FS, Midiface II, and Scorewriter

[dalematt]

I have a Fantom-S and the score writing program called ScoreWriter. My dream is simple - play the FS and have the notation scored in ScoreWriter using MIDI with no latency.

Having come to the conclusion that I am too old (64) to easily learn MIDI and getting older and MIDI becoming even more difficult to understand and use as my aged brain cells deteriorate even more, I decided to get the Miditech Midiface II (MF II). There have been forum members who have tried to help regarding MIDI and I appreciated their efforts, but, it was all beyond my capabilities.

The ad seemed simple enough. Plug it in: MIDI Out on the FS to MIDI In on the MF II; USB from the MF II to the computer and start playing. Hey, that's what they did on the ad.

It didn't work. I contacted Miditech and they told me the same thing regarding the plugs.

If anyone can help me out or direct me to a site or whatever that could help, I would appreciate it very much.

Thanks,
Dale

[rcraven]

Hi Dale

The ad seemed simple enough. Plug it in: MIDI Out on the FS to MIDI In on the MF II; USB from the MF II to the computer and start playing. Hey, that's what they did on the ad.

It didn't work. I contacted Miditech and they told me the same thing regarding the plugs.

What didn't work?
When you first run the scoring program you would have to tell the program what Midi interface to use, even though you may have only one.
Did you see any Midi interfaces listed in the score program?

Keep trying

Royce

[dalematt]

Hi Royce.

When I open ScoreWriter, a box appears. The left side says "Input" and below that is "Midilink". The instruction says that a small box beside that should light up red as a test if I play a note on the Fantom. But, when I do, there is no light. If I have the volume of the computer up full, I can just barely hear a sound that is so soft I can't really describe it. It's the same pitch no matter which note I hit.

The right side says "Output". Microsft GS Wavetable Synth is highlighted. Below that, it says "Midilink". If I hit the cursor on it, I get the message "This device is not available. Another program may be using it.". Perhaps it's referring to the "Input"?

What puzzles me is the "Midilink". I have no idea what that is because the new hardware is "Midiface II". Maybe that's another name for it?

Thanks for your response to my initial question. I hope my information above helps you determine my problem and that you can help.

Dale

[rcraven]

Can you tell what what computer you are using and what is the operating system (XP Vista etc)?

If it is a PC and XP
Right click 'My Computer'
Select 'Manage'
In the list on the left select 'System Tools' to open the sub list (may already be open)
From that list select 'Device Manager'
On the list on the right select 'Sound, video and game controllers'
There should be an entry 'USB Audio Device'

Is there?


All the best
Royce

[dalematt]

Thank you, Royce!

I have Vista so I had to go about it differently. I ended up searching for Device Manager, found Sound, Video, and Game Controllers, which in turn gave a list. Midilink was one of them and I had tho option of deleting it. I did.

New problem. Midiface II is not showing up as a midi device in ScoreWriter even though I have it hooked up as directed. Any ideas? I will also try, again, to find a forum for ScoreWriter which the company says exists but didn't give me a link.

[rcraven]

Boot up the PC and then connect the USB cable to the interface.
It should look for a driver and install the MS compliant driver and 'USB Audio Device' should appear in the Sound Video Game Controller list.

No good?
If you have a different USB input on the PC, plug the interface into that. (Yes MS will install a new driver for every USB socket on the PC, crazy isn't it?)

While you are in Device Manager check that power is getting to the interface.
At the bottom of the list on the right is 'Universal Serial Bus controller'
Below that is 'USB Root Hub' (may be more than one)
Double click and select 'Power Management'
Make sure the 'Allow the computer to turn off this device.....' is NOT selected
Now reboot.

When you are back in action run Control Panel
Look for 'Sounds and Audio Devices'
Look for MIDI Music playback.
There should be 'USB Audio Device' in the drop down box
If there is, you should be OK

[dalematt]

I have Vista. Although I couldn't follow your directions exactly, I was able to navigate to the various points of reference. Unfortunately, midilink is still there even though I have deleted and uninstalled M-Audio. I will think that I have ridden the computer of midilink and then, it's there again. And, it appears, until it is gone, my midiface II will not be recognized. Gr-r-r-r!

[Arjan]

What puzzles me is the "Midilink". I have no idea what that is because the new hardware is "Midiface II". Maybe that's another name for it?

That is indeed quite likely.

[rcraven]

If you only have one Midi interface connected there should be only one driver and that is 'USB Audio Device'.
If you have had other Midi interfaces and plugged them into a number of USB ports you could have run out of the 10 MIDI adapters that MS will let you have.

Sorry, but it is going to get a bit more complicated.

Fiddling with the register is always tricky, but if you want to have a go

Make sure your Midi interfaces are not connected.
If you can get to the program 'regedit' look for a folder
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32

In there you will find entries like

Midi REG_SZ Midilink (I'm guessing)
Midi1 REG_SZ myokent.dll
etc

I would delete all the 'Midi' keys - Midi, Midi1,Midi2, Midi3 etc
Reboot the machine.
Plug in the interface. This should try to install the MS driver.
If you look at the same place in regedit you should see
Midi REG_SZ wdmaud.drv
This is MS driver 'USB Audio Device'

Not fixed.......
A few years ago I had a similar problem and this was the very strange solution developed after great gnashing of teeth and lots of hair loss.

The Plug and Play enumerator was somehow uninstalled. I have no idea how.

Info from this web page
http://www.laurentkempe.com/post/How-I- ... antec.aspx

1. In services, check that WinAudio service is enabled, set to automatic, and running.
2. In Device Manager, System Devices check that Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator is installed and running

If not , then you need to reinstall it:

1. Copy machine.inf from %windir%\inf to your desktop
2. Remove line ExcludeFromSelect=*
3. Use Add new hardware wizard using the Have Disk option
4. Select the machine.inf you saved on the desktop
5. Install Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator

What a business. I though that the plug and play service was running but I missed this.

Royce

[dalematt]

Hi Royce.

I have Windows 7.

MidiFace II is made by Miditech, a German company (www.miditech.de, I think). I bought it through a Canadian music distributor company. It's a plug and play.

I'm a little nervous about going into the registry, so what do you think of this idea? I had an M-Audio midi interface device that did not live up to my expectations. I uninstalled it, but midilink is still in the computer. Yesterday, I downloaded a program from "Giveaway for the Day" that claims to uninstall 100%. My thought is to install M-Audio again and then use this new program to uninstall instead of using the Win 7 uninstall feature. In fact, I'll probably do that before you have a chance to respond. If that doesn't work, then I will seriously consider your suggestion and guide to try the regedit route.

[dalematt]

Well, my idea didn't work (install M-Audio and then uninstall using the program that guaranteed total uninstallation. Glad I didn't pay for it!). Once I get my courage up to try the regedit approach, I will give it a try.

[dalematt]

Royce.

I started into your advice. I found regedit. Clicked on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE... . Went to Software and got a window with 3 headings:

Name Type Data
(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)

There were no Midi entries.

[rcraven]

I'm sorry that this is all so complicated.

Can I ask if you are sure you went to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32

There is one before it called
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers
(without the 32 at the end) that looks like your result.

Drivers32 should have lots of stuff in it.

Hang in there we'll get this sorted.

All the best
Royce

[dalematt]

Hi Royce.

You were right. I went to the Drivers32 and deleted the midis (6 of them).

I rebooted the computer, turned on the FS after making sure that the Midiface II was hooked up. The midilink was gone - the first time. Now, it's back when I went into ScoreWriter the second time.

I've been into so many pages, sites, etc., I don't remember where I came across these 2 messages but one said "USB device has a driver problem" and the other said "Device driver software was not successfully installed".

Contacting the manufacturer (miditech) is virtually a dead end. All they say is to make sure it's hooked up correctly.

I haven't heard from ScoreWriter even though I have contacted them at least 2x, maybe 3x.

I contacted the retailer, but haven't heard back from them as yet.

I'm beginning to think that the Mififace II might be defective.

[rcraven]

When you look at the key again with regedit, is there now an entry
there should be at least one midi entry

midi USB Audio Device

If not then connect you MidiFace II and see if Win7 tries to install a driver (New hardware found etc)
...If it doesn't then the interface sounds defective.
...If it does try to install, close regedit and open it again. If there still isn't the entry then it could be the interface or the MS driver that are defective.

...I have a few different Midisport (M-Audio) interfaces and they all work quite well.
...There were some problems with the 1in1out model called Uno. If you have one of those you can go to their forum and get some help.
http://forums.m-audio.com/forumdisplay. ... e79712bd5c

If there is the key present, plug in your MidiFace II and go to Device manager to check that the driver loads OK (No yellow "!")
If there is a problem then the driver doesn't match.
... go to MS and look for an updated USB Audio device driver

... there is a lot of chatter at MS forums about some interfaces that use the MS driver not working.
...the suggestions there are that

The solution is a Windows 7 driver for the Roland UM-1G interface, that works also with the Swissonic 1x1 MIDI-Interface. But carefully, there must be the letter G at the end. They have other UM devices with different letters at the end.

You have to install the drivers manually. The setup.exe didn't work in my case.

Manually you can install the drivers via the device manager in Windows 7. You have to choose a list of all devices, than select a medium and choose the "RDIF1093.INF" file in the extracted driver folder named "Files". A window will prompt and asks if you really want to install the UM-1G device. You should click yes and allow to install the driver for the UM-1G device.

When everything is finished, you should be able to choose the UM-1G interface in your favorite software program.

Roland make excellent drivers so this might work.

Else everything should be OK. Go to Scorewiter and select the Generic Midi interface (I don't know what it will be labelled)