M-Audio Axiom's problem (kinda) solved! =)

I found a workaround to my M-Audio Axiom 61's problem! :D
This problem came to light only while beta testing Record 1.0. I realized that my Axiom was randomly firing an Expression MIDI message (CC 11), during a Channel Aftertouch MIDI stream. This was causing some weird behaviors on some of Record's ID8 presets.

So, if I played ID8's Electric Piano Mark II (an Expression-aware preset), after pressing the keys a few times (sending the Channel Aftertouch data), the preset volume spiked up unexpectedly! And this happened every time with some other Expression-aware presets.
After checking with other fellow beta testers that this wasn't an ID8 preset bug, I had to (unexpectedly) turn my attention to my controller, the Axiom.
Using MIDI-OX's MIDI dump, there it was, that darned unwanted, uninvited Expression hiccup :(

Well, now I finally had some time to try something: Set Axiom's Zone 1 (only, so I could still use the other Zones if needed) Expression CC to OFF... and... IT WORKS! :D
So now, while using Zone 1, I see no CC11 unwanted triggering while generating Aftertouch :)
This also shows that's really an hardware issue and not a firmware bug (as I thought at first).
I checked the Expression's connection at the back, and from the outside it looks ok, so there must be some kind of weird short-circuit inside, somewhere on circuit path, triggered by the Aftertouch pressure sensor or something... :/
oh well... at least now its kinda fixed, since I don't use an Expression pedal anyway :)

Comments

  1. Matt PiperDecember 28, 2009 at 11:28 AM

    I have this same problem with my Axiom61. When an expression pedal is plugged into the expression pedal jack, the problem goes away.

    I thought I was the only one with this problem, until I saw your post.

    And ha ha-- I guess you cannot edit comments? Only delete them, and then the empty husk of the deleted comment remains forever? :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. KoshdukaiDecember 28, 2009 at 12:13 PM

    Oh, you can't ? That's blogspot for ya :P
    (sorry! -.-') I'll delete the "husk" ^^ (done!)

    Thanks for sharing that info!
    (and now I know I'm not alone on this one)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Matt PiperDecember 29, 2009 at 4:59 PM

    Ha ha! Thanks for deleting the husk! :)

    Yeah! Aside from my mixed feelings about the clicky-detented controller knobs, I actually really like the Axiom61; but that's a weird hardware problem we encountered. I think it must not happen on all of them, or at least not all the time... because I tried it on a couple of other Axiom61's and could not reproduce the problem. Hmm.

    It was really obvious with my setup, because I map my expression pedal to mod wheel so I can work my filters with my foot easily. So I actually saw the mod wheels jumping every once in a while in Reason when I didn't have a pedal plugged in and was nowhere near my mod wheel! Then I did the same thing as you, testing with MIDI-OX to nail down the problem.

    Thanks very much for putting up a link to my blog, by the way! :)

    ReplyDelete

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