[Solved] Stage 3 88 - MIDI out? USB issue

[dmamfmgm]

I apologize for this seemingly simple question.

I have a brand new Stage 3 88. Very exciting. I haven't changed the settings at all except to turn off memory protect and the few things below.

I now have my DAW hooked up - I'm using Ardour on a Mac.

macOS includes this nice tool, "Audio MIDI Setup," which becomes vital for troubleshooting.

Here's where I got stuck: I can't get the Stage 3 to send Midi note on/off messages, at all, to the mac.

Steps I took to troubleshoot:

1. I read the Stage 3 manual. It was quite readable, and the "Recording A Stage 3 Performance To A MIDI Sequencer" was spot on what I'm trying to do here.

2. I searched this forum. Nothing seems to exactly describe the problem I'm having, which is that no MIDI note on/off messages are being sent out by the Stage 3.

3. I verified "Nord Stage 3" shows up in the MIDI Studio window in Audio MIDI Setup. This just tells me the mac knows the MIDI device is there. I unplugged and re-plugged the Stage 3 just to double check that it's doing what I expect.

4. I checked the MIDI menu on the Stage 3.

Local control - ON (the Stage 3 manual suggests turning this off and using play-through in my DAW to get notes to play; however, I'm leaving it ON until I resolve the problem I'm currently having. But just in case, I tried turning it to OFF, and it made no difference.)
Channel Global - 1
Channel Panel A - off
Channel Panel B - off
Channel DualKB - 16 (I also tried making this be off, just in case, but it made no difference)
Control Change Mode - Send & Receive
Program Change Mode - Send & Receive
Transpose MIDI at - In

5. Ok, here's where I'm stuck. I can't record anything because there are no note on/off messages sent from the Stage 3.

I hope I did a good job simplifying the problem down to bare bones here. I believe I've narrowed it down to the Stage 3 by reason of:

1. If I send note on/off messages from the MIDI Studio window in Audio MIDI Setup, they play on the Stage 3. I do this by clicking "Test MIDI Setup." It then lights up blue, and I can also see int he MIDI Studio menu that it is enabled because the menu now says "Stop Testing Setup." Then I click the downward pointing triangle under Nord Stage 3 and each time I do, I hear notes from the Stage 3.

2. If I press notes on the Stage 3, I hear them on the Stage 3. The upward pointing triangle under Nord Stage 3 in the MIDI Studio window of Audio MIDI setup should light up if any MIDI messages were received. It does not.

3. I then attempted to record a MIDI track in Ardour with the Hardware tab, System input enabled and Record all channels selected. It records nothing.

4. I then manually scribed some notes in the MIDI track, pressed play, and the Stage 3 plays them.

Conclusions:

A. The USB MIDI is correctly connected and detected by the mac

B. The Stage 3 is not sending midi note on/off messages.

Did I miss a menu setting somewhere? This seems like it should be pretty simple to resolve.

[dmamfmgm]

Quick question: have you tried with a different USB cable (shouldn't be it, but just in case) and/or to use the Extern section and/or to use the MIDI DIN?

[dmamfmgm]

Wellll...

As so often happens to me, all I needed to do was post. The problem resolved itself when I plugged and unplugged the USB cable one more time. Hopefully this is helpful for others.

I can now record and play back MIDI just fine.

I haven't tried turning Local Control to off yet, I'll try that next.

A little more info on things:

• macOS 10.15.2 Catalina
• Ardour 5.12.0
• Stage 3 OS 2.22

[dmamfmgm]

Quick question: have you tried with a different USB cable (shouldn't be it, but just in case) and/or to use the Extern section and/or to use the MIDI DIN?

Those are good suggestions, maxpiano, thanks!

I have noticed the Nord Sound Manager has a similar problem where I have to unplug and replug the cable a few times before it will sync to the Stage 3, which I think indicates a problem in the USB connection.

No other devices have any trouble talking to this mac, a macbook pro, and I use it as my main work machine every day.

Should I be concerned about the Stage 3 USB connection?

[dmamfmgm]

Hi,

just for curiosity: do you have Nord Sound Manager and the DAW open at the same time? I am not sure but the Stage might probably connect to only one application at the time, so when the connection to Sound Manager is established it might not work with the DAW and the other way around?

[LewTheKeysGuy]

Audio Midi Setup - Midi studio should not cause any problems with logic as it's being used as a midi lookup / diagnostic, but depending on the OS version there are a few changes to how Audio Midi Setup tools work. If you're running Logic, don't run it with Audio MIDI setup because you'll be shadowing the ports as Logic is rather hungry on communication ports.

What I do with any midi setup is first check it in MIDI studio as a device, to ensure it's known and made available to the system, then check it with snoize if there's any issues I'm concerned over. once that's done, then I set up with logic and then add it as a device to remember.

MIDI with the stage 3 is an interesting thing and can drive you mad if you're not confident in routing. I'd recommend using extern with local on as you'll be using the audio from the nord to then send to an interface, if that's the intention.. local off would be for midi out to host only and then send midi back for audio. depends on what you're achieving.

lew

[dmamfmgm]

just for curiosity: do you have Nord Sound Manager and the DAW open at the same time?

Not at the same time, no, although that was just a happy accident. I used Nord Sound Manager as soon as I got the Stage 3. It reported errors like "checksum invalid," but on unplugging the USB cable and reconnecting it, it was able to download all the programs and started working correctly. I then updated the OS to 2.22. I think it was 2.21 before, but I didn't write that down.

Thanks for the warning. I will be careful not to run Nord Sound Manager at the same time as Ardour (my DAW).

[dmamfmgm]

What I do with any midi setup is first check it in MIDI studio as a device, to ensure it's known and made available to the system, then check it with snoize

This is super helpful, thanks, Lew! I hadn't discovered snoize.com before. The MIDI monitor there looks like a very useful tool.

[maxpiano]

Change that USB cable... just in case

[LewTheKeysGuy]

The USB cable which comes with Nord Stage 3 and Nord Grand is OK, but I tend to go for more heavy duty cables, good idea to spend more on a higher quality USB cable than cheap cables, like anything else, even MIDI leads, I'm not a fan of those cheap 99p leads, instead I go for pro cables, either hand made or anything from the likes of mogami or vandamme.

I've come across issues with cheap cables and nord systems where instruments don't connect, register or there's an issue with data passing.

lew