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Midi Trouble :( Can't Get Ableton To Speak To Nanozwerg Synth


Guest Tam o' Shantie

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Guest Tam o' Shantie

I know it's a long shot posting here but wondered if anyone had any advice or might even be able to come round with some gear to see if I can pinpoint exactly where i'm having trouble?

 

I recently picked up an MFB Nanozwerg

 

MFB_Nanozwerg_Rueckseite_2ec3ba4822_4b20

and I'm trying to sequence it via Ableton using this 

 

romio2.jpg

 

I have tried to set up a MIDI channel, and test routed the MIDI to outputs 1 and 2, and neither works. You can set the input MIDI channel on the Nanozwerg, but just to be safe I have changed the output MIDI channel to 1-16, on both outputs. None of these options gets a peep out of the synth. I can test the synth by setting its onboard sequencer to play a continuous tone, so the audio side is fine. 

 

So basically the way I see it one of three things could be wrong:

 

1. The MIDI input of the synth is faulty. I don't have another bit of hardware with a MIDI in to swap the synth with.

2. The MIDI interface is faulty. It's brand new, but it could happen.

3. My Ableton settings are wrong. Looked it up a fair bit but they could be incorrect. Not sure.

 

Any suggestions?

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Probably already tried it but have you checked that it's the midi-out cable that's in the midi-in on the MFB and vice versa?  

 

I spent ages setting up my laptop to talk to my synth and wondering why it wasn't working. Lights were on but nothing happening, then I realised that I'd matched up the lead marked out to the out port and vice versa without thinking about it.  Switched it so the USB out was on the synth's midi-in and that fixed it.

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Guest Tam o' Shantie

Probably already tried it but have you checked that it's the midi-out cable that's in the midi-in on the MFB and vice versa?  

 

I spent ages setting up my laptop to talk to my synth and wondering why it wasn't working. Lights were on but nothing happening, then I realised that I'd matched up the lead marked out to the out port and vice versa without thinking about it.  Switched it so the USB out was on the synth's midi-in and that fixed it.

 

If u look at the Nanozwerg it only has MIDI In. 

 

So i've got the MIDI OUT 1 going into MIDI In on the synth. Also tried MIDI OUT 2 as well, in case the cable itself was dodgy. No joy :(

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Have you tried connecting the inputs and outputs of your interface together, then sending midi out and trying to record it from the input? I'd give that a bash first cause it'll help you see if the interface is working correctly. If you can do that happily enough and your sending midi out to the synth on the right channel I'd be thinking dodgey midi input on the Nanozwerg like you said. Let us know how you get on.

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Guest Tam o' Shantie

Have you tried connecting the inputs and outputs of your interface together, then sending midi out and trying to record it from the input? I'd give that a bash first cause it'll help you see if the interface is working correctly. If you can do that happily enough and your sending midi out to the synth on the right channel I'd be thinking dodgey midi input on the Nanozwerg like you said. Let us know how you get on.

 

The interface if you look at it, just has 'male' type midi connectors as they all break out from the USB connection. So unfortunately I can't 'route' them as such. 

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If I look at that picture, I see male jacks and female jacks...could it be that the female jacks are the outputs and the male jacks are inputs, meaning you need to run a MIDI cable from the female jack to your synth? If thats the case then you probably have the inputs connected to the input of the synth, hence not working?

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Guest Tam o' Shantie

threeornothing, i think that's a dodgy picture as my MIDI cables on the breakout interface were all males.

 

HOWEVER, I now have this Roland/Cakewalk device

 

top_L.jpg

 

the midi output works fine and i can record it into the other channel. looks like it's totally the Nanozwerg at fault here. 

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Upgrade to an Arturia MiniBrute! ;)

 

I found the manual, take it you have tried this? And have you tried using specific channels instead of outputting to all, the MIDI interface on the nanozwerg might not understand that? Sounding likely thats it the synth thats not working :(

 

Have you tried other software? If youre on PC, this is a really good simple one to get working, I compose all my stuff in Cubase but use this just for playing back the exported MIDI files for "live" use... http://www.filter24.org/seq24/shots.html

 

 

 

MIDI-Channel

To set the MIDI-channel, press and hold

 

Wave (LFO) for approx. one second. Keep the

button pressed and set the channel using the

 

Rate control. The channel number is

displayed using the LEDs next to the LFO-wave. Add up the numbers next to the LEDs to

determine the current channel (e.g. 1+4 = channel 5, 1+2+8 = channel 11). With no LED

lit, the MIDI channel is 16.

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Guest Tam o' Shantie

Upgrade to an Arturia MiniBrute! ;)

 

I found the manual, take it you have tried this? And have you tried using specific channels instead of outputting to all, the MIDI interface on the nanozwerg might not understand that? Sounding likely thats it the synth thats not working :(

 

Have you tried other software? If youre on PC, this is a really good simple one to get working, I compose all my stuff in Cubase but use this just for playing back the exported MIDI files for "live" use... http://www.filter24.org/seq24/shots.html

 

 

 

MIDI-Channel

To set the MIDI-channel, press and hold

 

Wave (LFO) for approx. one second. Keep the

button pressed and set the channel using the

 

Rate control. The channel number is

displayed using the LEDs next to the LFO-wave. Add up the numbers next to the LEDs to

determine the current channel (e.g. 1+4 = channel 5, 1+2+8 = channel 11). With no LED

lit, the MIDI channel is 16.

 

alright dude,

 

i tried that channel select yeah, and also tried sending midi out from every channel on the output, no joy :(

 

im running a macbook so cant test with alternative software. nevermind

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