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Classic Mac OS Software => Digital Audio Workstations - General Discussion => Topic started by: supernova777 on July 24, 2014, 08:41:48 AM

Title: FreeMidi + OMS (article from october 1996)
Post by: supernova777 on July 24, 2014, 08:41:48 AM
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1996_articles/oct96/applenotesoct96.html

Quote
MARTIN RUSS investigates OMS and FreeMIDI compatibility, explains how you can protect yourself from copy protection, and rounds up more Mac news and useful 'net addresses...

While I was looking at Mark of the Unicorn's (MOTU) Digital Performer 1.7 for my SOS review (see the September issue) I used their FreeMIDI system to make the connection between the sequencer and my MIDI interface. This prompted me to look into what would happen if I had both MOTU's FreeMIDI and Opcode's OMS (Opcode MIDI System/Open Music System) in my system, so that I could use both programs -- or even if I didn't have OMS and wanted to use FreeMIDI. This is what happened...
FREE & EASY?

The FreeMIDI documentation explains that it and OMS can co-exist, and that you can use the OMS Emulator to run OMS applications with FreeMIDI. This all sounds reasonable; in fact, I had no problems installing FreeMIDI with my standard MIDI interface, and I felt at home quite quickly. The auto-configuration routine detected some of my eclectic collection of equipment (about the same amount as OMS, actually!) and provided almost exactly the same sort of visual mapping of my MIDI system. Apparently, the automatic detection of the equipment in your MIDI system is improved if you disable the transmission of MIDI clocks -- it makes all those test SysEx messages easier to decode.

But things became more complex when I tried the same thing with my Studio 5LX. The Studio 5 (and its smaller cousin, the Studio 4) is rather more than just a MIDI patchbay -- it functions as a sophisticated MIDI processing device too. In order to be used with FreeMIDI, it needs to be in 'MTP emulation mode', which also disables its MIDI processing, since it is now emulating a MOTU MIDI Time Piece (MTP), which is an 8-port MIDI Interface dedicated to providing patching and synchronisation facilities only.

In order to put the Studio 5 into emulation mode, you need OMS, since the Studio Setup application provides the only way to configure the emulation, and this application only works when OMS is running. There is an OMS Emulator system extension provided with FreeMIDI, but the Studio Setup application does not work with it. It is not possible to have Opcode's OMS in the Extensions folder inside the System folder at the same time as FreeMIDI's OMS Emulator -- OMS detects this and complains that there are two copies of OMS present. This is because the OMS Emulator replaces OMS, and so you need to disable the OMS extension.

I would normally try compatibility tests with the latest versions of software that I could obtain, but the current Vision version (3.0) requires OMS 2.0, and it does not recognise the OMS Emulator provided in FreeMIDI 1.2.4. In fact, version 1.2.4 of FreeMIDI does not recognise OMS 2.0 Studio Setup files either, which suggests that FreeMIDI is still working towards OMS 2.0 compatibility -- and it highlights the perils of using non-Opcode software with Opcode hardware! So I removed OMS 2.0, installed an old Vision 2.08 and OMS 1.2.3, and then restarted the Mac. I then used the Studio 5 Setup Application to put the Studio 5 into MTP emulation mode -- taking care to assign my MIDI devices to the ports (otherwise no MIDI input or output occurs -- and you can't change the emulation configuration without reloading OMS!). Inside Vision, this gave me a Studio 5 which appeared as normal, since when OMS is running, the Studio 5 still behaves like a Studio 5.

I then removed OMS from the Extensions folder, replaced it with the OMS Emulator, and restarted the Mac again. This time Vision saw what appeared to be a MIDI Time Piece, as expected. When it does not receive OMS messages, the Studio 5 goes into MTP emulation mode. Within MOTU's FreeStyle sequencer, the Studio 5 also behaved like an MTP, and so now I had replaced OMS with FreeMIDI (but I still needed OMS in order to achieve it!). The price of this was the loss of the MIDI processing in the Studio 5, and no way of patching things from port to port on the emulated MTP -- or was there?

I went to MOTU's web pages and got the latest version of the MTP Console, version 1.1, from:

http://www.motu.com/pages/DownloadMacConsoles.html

This is the application which allows the setup of a real MTP to be configured. Of course, expecting a Studio 5 which is emulating an MTP to respond in the same way is asking a lot, and it didn't work.

If you're not completely confused by this point, let's see what I've learned. Firstly, FreeMIDI and OMS 2.0 compatibility seems to be flawed -- although this will no doubt be 'fixed in the next update' from MOTU. Secondly, you appear to need OMS in order to be able to not use it, if you want to use a Studio 5 (or 4). Thirdly, both MIDI systems seem to peacefully co-exist if you do not use the OMS Emulator -- and then you can change from one to the other as needed. I also discovered that this sort of investigation takes lots of time -- and I didn't even try using the inter-application communication, or any of the more sophisticated features of FreeMIDI or OMS. And finally, after all this fiddling about, I discovered that the Studio 5 patches no longer worked when I returned to OMS. Don't panic if this happens: you just need to use the 'Rebuild All' option to restore normal working.
Title: Re: FreeMidi + OMS (article from october 1996)
Post by: supernova777 on July 24, 2014, 09:10:19 AM
Quote
APPLE NEWS IN BRIEF

• A MAC FOR ALL SEASONS
You can already run MacOS on Windows and UNIX systems. And there are strong rumours that the next full release of the MacOS will be able to act as a front end to other operating systems. This could mean that MacOS 8 may turn out to be exactly what people have long been asking for: a mature and consistent user interface for any operating system.

^^ *raise eyebrow*
Title: Re: FreeMidi + OMS (article from october 1996)
Post by: macStuff on November 20, 2017, 01:29:57 PM
some useful info here in this article about running both FreeMIDI + OMS
(At the same time, on the same machine)  8)

https://web.archive.org/web/20150606080830/http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1996_articles/oct96/applenotesoct96.html

Quote
MARTIN RUSS investigates OMS and FreeMIDI compatibility, explains how you can protect yourself from copy protection, and rounds up more Mac news and useful 'net addresses...

 

While I was looking at Mark of the Unicorn's (MOTU) Digital Performer 1.7 for my SOS review (see the September issue) I used their FreeMIDI system to make the connection between the sequencer and my MIDI interface. This prompted me to look into what would happen if I had both MOTU's FreeMIDI and Opcode's OMS (Opcode MIDI System/Open Music System) in my system, so that I could use both programs -- or even if I didn't have OMS and wanted to use FreeMIDI. This is what happened...

FREE & EASY?

The FreeMIDI documentation explains that it and OMS can co-exist, and that you can use the OMS Emulator to run OMS applications with FreeMIDI. This all sounds reasonable; in fact, I had no problems installing FreeMIDI with my standard MIDI interface, and I felt at home quite quickly. The auto-configuration routine detected some of my eclectic collection of equipment (about the same amount as OMS, actually!) and provided almost exactly the same sort of visual mapping of my MIDI system. Apparently, the automatic detection of the equipment in your MIDI system is improved if you disable the transmission of MIDI clocks -- it makes all those test SysEx messages easier to decode.

But things became more complex when I tried the same thing with my Studio 5LX. The Studio 5 (and its smaller cousin, the Studio 4) is rather more than just a MIDI patchbay -- it functions as a sophisticated MIDI processing device too. In order to be used with FreeMIDI, it needs to be in 'MTP emulation mode', which also disables its MIDI processing, since it is now emulating a MOTU MIDI Time Piece (MTP), which is an 8-port MIDI Interface dedicated to providing patching and synchronisation facilities only.

In order to put the Studio 5 into emulation mode, you need OMS, since the Studio Setup application provides the only way to configure the emulation, and this application only works when OMS is running. There is an OMS Emulator system extension provided with FreeMIDI, but the Studio Setup application does not work with it. It is not possible to have Opcode's OMS in the Extensions folder inside the System folder at the same time as FreeMIDI's OMS Emulator -- OMS detects this and complains that there are two copies of OMS present. This is because the OMS Emulator replaces OMS, and so you need to disable the OMS extension.

I would normally try compatibility tests with the latest versions of software that I could obtain, but the current Vision version (3.0) requires OMS 2.0, and it does not recognise the OMS Emulator provided in FreeMIDI 1.2.4. In fact, version 1.2.4 of FreeMIDI does not recognise OMS 2.0 Studio Setup files either, which suggests that FreeMIDI is still working towards OMS 2.0 compatibility -- and it highlights the perils of using non-Opcode software with Opcode hardware! So I removed OMS 2.0, installed an old Vision 2.08 and OMS 1.2.3, and then restarted the Mac. I then used the Studio 5 Setup Application to put the Studio 5 into MTP emulation mode -- taking care to assign my MIDI devices to the ports (otherwise no MIDI input or output occurs -- and you can't change the emulation configuration without reloading OMS!). Inside Vision, this gave me a Studio 5 which appeared as normal, since when OMS is running, the Studio 5 still behaves like a Studio 5.

I then removed OMS from the Extensions folder, replaced it with the OMS Emulator, and restarted the Mac again. This time Vision saw what appeared to be a MIDI Time Piece, as expected. When it does not receive OMS messages, the Studio 5 goes into MTP emulation mode. Within MOTU's FreeStyle sequencer, the Studio 5 also behaved like an MTP, and so now I had replaced OMS with FreeMIDI (but I still needed OMS in order to achieve it!). The price of this was the loss of the MIDI processing in the Studio 5, and no way of patching things from port to port on the emulated MTP -- or was there?

I went to MOTU's web pages and got the latest version of the MTP Console, version 1.1, from:

http://www.motu.com/pages/DownloadMacConsoles.html

This is the application which allows the setup of a real MTP to be configured. Of course, expecting a Studio 5 which is emulating an MTP to respond in the same way is asking a lot, and it didn't work.

If you're not completely confused by this point, let's see what I've learned.
Firstly, FreeMIDI and OMS 2.0 compatibility seems to be flawed -- although this will no doubt be 'fixed in the next update' from MOTU. Secondly, you appear to need OMS in order to be able to not use it, if you want to use a Studio 5 (or 4). Thirdly, both MIDI systems seem to peacefully co-exist if you do not use the OMS Emulator -- and then you can change from one to the other as needed. I also discovered that this sort of investigation takes lots of time -- and I didn't even try using the inter-application communication, or any of the more sophisticated features of FreeMIDI or OMS. And finally, after all this fiddling about, I discovered that the Studio 5 patches no longer worked when I returned to OMS. Don't panic if this happens: you just need to use the 'Rebuild All' option to restore normal working.

HOW IT WORKS: COPY PROTECTION

Or rather, how to help it work. My recent transfer from one Mac to another required me to de-authorise lots of programs, and then re-authorise them on the new machine. Now you're probably expecting me to say that I maintain a detailed database of my installs and where the master disks are -- and consequently I can blithely say that everything went smoothly.

Not quite. Isn't over-confidence wonderful! For my major bits of music software, I keep the disks separate from all my working files and backups. So it was relatively easy to find the disks and do the de-authorise/re-authorise process. But there are several shareware utilities I use which were not quite so well organised. It took quite some time to find the postcard that told me the password for one program, and the sheet of paper containing the vital instructions only turned up when I was preparing my accounts for the taxman -- it was stapled to the receipt for the Eurocheque which I used to pay the software registration fee!

In the course of sorting out my hard disks before I transferred things from the remains of the old machine to the replacement, I took a detailed low-level look at the contents, and found quite a few hidden files on the boot drive, with names which indicated that they were the keys for the authorised programs. Some of these were in the System folder, others were in the root (highest or top) directory of the drive where the application was stored, and yet others were in the folder with the application itself. With any software copy-protection scheme, these files usually contain some sort of record about where and when they were placed on the disk, so you should leave them well alone -- which means that any sort of disk optimisation or defragmenting might upset them. And any attempt to move a folder around between drives may also cause problems. The trouble is that speeding up your hard drive, or moving a folder from a dying computer to a new one, is not the sort of thing that makes you think about de-authorising and then re-authorising later.

So here's the Apple Notes quick guide to maintaining your sanity about copy protection.

1. Keep your master or key disks in a place where you can find them easily and quickly.

2. Keep any passwords, registration or de-crippling documentation in a safe place, preferably with the master or key disks.

3. Keep a list of everything that requires anything other than a simple install from disks -- ie. anything that is protected. Stick this list to your computer monitor.

4. Get into the habit of pausing before you rush ahead with major changes to your computer hardware, especially disk drive upgrades (I changed my boot drive from a 40Mb to a 540Mb, and then discovered that I needed to put the 40Mb back, de-authorise, and then re-install the 540Mb and re-authorise to that!), or optimisation and defragmenting. That pause is where you remember that you have loads of de-authorising to do -- and you reach for that list!

 
Title: Re: FreeMidi + OMS (article from october 1996)
Post by: macStuff on November 20, 2017, 01:41:48 PM
taken from the oms_freemidi.pdf file found here: http://www.sibelius.com/helpcenter/resources/oms_freemidi.pdf

Quote
Setting up FreeMIDI in OMS compatibility mode
Install FreeMIDIby double-clicking on the Install FreeMIDI icon and following the on-screen instructions

Install OMS by double-clicking on the Install OMS icon and following the on-screen instructions

Connect your FreeMIDI or OMS compatible MIDI interface to the serial or USB port of your Mac

• Locate and open the OMS Setup program

• The Create a New Studio Setup dialog appears. Click OK.

• Click the checkboxes to select the port (modem and/or printer) to which your MIDI interface is connected. USB MIDI interfaces will be
detected regardless of these settings.

Click Search. OMS will now search for MIDI interfaces connected to your computer.
A list of the MIDI interfaces connected to your computer will be displayed. If this list is correct, click OK. If MIDI interfaces that you have connected to your computer are not detected, refer to FreeMIDI’s troubleshooting information.

• OMS will now attempt to detect devices (keyboards, modules, samplers, etc.) that are connected to your MIDI interface. A list of devices or MIDI ports will appear. Click on the checkboxes next to each of the devices or ports that you wish to use. Click OK

• You will now be presented with a standard Mac OS Save dialog. Name your configuration, choose a convenient place on your hard drive and click Save

• Your studio configuration will now be displayed. Check that the on-screen MIDI connections are the same as your studio’s physical connections. Device information (manufacturer, model, name, properties, receive channel(s) and icon) can be edited by double clicking on the device / MIDI Interfaces icon. To connect devices, drag them to a MIDI interface, and click once on the in/out arrows

• When you have completed the setup, choose Save from the File menu

Quit OMS Setup

• Locate and open the FreeMIDI Setup program

• You will be asked whether you wish to use OMS or FreeMIDI. Choose OMS. To change this later you will need to quit DP, locate and run the FreeMIDI Setup program, open FreeMIDI Preferences (File menu) and switch on Use OMS when available. Quit FreeMIDI and run DP.

• A dialog will appear informing you that FreeMIDI is in OMS compatibility mode. Click OK to continue. Your OMS Studio Setup will be displayed. Quit the FreeMIDI Setup program.

• Open Digital Performer

• Set up the Devices dialog as detailed in  MIDI devices.
Title: Re: FreeMidi + OMS (article from october 1996)
Post by: macStuff on November 20, 2017, 01:50:51 PM
http://www.motu.com/techsupport/technotes/document.1998-10-28.5507466655
this technote details the process of setting up the Opcode Studio 5 (or Studio 4) to use MOTU's FreeMIDI
as discussed in the above article from oct 1996
Title: Re: FreeMidi + OMS (article from october 1996)
Post by: macStuff on January 22, 2020, 04:59:09 PM
MOTU serial MIDI interfaces with Logic, Cubase, Finale and other OMS compatible software on B-W G3s and G4s
https://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/document.2000-04-14.9182637522
"To use a MOTU MIDI interface with OMS, you need to install FreeMIDI after OMS is installed. There are components in the FreeMIDI install that need to go into OMS folder of the system folder (the MOTU OMS driver and the MOTU OMS USB driver). With these components present, you should be able to scan for the MOTU MIDI interface in the studio menu/MIDI cards and interfaces selection. Or when running OMS for the first time."