Time-based MIDI issues

Antlion · Jul 30, 2009, 09:36 PM

Hi everyone. I'm having a problem and as cruel as it sounds I hope somebody else has had this one too.

I have a MIDI keyboard plugged in through a Gravis-brand gameport adaptor. It works perfectly and all my audio software is picking up the input properly. But while I'm playing, after ten or twenty minutes (I haven't timed it, sorry) the MIDI input just freezes. If I have a key held down when it happens the software will never get the NOTE OFF message and I have to hit the MIDI panic button to terminate the sound.

I've watched the interface with MIDI-OX. I get a constant stream of Active Sensing messages, note messages are received correctly, then everything stops. No error messages. If I open the MIDI Devices window and toggle the interface off and then back on a couple times, everything starts working again for another ten or twenty minutes. Lather, rinse, repeat.

My PC was on for hours without anything plugged into the MIDI adaptor, then when I plugged in my keyboard and started playing it stopped working after the same ten or twenty minutes. Then I "reset" the interface, played around a little, then left and came back an hour later and it was still working. So it's not just a time-based issue. The only thing I can think of is that there's a counter variable somewhere in the MIDI signal path that's overflowing after a certain number of note messages and crashing something. Maybe I'm wrong entirely and it's a totally random thing that has nothing to do with my actions directly. Either way it's incredibly irritating since it always cuts out right when I'm doing something interesting.

To skip some standard questions: This isn't a soundfont or kX Synth problem since I'm not using MIDI output and that's working perfectly when I do use it anyway. It's not explicitly a driver problem, I expect, since it's temporary and doesn't even need a restart to fix. Anybody have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Jul 30, 2009, 09:36 PM	#1
Antlion DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	Time-based MIDI issues Hi everyone. I'm having a problem and as cruel as it sounds I hope somebody else has had this one too. I have a MIDI keyboard plugged in through a Gravis-brand gameport adaptor. It works perfectly and all my audio software is picking up the input properly. But while I'm playing, after ten or twenty minutes (I haven't timed it, sorry) the MIDI input just freezes. If I have a key held down when it happens the software will never get the NOTE OFF message and I have to hit the MIDI panic button to terminate the sound. I've watched the interface with MIDI-OX. I get a constant stream of Active Sensing messages, note messages are received correctly, then everything stops. No error messages. If I open the MIDI Devices window and toggle the interface off and then back on a couple times, everything starts working again for another ten or twenty minutes. Lather, rinse, repeat. My PC was on for hours without anything plugged into the MIDI adaptor, then when I plugged in my keyboard and started playing it stopped working after the same ten or twenty minutes. Then I "reset" the interface, played around a little, then left and came back an hour later and it was still working. So it's not just a time-based issue. The only thing I can think of is that there's a counter variable somewhere in the MIDI signal path that's overflowing after a certain number of note messages and crashing something. Maybe I'm wrong entirely and it's a totally random thing that has nothing to do with my actions directly. Either way it's incredibly irritating since it always cuts out right when I'm doing something interesting. To skip some standard questions: This isn't a soundfont or kX Synth problem since I'm not using MIDI output and that's working perfectly when I do use it anyway. It's not explicitly a driver problem, I expect, since it's temporary and doesn't even need a restart to fix. Anybody have any ideas? Thanks in advance.