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RME ARC

By Olivier Mortier @Mix7
    2019-04-28 00:05:31.287Z

    Hello,

    I use an RME Fireface 802 sound card with a remote ARC.
    http://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/arc_usb.php
    I recently flashed this device to a new firmware version. According to the documentation RME has changed their communication system from Midi to SysEX. Unfortunately this is a big problem for Soundflow. The Soundflow icon flash red constantly. Here is RME's note regarding this new version:

    ——
    The ARC USB uses simple MIDI notes for its communication with TotalMix FX. Unfortunately there are some MIDI programs under Mac OS X that can not handle the flow of MIDI messages of the ARC USB, which causes dropped notes and other ill effects. The majority of problems is under macOS and with Logic, because it lacks any ability to select the MIDI port(s) it should listen too, but not exclusively.

    A fix is to change from simple MIDI notes to SysEx messages. These are usually ignored, but will be recognized and used by TotalMix FX 1.6 and up.

    For this to happen the ARC USB needs to be flashed to a new firmware version that adds a SysEx mode. We opted to not remove the former mode as older versions of TM FX would not work anymore. TM FX 1.6 and up will recognize the new ARC USB firmware version and SysEx mode (SE mode) will be used automatically.
    ——

    I can't use the remote at the same time as Soundflow, which is a problem in my workflow. Can you take a look ?

    Olivier

    Reply1 Like
    • 6 replies
    1. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2019-04-29 20:21:52.755Z

      @Mix7 Olivier thank you for reporting this.
      Can you send me a copy of your log file? I think the easiest path may be to just block that MIDI device from SoundFlow for now.
      You'll find the log by clicking SF icon -> Open Log File and then locating it, zipping it and sending it to info@soundflow.org.
      I'll need the log for when it's crashing so I can see the name/ID of the MIDI device to successfully block it.

      Reply
      1. In reply toMix7⬆:
        Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2019-04-29 21:07:20.905Z

        Thanks for the log, @Mix7.
        Are you using MIDI in SoundFlow for anything else? Eg. are you trigging SoundFlow commands from MIDI devices?
        The easiest solution right now might be to turn off the MIDI feature completely until we can fix the Fireface bug.

        Reply
        1. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2019-04-29 21:11:42.660Z

          If you know how to edit a json file, you'll need to add this key/value pair to your appSettings.json:
          "disableMidiInterface": true,

          For example after adding it, your appSettings.json could look like this:

          {"channel":"stable","disableMidiInterface":true,"autoLaunch":true,"firstRunCompleted":true}

          appSettings.json is found in ~/Library/Application Support/SoundFlow/v2/appSettings.json

          Note: You can't edit the json file with TextEdit, as TextEdit inserts invalid characters into json files and render them unusable (which means SoundFlow will overwrite your changes on next start).
          Use a code editor like Visual Studio Code.

          Or try with this:
          appSettings.zip (660 B)

          Reply
          1. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2019-04-29 21:14:21.376Z

            You'll also need to restart SoundFlow completely (eg. quitting and opening again from /Applications folder) for it to recognize the change. If it keeps getting reset to what it was before, that's likely because the json file got edited wrong.

            Reply
            1. MOlivier Mortier @Mix7
                2019-04-30 17:03:26.617Z

                Thanks Christian,

                It's work !
                I'll make a Firmware downgrade.
                No answer from RME at this moment.

                Thanks for your fantastic support.
                Olivier

                Reply1 Like
          2. Progress
            with handling this problem
          3. @chrscheuer marked this topic as Done 2019-04-30 20:35:57.231Z.
          4. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2019-08-05 11:17:05.712Z

            Hi @Mix7.
            We have now fixed this bug, the bugfix will be part of our 3.0 release which is scheduled in first half of September.

            Reply
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