the new USB cable. The computer recognized my midi device!
I soon had axe-edit up and running again and this time it SAW my axe-fx!
JOY!
I now had a method to update the Axe-fx (if I had somehow not blown the midi I/O with my meter) so I wrote back to Fractal support. I asked if I could run the MFC from an Axe-fx with firmware 10.01?
The reply told me that I should have found that info on my quick start and that I needed at least axe-fx frimware v.10.02 to run the MFC.
Again, the quick start! Again I looked on line but could not find one. I thought to check the box the MFC came in, then I remembered the customs documents.... I checked in the plastic bag with the documents. One was a sheet of paper that was NOT a customs document. It was my quick start.
With the info in hand that it was mandatory I update to at least firmware 10.02, I decided to give midi-ox a try. To make a long story just a wee bit shorter. Success. I managed to figure out from the text that came with firmware 10.05 what I was expected to do with Midi-ox and a bit of poking around with the software produced results.
A tip.... when you are ready to send the sysex file to the axe-fx, don't use the send sysex found in the FILE menu, rather go into the COMMAND WINDOW menu and use the send sysex from there.
It is 7 pm.
I have been at this for over 24 hours (ok I had 9 hours sleep).
Finally the Axe-fx and MFC are working as intended.
I have not destroyed my axe-fx and I found out that the old midisport I have still works.
This whole mess was due to a bad USB cable and a missing MFC-101 quick start.
I have to add that the Fractal Support team were behind me, and I thank them for their patience. I am certain they get the same questions over and over and over again.
Excuse me, I've got a video to take down.
Then I think I'll try out my new stuff....
Alp
My MFC-101 arrived at my door yesterday.
When I had the time to see to it, took a knife and proceeded to open the box. There was an envelop with customs documents placed right where I would normally cut, so I removed the documents for safe keeping first. I opened the box and was glad to see no styrofoam S's or 8's. The unit had form fitting slabs of dense foam material at either end. With the MFC-101 out of the box, I removed the plastic envelop that contained my manual. I put my custom documents into the bag (might come in handy if I need to return it, I thought) and went downstairs to start the process of... well you know, setting things up. It was about 1 pm.
I took the manual out and read through it a bit. There did not seem to be anything about the firmware required on the axe-fx in order to run an MFC. I thought I had seen something to that effect in the forums so I then hit the axe-fx forum.
There were a string of threads, many people had problems doing the firmware update, others did not. Seems one of the issues that might have caused a problem with updating was the number wires in a midi cable (2 or 3 vs 5) and what software one was using.
I decided to test my cables to be sure.
My midi cables are about 10 feet long. I only need 4 or 5 feet so I coiled them up and zip-tied them together to keep things neat. I use a midisport 1x1 which has a USB cable to the computer, and the midi in and midi out cables go to and from the midisport/Axe-fx. The ends of the cables were not marked so I didn't know which ends matched. I didn't want to break the zip tie so I used a multi meter to test the shielding on the ends until I found a pair that matched. I put the meter on the setting that would beep when conductivity was good.
No beep. I tried 3 cable ends. 2 of them shoul have been a match. Nothing. It seems the outer shielding at the end of my cables is not connected. I tried conductivity between the pins. I found my matching ends. I proceeded to test each pin on each end and then did it again for the other cable. I did indeed have two 5 pin midi cables.
I felt confident enough to move to the next step. I re-inserted the cables to the hardware and booted Axe-edit.
I was running either version 9.171 or 9.184. I had read about midi-ox being a better choice but I had used axe-edit before to download presets and did not have any negative feelings about the software.
When the software had booted up I found that it could not see the axe-fx.
I checked the sysex setting and midi channel on the axe-fx and they matched what the software settings were. I did not have any trouble with this software last time I used it (maybe 2 or 3 months prior). I kept trying but it wouldn't work.
I downloaded the newest version. Uninstalled what I had and installed the new one. It wouldn't run. I found another user on the forum with this problem, so I found the old 9.171 version and installed that.
The software refused to see the axe-fx.
I re-installed USB drivers. I uninstalled some midi related software thinking there was a conflict. No luck.
I unplugged the USB cable from the MIDIsport and tried another USB port. When I did I got an error message that the device could not be recognized and that it was malfunctioning. I had never seen THAT before!
I tried it on another computer. I got the same error message.
Great! Now I had a dead Midisport. Maybe I had shorted out a midi cable while I was testing which cable was which. One of the cables had been connected to the midisport and one had been connected to the ax-fx while I checked the other two ends if you know what I mean. I wondered if maybe I had damaged the Axe-fx as well. I thought I had turned the equipment off and removed the USB from the computer before testing, but had I? I did more searches on the support forum and found additional info but nothing i could put into practice because I could not get the computer to see the axe-fx. I also found out something about a Quick Start guide for the MFC-101. I searched the Fractal website for this document and the forum, but could not find it. All I had was the MFC-101 manual. I did not see a quick start.
It was getting late. I had been at it for hours. I decided to just try to plug the axe-fx straight into the MFC-101 without the update and see if it worked.
It did work, but not quit right. I could not see the preset name, and there was a flashing midi light on the Axe-fx that shouldn't be, and a pulsing to the output in time to the midi light flashing.
I posted a message or two on the support forum as I "progressed".
I took a video of the problem and posted it. Maybe someone would be able to see from the lights on the MFC or on the axe fx and listen to the audio output and know immediately what was wrong and let me know. In the forum I came across another post that described the same problem. The 5 pin midi cable issue came up in that thread. But I know mine are 5 pin.
I went to bed about 2 am.
The next day, I checked the forum for replies to my posts. Someone thought I should update my firmware. well I would if I could... but the axe fx and the computer were not talking to each other.
Next thing I bought a new midisport 1x1 and a 5 pin midi cable, just to remove some variables. I wanted a 7 pin but I couldn't find one. I removed the old midisport from the USB cable and put the new one in it's place.
"This is going to work" I thought. I plugged the USB cable into my computer.
I turned on the computer and when it booted I ran the Axe-fx program.
It didn't see the axe-fx.
I tried the other computer. As I plugged the USB cable into the other computer I got the error message again. Device not recognized and it has malfunctioned in some way.
The new MIDI cable did not work any better than either of the old ones on my MFC.
I wrote to fractal audio and told them I think there is a serious problem with my axe-fx and MFC-101.
The reply was I needed a 5 pin MIDI cable.
I wrote back that I had tested my cable and was sure it was 5 pin, and that I had purchased a new one.
A reply came back that added I should check my connections.
It was after that email that it struck me.... I had NOT tried the midisport with the NEW USB cable that it came with. I had tried it with the OLD USB cable that came with the old midisport.
I put the new USB cable. The computer recognized my midi device!
I soon had axe-edit up and running again and this time it SAW my axe-fx!
JOY!
I now had a method to update the Axe-fx (if I had somehow not blown the midi I/O with my meter) so I wrote back to Fractal support. I asked if I could run the MFC from an Axe-fx with firmware 10.01?
The reply told me that I should have found that info on my quick start and that I needed at least axe-fx frimware v.10.02 to run the MFC.
Again, the quick start! Again I looked on line but could not find one. I thought to check the box the MFC came in, then I remembered the customs documents.... I checked in the plastic bag with the documents. One was a sheet of paper that was NOT a customs document. It was my quick start.
With the info in hand that it was mandatory I update to at least firmware 10.02, I decided to give midi-ox a try. To make a long story just a wee bit shorter. Success. I managed to figure out from the text that came with firmware 10.05 what I was expected to do with Midi-ox and a bit of poking around with the software produced results.
A tip.... when you are ready to send the sysex file to the axe-fx, don't use the send sysex found in the FILE menu, rather go into the COMMAND WINDOW menu and use the send sysex from there.
It is 7 pm.
I have been at this for over 24 hours (ok I had 9 hours sleep).
Finally the Axe-fx and MFC are working as intended.
I have not destroyed my axe-fx and I found out that the old midisport I have still works.
This whole mess was due to a bad USB cable and a missing MFC-101 quick start.
I have to add that the Fractal Support team were behind me, and I thank them for their patience. I am certain they get the same questions over and over and over again.
Excuse me, I've got a video to take down.
Then I think I'll try out my new stuff....
Alp
Last edited:
Yeah, computer hassles, I remember those from the days I was not using a Mac.