KMI SoftStep Foot Controller

Started by vanceg, October 28, 2010, 01:36:58 PM

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Vaultnaemsae

This is SoftStep 2 related...

Kind of a long story, but I've been having problems with MIDI over USB communication with my Axe-Fx II/LiquidFoot+ MIDI controller/MacBook Pro running Ableton. MIDI wasn't making it from Axe-Fx to Ableton, MIDI was displaying all garbled in MIDI Monitor/MIDI Test etc. I got it to work fine on a WIN 10 laptop but had zero success with my Mac.

I was getting kinda fed up with it all and have been thinking about going to a fully laptop-based guitar/bass rig for various reasons so I decided to make the move to a different (more compact and USB powered) MIDI controller. I purchased a new SoftStep2 last week and it was going great for a few days...

But, still madly trying to solve that Axe-Fx USB MIDI issue (obsessive much?), I installed the Axe-Fx drivers on the Parallels install of WIN 10 on my Mac along with the much ballyhooed 'MIDI-OX'. I read somewhere that MIDI can run across both MacOS/WIN when using virtual machines. I plugged in the Axe-FX, assigned it to WIN and tried to monitor the MIDI on both OS and WIN. Of course, it didn't show up in MAC, only WIN - but it was showing the correct data finally. So I thought I'll try the SS2 just to check that its data was coming through correctly. Plugged it in, 'SSCOM' assigned to WIN 10 machine, selected ports in MIDI-OX, next thing MIDI-OX freaks out and starts spinning thousands of character of data (I didn't even touch the controller!) so I shut it down and unplugged the USB cable for the SS2.   

I tried to reconnect it but The SS2 will not power up again. I have also tested it with the expander adaptor and it will not power up (the expander does but not the SS2). I connected it with a regular USB-A to USB-B cable on the 'USB' port on the SS2, as directed in the manual - and as I had done at least 20 times in the last 4 days. I have never seen anything stop working from being plugged into my computer so I'm at a bit of a loose end as to how this could happen. I'll send it back to the retailer for a replacement and I'm sure that will not be an issue but I'm curious if this is a common phenomenon or if I just got a faulty unit. Or is my Mac potentially ready to fry anything else that I attach to it?

Aside from this, the SS2 was a pretty awesome controller. I hope the replacement one doesn't go this way too.
Vaultnaemsae's SoundCloud:
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vanceg

I haven't seen any SS just up and die...but I bet it does happen.  Have you tried plugging anything else (maybe less costly) into that same port?  USB cables also fail or even become flakey at an alarming rate, causing all sorts of odd issues.

Vaultnaemsae

That's what i thought. I tried many cheap devices on that port and different cables to make sure that it wasn't something simple. Anyway, the retailer did an exchange on it a few hours ago and I should get a replacement unit by tomorrow.

I had a sneaking suspicion that it must have had something to do with the device being connected while running Parallels but I've connected many devices in that state before and never seen anything like this happen.

Anyway, glad the shop staff were so helpful and looking forward to getting back to all things musical when the new one arrives!
Vaultnaemsae's SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/vaultnaemsae



fokof

Anybody knows if the latest SoftStep firmware ( 1.0.4 ) works with 10.14.6 OSX ?

There is a warning that 2.1.1 Might affect older system compatibility.

I have an M2 CPU but also still use my old tower with runs 10.14.6


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