Local Off problem (latest version)

[AndreGM]

Hi,
Just got the MF today and i’m struggling to make it work in Ableton while trying to use automation.
In order to do this and to avoid midi loops, it is recomended to change the “Local” to OFF.

It works but not for long... The problem is that after sometime it stops working and it even stops audio from coming out of the unit.

Restarting the Microfreak or Ableton doesn’t solve the problem. Only restarting windows 10 seems to solve this... but after some time the problem comes again...

Anyone having this problem? Help please...
Thanks

[Germain.arturia]

Hello,
could you please give more details regarding your MF settings, Ableton MIDI preferences, and also your midi track preferences? How is your clip built?
if you can share screenshots from ableton , it would be perfect
best regards,

[AndreGM]

Ok so I've already tested this either over USB and Midi.

When I tested this over USB I was getting midi loop from the MicroFreak. For instance if I play notes from any other midi controlle into the Microfreak everything would sound normal, but if played from the Microfreak itself the midi was not being sent right. If I play for example a C1 and after I play a D1, the sound coming from the D1 on the first press is still C1 and this gos into loop, so it's like the first note I press always plays the note pressed before. Very weird.

With this said I thought that maybe syncing and sending/receiving midi over USB was not a very good idea so I tested it over midi cables.

So I've connected both midi in and out into my soundcard.
The first time I tested it it started working with "Local Off" and everything was working like it should, but after playing around for a bit with presets suddently it started sending audio.

In live I can see that the midi is being sent but no audio comes out.
The only way to get audio again is to turn "Local" to "On".
If I then try turing it off, it will still not work.

Shutting down MF or Ableton does nothing.

Here's a screenshot:

[AndreGM]

Ok so after many failed attempts I think I've found the cause of the problem and the settings that will work on a DAW.

So first things first, the Midi Sync option:

By default is set to internal and because i'm in Ableton Live i've changed it to "Midi" which in this particular case is not ideal because for the sequencer to properlly work it needs to be set to "Internal"... So the trick here is to set it to "Both" this way it will let you sequence and use the arp but in sync with Live.

This was probably one of the reasons why i wasn't getting any sound from the unit at some point in time. Maybe I've selected a sound that had arp or sequencer activated so the sound wouldn't come out.

About the other option named "Local".
By default local is set to "On" and it should be set to "Off" in case you want to either automate parameters from the unit or from Ableton.

Diggin on M4L forum I found a device to control the Microfreak but there was a parameter missing which maybe was also causing the audio to stop. The parameter is the "Filter Amount" knob which is midi cc 26. I've added it to the M4L device to ensure that Live's midi ctr lane wouldn't drop it to 0.

The person who made the device is called "dettenbach" and you can find it here:
https://maxforlive.com/library/device/5485/arturia-microfreak

In my case I've just added the "Filter Amount" so no credits taken here. If you want this version I've included it in the link below.

Last but not least, the Microfreak seems to work best if connect with midi cables instead of USB. The reaosn for this maybe due to usb getting latency and resulting in midi loops or midi echo.

In my case using usb it behaved like this so instead i switched to midi cables and the loops and echos stoped.

There are still many things to add regarding this amazing synth, specially in the midi implementation section which lacks more parameters available for automation.
Also and this might be somehow critical at this point, I've noticed that some midi CC parameters are randomly been sent specially when the sequencer is activated.
Hope Arturia quickly fixes this on the next update.
Although new oscillators, wavetables and other stuff is great to have, maybe there are some steps behind to be taken in order to fix some crucial aspects to ensure a great user experience.

Also it would be great if Arturia made an editor for it to work with Daws making life a lot more easy to users and future updates.
Switching presets from Ableton using program changes in some cases don't quickly recall the new preset so in order to ensure that it will load, the first midi note needs to be a little after the first beat.

Anyway try this and let me know what you think.
Best regards

[Milkman76]

This seems to be a long term problem of the Microfreak, and its a problem I am experiencing today. The forum is reminding me about the age of this post, but perhaps if the old issue did not still exist, we wouldnt need to bump old threads?

I've had to do some work to get the MF working inside Cubase 12 and Bitwig 4/5, but at this point I have it working (MIDI in/out, arp out, pattern out, no audio glitches or anything strange there).
Nothing else in my studio behaves like the Microfreak at a MIDI level -- Korg, Novation, Akai, or any software instrument.

When I have the MF connected to my DAW (any DAW), and I am using the MF's pattern mode, the MF sends what seem like random CC messages out on MIDI channel 1/all. No other mode does this. (arp, normal notes). Changing the
MF's MIDI channels do not seem to have any effect on the messages coming from it in pattern mode. I could disable the MF's "arp/seq: MIDI out", but then I lose that feature.

--First problem: I have a Vector Synth in my studio which picks up the CCs coming from MF no matter what MIDI input channels it is on. I cant seem to filter them out. This causes random parameter changes on that hardware synth!
My other synths dont seem to pick up the CCs

--Second problem: this seems to occasionally cause the Vector Synth to freeze/reboot, and for the DAW to become unstable. I notice the Vector loses MIDI sync just before this happens. This never happens unless the Microfreak and Vector are
connected at the same time. Cubase freezes/crashes, sometimes the entire PC. Bitwig just restarts its audio engine and continues once devices have been restarted.

I also notice my windows 10 logs have many errors coming from the arturiausbmidi driver. These errors began just after installing firmware 5.0 and the latest USB driver via the MIDI control center. Please see the attached.

Is there any progress made on understanding why this is happening, and potentially fixing it? My only workaround right now is to disable the features in question.