I just got the Tascam FW-1884 last week. I hooked it up to my computer. I use Digital Performer (version 4.12) with it. Previously, I had a M-Audio Midiman 4x4 that did my MIDI. The computer is a digital audio G4 with 2x533Mhz proc's and 1.1 GB of RAM. It has MacOS X.3, but was upgraded from X.2. (X.2 was a fresh install however)
In the same order, I got the E-Mu Proteus 1000. I have an existing Alesis QS8.2 keyboard. I installed the drivers for the FW-1884, and connected the Proteus to my Midiman 4x4, in basic in/out configuration.
I installed the version 1.10 drivers, and did the flash upgrade on the FW-1884.
After playing around a bit, everything worked just fine. Then I started playing around with the different sounds on the Proteus, and MIDI would die after so long. Not that long; usually less than 10 minutes.
I remember reading in the release notes of a firewire/usb midi interface conflict problem (with 'some' usb midi interfaces), so I removed the drivers for the M-Audio interface. I connected my other MIDI devices to the FW-1884's MIDI interface in a simular fashion.
The problem still persists. If I set up a midi track in DP, the midi plays just fine. Then, if I'm switching voices, or even just playing on a single voice, after so long, it just stops. Sometimes, there's a stuck note, sometimes there's nothing.
Usually, I can stop and restart DP, and it comes up just fine. But, the second time in a row that it happens, I get a DP message that states that the Midi system crashed, and DP couldn't be launched.
Overall, I've never had any problems with the computer having any sorts of crashing problems, and I've ran fairly intense applications on it, like Photoshop and Premiere.
Has anyone else had simular problems with a simular configuration, or any other ideas? I'm going to do more troubleshooting to see if the problem is with Digital Performer, or with the Tascam MIDI inputs.
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Well - the removal of the Midiman drivers is a part of the probl
Well - the removal of the Midiman drivers is a part of the problem. I've removed the midiman drivers from the obvious places - /Library/Audio/MIDI Drivers. However, I'm not 100% of what the installer all installs, so I can't be 100% i've removed it all.
I don't really want to nuke everything and start over again, so I'm trying to avoid a reinstall. My next plan is to find some different midi capable software to see if the problem is digital performer. If the problems still persist, remove the FW1884 software. reinstall the midiman drivers, and see if it still happens. And, if it does, then go down the reformat/reinstall route. But, of course, all of that will take time, and I have a cold that's kicking my butt.
fwiw, I reformatted and reinstalled the OS last night. Didn't in
fwiw, I reformatted and reinstalled the OS last night. Didn't install the midiman drivers. Installed OS, updated patches, installed Digital Performer, the updates to DP, and then the FW-1884 drivers. After I rebooted and reconnected the FW-1884, the problems still persist.
I don't have a setup here to replicate yours, but I'd agree with
I don't have a setup here to replicate yours, but I'd agree with your earlier assesment....you need to find some other MIDI-capable app (and/or a MIDI sniffer applet, the equivalent of MIDI-OX on the Mac), to determine if it's down to the 1884, Performer, or OS X. (I do recall OS X had earlier issues with MIDI, so don't rule that out either.)
I'm still on OS 9, so I can't directly help you. Are you sure yo
I'm still on OS 9, so I can't directly help you. Are you sure you completely uninstalled all the midiman software components? Also I've heard some negative user reports when people chose not to do a clean install of 10.3.
mitz