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

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Generic MIDI Channel aware Remote Codec+Map

Image
If you have a controller capable of sending MIDI messages on multiple MIDI Channels, like an M-Audio Axiom 's 4 Keyboard zones (so 4 MIDI Channels from the same keyboard) plus the Pads on Channel 10 or an Arturia BeatStep PRO that can send 2 sequences on their own MIDI Channel (1 and 2) and its Drum sequencer on MIDI Channel 10 plus the controller on, say, MIDI Channel 16, etc,  then you certainly felt the need for a MIDI Channel-aware type of Remote Codec like this one. Taking the BSP example, here's how to get its 4 sources of MIDI into Reason with this Remote Codec+Map. Add a Control Surface per MIDI source  with these 3 easy steps: 1)  Add a Control Surface from the " <Other> " Manufacturer and choose the correct " Generic Controller on MIDI Channel __ /< " Model with the MIDI Channel you'll need 2) Give it a proper name, so you know what's the real controller being used with this generic map (that you
Read more

Arturia SparkLE Remote Codec+Map

Image
Hey all :) I've been asked last week to share my Arturia SparkLE Codec so here it is :) (unofficial) Arturia SparkLE Remote Codec (and partial Map) V1.0.2 ReDrum: Added Drum Channel selection support through the Dial encoder Edit Flam with Select+Loop Button Flam Amount  with  Select+Tempo Encoder Shuffle On/Off through Loop Button Actually, this has been sitting on my Remote projects folder for 2 years now (and far from being alone in there, eh), waiting for me to complete the rest of the Remote Map, because my initial need for it was really just to control Kong, Dr.OctoRex and ReDrum, that's why those are really the ones that got some partial love on the included map. Early this year, due to the improvements added to the ReDrum remoteables s ince Reason 8.2 , I ended up making some editing to support the new ReDrum remoteables :) I'm hoping that anyone wanting to extend it or complete it has enough examples already in the partial map I'm
Read more

Random access to a CV values list

Just added this little CV tool in the free download section (on the right): "K's Basics - Random access to a CV values list" It's basically a way to access through CV indexing, a list of 3x32 "cells" of CV values (well, one of the list is within the Note range of CV values, but this example is enough to demo the concept). So, if you're ever in need of generating a specific sequence of CV values controlled by another CV source, this is one way to do it :) It's like having random or sequential access (in whatever direction you want) to a specific custom list of CV or note values, by using a CV controlled "cursor" (just connect the CV "cursor" source to the Rotary 1 CV input and tweak the Combinator modulation programmer Min/Max values to your needs). This device was enough for something I was testing, but I'm sure it can be optimized with some thought and more time. It won't work well in a real-time fast switching situation,
Read more