Oxygen-49 keyboard limited use as DAW controller

4portswitch wrote on 4/27/2014, 3:10 AM

I have a PC with windows 8.1 running MAGIX Music Maker 2013. I have 8GB of sniper ram and three 7200 rpm hard drives in SATA 3 mode (vanilla - no striping or mirroring etc.). I have an ASUS DG audio card in place of onboard audio. I have an AMD 8350 black edition processor, not over clocked, on an MSI-Military class motherboard with heat sinks. I use an aftermarket CPU cooler which keeps it below 50 C at all times. I have an ATI 7850OC factory card with 2GB ram with heat-pipes and dual fans that keep it well under overheat temps. I have the latest updates for all components and software. I have connected an M-AUDIO Oxygen-49 midi controller to my PC via USB. The controller is recognized in widows 8.1 and in Music Maker 2013(Version 19.0.7.61(UDC1)). I have the store bought copy of Music Maker 2013 on disc. I have selected the Oxygen-49 controller within Music Maker control panel. My computer is working just fine.

PROBLEMS:

1) In software the midi disconnects; if any changes are made within Magix software, Music Maker must be restarted to use keyboard/controller. If I select a different instrument the midi controller stops working and I must restart software to use midi devices.

2) Midi does not always work on initial start of Music Maker - a restart is required to use midi keyboard/controller.

3) Once midi is working - the keyboard works - not the sliders or the radial knobs. None of the pattern selectors work. The pitch bend intermittently works. The Transpose buttons work sometimes depending on the instrument and if midi has not dropped out without me knowing.

4) The Music Maker software intermittently freezes leaving my sound card locked and playing whatever sound happened to trigger the freeze. This hurts my ears and causes the need to mute the channels and reboot my  computer to kill the loop. That occurs with the onboard audio and any USB audio card/mixer I have used.

5) Some of the tracks have strange anomalous pop sounds that occur if splitting a track or moving different sounds next to each other. Those sounds then are recorded as if they were part of the instrument track or sound. That makes no sense to me but I have the .MMM files and mixed down files to prove it. At first I thought the problem was buffer and midi timing but after adjusting every way I can try I have come to the conclusion it is within the instrument track handling mechanism and perhaps the midi handling of Music Maker 2013.

Solutions I have tried

Changing the midi timing and which midi selection within Music Maker I use.

Changing buffer settings, trying to find a "reasonable use" setting.

Changing output device.

Changing input device.

removing and reinserting the USB cable between the PC and the DAC.

Trying different USB locations.

Replacing the USB cable with a new one.

Uninstalling all MAGIX software and reinstalling after rebooting the computer.

Uninstalling many software programs and deactivating programs that may interfere with production and use of midi devices.

I have used the software on other computers and laptops with the same or very similar results, specifically with the instrument/track/audio anomaly.

I have not ruled out bad install disks  but that invites the question; "wouldn't the released patch fix any core issues with the program that accompanied the disk?"

Conclusion and appeal for help

One might challenge the oxygen-49 controller being intermittent, but that does not explain all the other midi and audio issues within the Music Maker software. The audio problems happen with or without the midi controller being used. I really like the interface and the idea surrounding this software. I appreciate the amount of effort it must have taken to develop this gem. I do want to keep using it but I am being frustrated and severely limited by the issues at hand.

Can someone from MAGIX who knows Music Maker 2013 help me? The forum is limited and unhelpful for this set of events. I have looked but the information within the forum is limited.

Sincerely,

4portswitch

 

Comments

Procyon wrote on 4/27/2014, 3:17 PM

First, may I say...HOLY COW!!!  FINALLY, we have someone who knows the proper way to ask a question!  So, thank you 4portswitch!

One of the reasons you found little information in this forum on this topic is because either it's never been asked, or we've never been given sufficient information to understand and attempt to answer the question.

Unfortunately, I don't know that I can help you with the intermittent MIDI/software problem.  It could be MMM, or it could be Window 8.1, or both.

Stuck notes:  It is not entirely uncommon for MIDI to have an occasional stuck (on) note.  In your case, it may be exacerbated by your other software issues.  Assuming it's still in the same place, look in the File menu in the Vita MIDI Editor for the keyboard shortcut to kill a stuck MIDI note in your version of software.

Popping sounds at transitions:  It's not clear if you are talking about MIDI objects or audio objects.  I know for audio objects it does happen on occasion.  Here's how I deal with them...

If you zoom in on any audio object, you will see the waveform.  The waveform can vary in phase (up or down) and amplitude at any given time.  If you edit an audio object so that a waveform is "cut off" well above or below the midline, it will be read as a distortion and play as a pop or click.  So, I would zoom in and edit the audio object so that it begins and ends at the point where the waveform crosses the midline.

In the same vein, if two adjacent audio objects are cut off "out of phase" with each other, you may get a popping sound.  To get a smoother transition, you can edit the objects so that, for instance, the first object waveform is hitting the midline from above and the second waveform is starting at the midline going down.

This is more relevent if you are doing a "remix" of existing material rather than using soundpool objects.  However, if neither of those techniques solve the clicking problem, I will zoom in and do an ever-so-slight fade-in on the second object.  This usually takes care of the problem.

As far as the Oxygen 49 controller is concerned, no version of Music Maker is a full-fledged DAW software.  That being the case, it may respond to only a few basic control changes (i.e. note on/off, pitch, modulation, etc.).  You will not likely be able to map any control functions to the knobs and sliders on the keyboard.  At least, I've never heard anyone say they were able to do so in the last five years or so.

Former user wrote on 4/27/2014, 6:28 PM

Like Procyon, I, Too admire your question and supporting documentation, hopefully, one, Mr. Richie Guerrero,will see your post and it will give him a clue as tao how to go about seekiing help......but i doubt it.  In your case, again, Procyon is correct in all he says and further, in my 6 years or so on MM questions, I have never seen one even close to yours.  Based on what I know, its not the Magix program, you are simply asking to much of it.  Apparently it has never worked satisfatorily for you, but the program has workd for 1,000s of others, myself iincluded.  You can download other Magix software, more powerful, for 30 days freee trial.  Why not try that option and see if you can come up with a winner....granted it will cost you more money if you decide to keep it, but sometimes Magix will work with you when you are seeekiing to upgrade.  They want happy returning customers...like me