Hello,
I ran into this weird problem last night, when I was jamming with a friend. We were jamming at an old warehouse, which might be relevant, since I suspect this could be an issue with electricity.
Anyway. I have set up my Beatstep Pro like this:
- MIDI OUT to Akai Rhythm Wolf -> Rhythm Wolf MIDI THRU to Arturia MicroBrute. I've had no issues with controlling drum machine or synth.
- USB to computer: Win 8.1 running Ableton Live Lite, which I use for some effects (I am using Native Instruments Guitar Rig for these). I have mapped BSP's pattern buttons and knobs to control these effects. These mappings worked great most of the time.
- I have not changed any controller settings in Midi Control Center, so Beatstep Pro is sending all default MIDI messages in control mode.
- I use one project in Ableton where I have set up the effects I want to use, so the MIDI mappings do not change on software side at any point.
The issue I have: Sometimes, when I change project in BSP, the MIDI triggers for effects don't work anymore. Like, the pattern buttons* just simply don't send the midi messages anymore (via USB anyway). In these situations, Ableton doesn't register any incoming MIDI from the pattern buttons. This has happened to me at home once or twice, but a quick reboot of BSP fixed the problem. Last night, however, nothing seemed to help. Which was kind of frustrating.
*A weird detail: pattern button number 5 did send midi, but all other buttons did not.
Sequencers 1 and 2 worked normally (and I had Seq2 triggering a plugin within Ableton). Drum sequencer worked normally. But the control mode MIDI messages did not.
What could be the cause of this? I have a suspicion it has something to do with the wiring in different places, but I'm not very knowledgeable in electricity, so it's just a guess.
Most importantly, what can be done to avoid the issue? The best solution I've come up with, is use a separate midi controller for the effects, and keep BSP unplugged from the computer...
Kind regards,
Teemu from Finland
