USB to MIDI out/thru

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kquann

Member
Is it possible to send MIDI messages from a DAW to the Axe III's 5-pin MIDI "Out" or "Thru" ports? Either would be fine. I have my Axe III connected via USB and I am trying to send CC messages from Ableton Live to control other outboard gear on my MIDI circuit. I have not had success thus far (desired MIDI out messages not detected at these outputs). If I am understanding correctly, (https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/midi-clock-thru.165843/page-2#post-1991421), this feature may not be enabled to begin with. If so, are there plans to include this rather basic feature? Given the Axe III's capabilities it would seem a little silly to need to buy a separate USB-MIDI interface to accomplish this.

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Not over USB.

The Axe Fx midi Out is only for midi generated on the Axe Fx and the midi Thru is hardwired to the midi In DIN jack.

So, you could use a USB to midi adapter and connect from your computer to the Axe Fx DIN.
 
Darn, I was hoping to avoid a separate USB-MIDI interface +/- MIDI-merge box to consolidate the signals into the same output, but I guess that's my only option unless this is fixed in a future update.
 
kquann said:
Darn, I was hoping to avoid a separate USB-MIDI interface +/- MIDI-merge box to consolidate the signals into the same output, but I guess that's my only option unless this is fixed in a future update.
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It sucks for sure, but it’s the only real missing feature imo
 
kquann said:
Darn, I was hoping to avoid a separate USB-MIDI interface +/- MIDI-merge box to consolidate the signals into the same output, but I guess that's my only option unless this is fixed in a future update.
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I don't think this is something that's going to change...

Does any of your other equipment support incoming midi that can be passed thru? Maybe use that method...
 
The FAS stuff wants to be midi independent for the most part. When I had midi problems with one device sending wireless midi and making the FAS FM9 nuts, I was told to use a separate interface and give it its own midi IN from that.
 
Bruce Sokolovic said:
The FAS stuff wants to be midi independent for the most part. When I had midi problems with one device sending wireless midi and making the FAS FM9 nuts, I was told to use a separate interface and give it its own midi IN from that.
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Sorry, I'm not sure what that means?

Almost all midi controllable devices can set a specific channel to listen for incoming midi. They will ignore midi not on that channel... Which makes them "independent".
 
unix-guy said:
Sorry, I'm not sure what that means?

Almost all midi controllable devices can set a specific channel to listen for incoming midi. They will ignore midi not on that channel... Which makes them "independent".
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WIDI stuff works in conjunction with wireless Bluetooth and with one another in a group environment (if you’re not familiar). This pissed off the fractal to no end once I added more than one jack. Failed boots, boots to a frozen pedalboard and other anomalies. Still not quite sure why but I got better at troubleshooting and it seems to come down to boot sequence (sometimes, I’m still trying to figure things out). Support suggested I get a proper midi interface and run a cable from that directly to the Fractal. That would defeat my use case entirely, so that is where I left it. I need to run midi commands wirelessly off an iPad. An interface of any kind is a bridge too far for my setup. I come out USB3 audio LR and thats it aside from Wi-Fi and Bluetooth duties. So while the FAS channel is indeed selected to hear on that channel, the commands go to that channel just fine, but only once the FM9 is happy in its environment.

Edit- I can shoot some video for anyone interested that may be having the same kinds of issues. I just haven’t because I think I’m a case study of one.
 
Bruce Sokolovic said:
WIDI stuff works in conjunction with wireless Bluetooth and with one another in a group environment (if you’re not familiar). This pissed off the fractal to no end once I added more than one jack. Failed boots, boots to a frozen pedalboard and other anomalies. Still not quite sure why but I got better at troubleshooting and it seems to come down to boot sequence (sometimes, I’m still trying to figure things out). Support suggested I get a proper midi interface and run a cable from that directly to the Fractal. That would defeat my use case entirely, so that is where I left it. I need to run midi commands wirelessly off an iPad. An interface of any kind is a bridge too far for my setup. I come out USB3 audio LR and thats it aside from Wi-Fi and Bluetooth duties. So while the FAS channel is indeed selected to hear on that channel, the commands go to that channel just fine, but only once the FM9 is happy in its environment.

Edit- I can shoot some video for anyone interested that may be having the same kinds of issues. I just haven’t because I think I’m a case study of one.
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I'm still not understanding the "independent" part.

There have been some reports of odd boot issues if the Fractal gets incoming midi while it's booting.

Many people are using external midi via DIN or USB to control Fractals with no issues, including those using WIDI or other Bluetooth midi.

Or integration with DAWs or other midi devices.
 
unix-guy said:
I'm still not understanding the "independent" part.

There have been some reports of odd boot issues if the Fractal gets incoming midi while it's booting.

Many people are using external midi via DIN or USB to control Fractals with no issues, including those using WIDI or other Bluetooth midi.

Or integration with DAWs or other midi devices.
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I guess the independent part was from my conversation with tech support. In order to diagnose my issue, I had to have a midi interface and send the FM9 its own midi cable from said interface. Either the FM9 gets pissy working in a Widi group or it gets pissy booting while getting midi info as you said. I can’t seem to tell which it is exactly because I’m not certain my other devices are not booting just before the FM9 and possibly sending midi via the Widi jacks. This could be very possible.
But yes the independent statement I made was from my tech support conversation regarding getting an interface to send midi to the FM9 on its own separate line and not have it work in a group the way I have it configured. I need it to work how it’s configured so my work around is simply working around bad boots.
 
touch33 said:
Here’s my stupid question: is there some reason OP can’t put the AFX last in the MIDI chain?
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Even if later in my chain, I will need both the Axe III MIDI-Out (Fractal Sysex data, scene MIDI commands, etc) and MIDI-Thru (commands from computer that have been passed along), to be merged and fed back into my foot controller in order to reconcile any indicator state changes (effect bypass on/off, etc) made by other devices on the loop. Unless there is an option to merge MIDI streams from the Axe III Out/Thru ports into one port "in-the-box", I will likely need a separate merging unit to accomplish this.
 
Bruce Sokolovic said:
I guess the independent part was from my conversation with tech support. In order to diagnose my issue, I had to have a midi interface and send the FM9 its own midi cable from said interface. Either the FM9 gets pissy working in a Widi group or it gets pissy booting while getting midi info as you said. I can’t seem to tell which it is exactly because I’m not certain my other devices are not booting just before the FM9 and possibly sending midi via the Widi jacks. This could be very possible.
But yes the independent statement I made was from my tech support conversation regarding getting an interface to send midi to the FM9 on its own separate line and not have it work in a group the way I have it configured. I need it to work how it’s configured so my work around is simply working around bad boots.
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Hi Bruce, I just found this thread while diagnosing some other MIDI issues with the FM9.

To give you another data point. I have an FM9 turbo and CME Widi Master running in a group.
I also experienced the startup Boot Failure several times in the past couple of days.
If the WIDI was connected to the FM9 and running during boot, "sometimes" the FM9 would just go to a blank screen.
I had to unplug the midi and allow the FM9 to boot first. It's a very strange behavior.

I started another thread yesterday to diagnose a different midi problem with the FM9
https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/unwanted-midi-messages-on-fm9-after-preset-change.203119/
I have been getting random MIDI messages sent after Program Change events, only if "send realtime sysex" is ON
Interesting, that the problem was not reproducible on the AxeFXIII or the FM3.
 
Ben Lewry said:
Hi Bruce, I just found this thread while diagnosing some other MIDI issues with the FM9.

To give you another data point. I have an FM9 turbo and CME Widi Master running in a group.
I also experienced the startup Boot Failure several times in the past couple of days.
If the WIDI was connected to the FM9 and running during boot, "sometimes" the FM9 would just go to a blank screen.
I had to unplug the midi and allow the FM9 to boot first. It's a very strange behavior.

I started another thread yesterday to diagnose a different midi problem with the FM9
https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/unwanted-midi-messages-on-fm9-after-preset-change.203119/
I have been getting random MIDI messages sent after Program Change events, only if "send realtime sysex" is ON
Interesting, that the problem was not reproducible on the AxeFXIII or the FM3.
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Thank you for validating my sanity. I actually since gave up. I cannot get the FM9 to work in a WIDI environment to any reliable standard. I understand world class guitar players are running around with a great midi interface and shooting all sorts of commands all over the stage and to their microwave at home all at the same time. Very impressive. But for every one of them there are thousands of us trying to make this work in COMMON gigging environments and something is wrong. Hopefully support/development takes another look at this someday. Until then, I’m back to tap dancing.
 
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