Roland VG-99 meets macOS Big Sur - YouTube

Started by Vaultnaemsae, February 05, 2021, 10:38:24 AM

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Vaultnaemsae

So following on from the same thing last year' "VG-99 meets Catalina" video, I posted a new video today of how to run the 32-bit VG editor in a virtual machine in macOS Big Sur. Also, I cover how to make the VG-99's USB out stream re-sample to 48kHz using a software solution, Rouge Amoeba's Loopback 2. Check it out if you're interested. There is a bit of updated information that would apply to those running Catalina as well.



There is some other VG-99 related stuff on my channel. Enjoy.
Vaultnaemsae's SoundCloud:
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Vaultnaemsae

I've since noticed something very strange with MIDI connections in the method I outlined in the above video.

On occasion the editor would fail to connect. I was perplexed.

At this time the VG-99 is connected via a UM-One Mk.2 (tablet mode) to the USB MIDI hub of the iConnectAUDIO4+. I've labelled the MIDI port "V-GUITAR" so it can be interchanged with the SY-1000 or GP-10 if need be.

These ports are available freely in macOS and iOS and appear to be perfectly functional.

But an issue seems to arise depending on the Network MIDI routing method. I had always hoped to simply use the 'Live Routings' setting under the network MIDI window (DAWless control!!!) but this seems impossible under Big Sur. I'm pretty sure it used to work on Catalina but I have no simple way of verifying this.

And because Network MIDI's 'Live Routing' doesn't function correctly one must use MIDI routing software in place. I have tried Ableton Live 10/11, MIDIPipe and MIDI Patchbay.

Ableton Live works seamlessly every time but the other two do not. The peculiar thing is that they will work if you first establish a connection via Ableton Live, double up with MIDIPipe or MIDI Patchbay and then kill Live 11 -- as if the connection gets passed over to the other software. But you cannot startup the editor with only MIDIPipe or MIDI Patchbay running or the VG-99 Editor will throw an error message.

Has anybody else had this issue? Does anybody understand why this happens?

I have a suspicion that it has something to do with SYSEX messages being passed over network MIDI but I'm really not sure. AFAIK, MIDIPipe and MIDI Patchbay both pass all MIDI messages so I can't see that there would be any bottleneck imposed by them. I can monitor SYSEX in Live 11 and I see that it's being passed through as expected and the VG-99 Editor is also responding correctly.



Vaultnaemsae's SoundCloud:
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aliensporebomb

Basically starting with Catalina Apple went 64-bit only.  The VG-99 is 32-bit only as far as its software goes so the last software that works properly with it is MacOS Mojave which is why I have 4 partitions on my system:   Mojave, Catalina, Windows 10 and a backup parition of 10.14 (Mojave) "Just in Case".

I've had zero success doing much with the VG-99 on Catalina and haven't messed with Big Sur as yet just because it's always a nightmare with all my legacy stuff converting to one of their new half-baked operating systems which always means hours of work to get it to work right.

My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

Vaultnaemsae

Quote from: aliensporebomb on April 05, 2021, 07:46:15 AM
Basically starting with Catalina Apple went 64-bit only.  The VG-99 is 32-bit only as far as its software goes so the last software that works properly with it is MacOS Mojave which is why I have 4 partitions on my system:   Mojave, Catalina, Windows 10 and a backup parition of 10.14 (Mojave) "Just in Case".

I've had zero success doing much with the VG-99 on Catalina and haven't messed with Big Sur as yet just because it's always a nightmare with all my legacy stuff converting to one of their new half-baked operating systems which always means hours of work to get it to work right.

There is no argument about which OS is best for the VG-99. I have an ext. SSD with Mojave on it that can at as a standalone OS for VG-99 use. Super stripped back and ideal for the purpose...it only runs Live 11 and a few necessary plugins. Operating/working with the VG-99 is like butter in there.

The point of my video was that it is entirely possible to use the VG-99 in Big Sur -- with some tweaking and, since AFAIK, it is not possible to use a bootable drive with a legacy OS on it (e.g. Mojave) under the Apple M1 hardware. Therefore, this is really important information for VG/VB-99 users who need to work with 2021-or-newer computers that do not support pre-macOS 11 operating systems. FWIW, Big Sur is a very pleasant OS in terms of the user experience...It would be AWESOME if Roland/BOSS updated the driver/editor to work in this new environment. 

Anyway, I posted this last question as a specific question regarding MIDI under macOS 11. Probably somebody like Admin or Gumtown would have some further info on it -- trust me, I've Googled the bejesus out of it -- but I suspect most users here are not keen to dabble in macOS 11 until forced to :)
Vaultnaemsae's SoundCloud:
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