Opcode Studio 4 useable in OS X?

[paule]

Hi all,
I need an advice:
I had some annoying midi overruns with my Opcode Studio 5LX the last days. I am using it with a gport with one serial connection.

Therefore I started today to exchange the studio5lx with 2 studio4 (which I also own) and now I have a general question:
Are the Opcode Studio 4 also useable in OS 10.3.9 or not?

I had no problems to set them up in OS9: in order to use two connections I also exchanged the gport and want to use now the Keyspan Twin Serial Adapter (USA28X) with two lines to the two studio 4s. In OS9 I had no problems to get both studio4 recognized by OMS.

The problem starts while setting up in OS X (because I would like to use my studio sometimes with OS9 and sometimes with OS 10.3): There is no midi signal coming through the studio4. I have created the modems with gport and stealthdriver software

Does anyone have setup a studio4 in OS 10.3 or know if this is possible? I was successful with the studio5LX, but now I am not sure anymore if the studio4 is working too in OS X. Any tipps?

Best regards,
Paule.

[macStuff]

why would u not network the two studio 4's on one serial connection the way the manufacturers intended?

are you not familar with this post? http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=473.0

[refinery]

im pretty sure you could also use that keyspan dual connector to use both connections of the 5LX. in fact, i believed the 5LX was designed to allow that to eliminate the MIDI overruns you are encountering.

[GaryN]

I'm surprised this hasn't come up before now.

You didn't say, but from clues in your post (g-port, stealthdriver, OSX 10.3) I'm guessing you've been using the stealth hack found on Doug Wyatt's old webpages to get MIDI to and from the 5LX in OSX. Trouble is, that was developed on a 9600 which has modem and printer ports and he used the modem port which the stealth driver could find.

You had overruns because the gport: 1. Only has one connection and: 2. Won't run at "fast" speed.

So, you're hoping that with a Keyspan, you can get two ports working to run two interfaces. I'm surprised you didn't just try to use the Keyspan to access both of the 5LX ports.

I have also tried all of that. The problem is not with the Studio 4s (although there could be other issues with those). The problem is that the stealth driver doesn't "find" the serial ports created by the Keyspan. Why?

Because it doesn't even know what a USB bus is so it doesn't look there.

Yes, that's an oversimplification, but essentially accurate. If one could overcome this, then as I said before, you could just use both 5LX ports and double your thru-put that way.

I pulled out a lot of hair trying to find a sneaky way to make this work without success. What I ended up doing is re-evaluating exactly why I wanted to make it work to begin with. In my case, it's because although I work in OS9 some 95% of the time, there are a few things you simply need to do sometimes that just don't have great OS9 software for. Some virtual instruments, audio editors, the occasional Audio Units-only-no-VST effect and so forth. I sometimes process tracks in OSX and then return them to OS9. I made that workable by simply using the MIDI I/O on my Delta 1010 to feed my 5LX. I have a number of Studio Patches programmed into the 5LX to cover what access to my MIDI hardware I really need. It's also enough to work a project in Logic (don't start, I get enough grief about still using SVP!) using virtual stuff and a few externals together. Actually, if I had a stealth port, I would use it in OSX and be happy with it.

Yes, I know that answer sucks but…
I don't think there's any way to make any Opcode interface fully functional in OSX. That would require something like a new OMS or updated stealth driver that would talk to the Apple OSX Audio/MIDI driver AND recognize the Keyspan-created serial ports on the USB bus to convert the MIDI to serial and back.
The original info is attached - not that it really helps any.

Sorry. I'd love to buy your stealth port though…

[GaryN]

why would u not network the two studio 4's on one serial connection the way the manufacturers intended?

are you not familar with this post? http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=473.0

Because "stacking" two interfaces in series as you're suggesting does NOT remove the bottleneck of having only ONE serial connection. and does nothing to increase throughput - it only adds MIDI ports.

In your own post that you quote (http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=473.0) that explanation is given almost at the very top - like 3 or 4 paragraphs down titled "Dual Port connection"

[paule]

Hi all,
and thanks for your helpful input.
Yes, I know the diagrams about connecting two studio4s in a row. And it is working fine in OS 9 and (!) OS X. The gport connection is in my case the most reliable connection where I don't get any system freeze (which I get with the USB twin serial sometimes). At the moment after all these testings I have two "stable connection" possibilities which work okay:
1.) The two studio 4 with one serial connection on a gport. It is the most versatile way because in Logic6 I can still use "Logics mididriver and OMS simultaneously" (which is somehow not possible with the Studio5LX, maybe because it is older and allows only OMS).
2.) The Keyspan Twin Serial Adapter is running fine in OS9 (beside some freezes which I accuse the keyspan for it). but in OS X I have no chance to create a working midiflow in OS X (as it is written in the manual). Nothing midi comes through in OS X with the keyspan. Whether with one or two connections as long as it is the keyspan.

And this is the reason why I (obviously) still prefer the "one cable connection" with 2 x studio4 in a row or the 1 x studio5lx, because the connection with the gport is working fine. I love to switch sometimes between OS 9 and OS X, because beatdetective in Protools is working better in OS X. And therefore I can just restart the G4 and work on the same project started in OS 9 with the same midi equipment. This is the big advantage for me at the moment and let's see if some more overruns will annoy me or it was only a special occasion.

For the last two years I was working with the studio5LX and before that I had one studio4, which was the most versatile and stable connection I had. Because I bought some more midi equipment I thought it would be better to use the studio5lx, but let's see what my tests will let me decide in the next weeks.

I don' know if there is a speed difference between using two studio4 in a row or one studio5 ... "the bottle neck" is the gport with one connection (as GaryN said). I don't know if one studio5lx can handle the midi input better than two studio4s connected in a row?!

(BUT by the way... "fast mode" is definitely working in OS9 with the gport!!! Whether it is studio4 oder studio5. Only OS X denies it. ;-))

Best regards and thanks for your answers.
Paule.

PS: Thanks GaryN for the PDF about Doug Wyatt's Setup Procedure on OS X. It was helpful that there are other people who had no success working it out on OS X with the Keyspan USA-28X. Seems that I have to stay with the gport one connection. :-)