• Registered: 2007-11-13
  • Posts: 35

Topic: MADIface challenges...

Hi Guys...

Am still bedding down my new MADIface and MICSTASY rig...

MADIface has been updated to firmware level 15 which seemed to resolve most of the issues I had initially experienced with machine lockups, but unfortunately, on its first outing last night - two hours into the gig my computer totally locked up mid performance, requiring a reboot.

Today, I tried the MADIface in my other computer - an HP dv9205 (which served me very well when I was using my FF800 rig). Unfortunately, the dv9205 won't take the MADIFace at all. I get a yellow icon in device manager indicating a resource conflict. Most of the ancillary devices in this build are already turned off as I had the windows build stripped back to the bare bones specifically for recording stability, so there shouldn't be any resource allocation issues.

So, my MADIFace options are a Macbook Pro running WinXPXP3 which is not 100% stable and an HP laptop which doesn't work at all!

If possible, it would be good to try and resolve the hardware conflict in the HP, but if not possible, to try and stabilise the MBP.

Reading the sticky regarding the HDSPe card mods, is there a chance that the hardware issue identified in the HDSPe cards also found its way into the MADIFaces as well?

If anyone has any good ideas as to how to help a MADI newbie, they would be much appreciated.

thx.

Mark

  • Registered: 2009-08-12
  • Posts: 3

Re: MADIface challenges...

Hi Mark,

I am using a MADIface with a MBP in both Mac OS X and Windows XP SP3.  Getting things stable in XP is a bit of a task but this has much less to do with the MADIface and the RME drivers and more to do with simply getting XP to a stable recording-friendly state.  There are several optimizations to go through, and I'm sure you have been through some or most of them.  Turning off the Apple keyboard process and battery management, wireless connection, etc.  These are a few of the things many people have isolated as potential problems. 

What are some of the other variables?  DAW?  plugins? hard drives?  were you making a fader move when it locked?  Just to offer some hope I have successfully run my MBP for a live recording using the MADIface at 192/24 into Pyramix 6 using a FireWire 800 drive.  Speaking of, the problems of FireWire with XP are legendary and have caused me the greatest grief in my experience (ie mixing 800 and 400 on the same bus).

Hopefully I can offer some help,

Eric

  • Registered: 2007-11-13
  • Posts: 35

Re: MADIface challenges...

Hi Eric,

many thanks for your helpful reply. I have been through most of the 'optimization' steps that I would usually do when setting up a recording PC. Most of the time, IME, the doing of these steps helps solve ASIO dropout issues and general performance problems. I have never before been placed in the situation where my machine has totally and completely locked up - simply leaving me with an immovable bitmap on the screen - optimisations or not.

The DAW I use is Sequoia 10.2. No plugins in use at all. When it locked, I was actually manipulating the MIDI Remote software and checking the micstasy pre's.

Since this, I have been using a midi-tower machine as my primary recording computer into which I have put an HDSPe MADI. This has been totally rock solid, so the MBP hasn't had a huge amount of use as a primary recording DAW. I have used it for backup and it has been fine for that. Having been burned once, I am shy to try the MBP again as a primary.

Oddly, when I was using my FF800 with the MBP - which incidentally was also fine - The only way to get it to work was to plug the FF800 into a WD Passport FW drive via the FF400 interface. Unfortunately I was one of these bunnies that bought the new unibody MBP with the dodgy FW800 chip - the one that doesn't seem to work with streaming audio products.... something to do with a 'reset' signal being sent down the wire.

I would very much like to be able to 100% trust my MBP (99% would do) but it's going to be a tad difficult for my MBP to regain my trust on a live gig again...

m

  • Grag38
  • AES/EBU artist
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2009-06-18
  • Posts: 117

Re: MADIface challenges...

no trouble with asus computers laptop with madiface using even nuendo or digicheck software to record 64 tracks !

Really a nice product. We use 3 of them on 3 computers (mac with nuendo an pc) and never had trouble with it (we work with optocore system http://www.optocore.de , with yamaha dm2000 and a lot of perifericals machines)

RME is really doing great products. Everything works fine !

thanks to the quality of the drivers and hardware.

Grag38

ps : we are recording through festivals and live shows around 160 multitracks a year, so from, we need very reliability hardware and drivers to realize it, and RME do it !

  • Registered: 2009-08-12
  • Posts: 3

Re: MADIface challenges...

I can understand your shyness for trusting the MBP in a live situation with experiences like that.  When manipulating the mic pres over MIDI, were you using the MIDI over MADI signal or some other solution?

6 Reply by edwar64896 (edited by edwar64896 2009-09-11 05:44:25)

  • Registered: 2007-11-13
  • Posts: 35

Re: MADIface challenges...

I was using 1.43 Version of Midi Remote on Windows XP SP3 with Bootcamp 2.1 drivers, so yes - it was MIDI over MADI. I have since updated the MBP to 10.6 of OSX which comes with updated Bootcamp drivers 3.0. With the older 2.1 bootcamp drivers, I could very easily make the whole machine lock up simply by moving the MADIFACE card in the socket. I (like many others) are somewhat underimpressed with the physical resilience of the PC-Express interface standard, but there you are. A good dose of gaffer tape seems to fix most physical resilience issues here.

I am yet to soak-test the MBP under bootcamp 3.0 but will be doing so at the first opportunity. Its frustrating, because I went through the same process with 2.1 and under test conditions (not out on the road) managed to get many hours of stability with the MBP. This is what leads me to think its more a physical issue, which is compounded by a lack of exception handling (or resilience handling) at the driver layer because the OSX OS doesn't seem to suffer from the same physical resilience issues. You can remove and replace the card and the OSX is perfectly happy. (BTW, when I mean driver layer, I am more concerned about the Win32 PC-Express card adapter driver than I am with the RME driver, which I am confident enough is resilient for production use.)

Its more a confidence thing for me really - confidence that I am not going to find myself in a situation where I end up embarrassing myself professionally because my laptop died in the middle of a gig and I had no backup! ;-)

m