HELP!
I was using GP fine.
I turned it on (it asked me to update Windows, but I did not)
And now I started GP again.
It shows mid input, but no audio in meters. I am not getting an audio.
I can hear the metronome through the audio interface.
It has something to do with the Rig Manager and the fact I tried to use different keyboards on different channels and somehow they got swapped.
Since I am only using one keyboard. I can change them all to the one that works.
So, hopefully my rig will work for this show. (Fingers crossed)
You can remap all channels to go to the channel 1. See here: Gig Performer | Tips to troubleshoot your computer-based setup
What is “it”? Computer? Gig Performer? Windows Update?
Not sure. I am just going to keep in simple and use one keyboard.
Maybe the problem is both keyboards are Casios so the rig manager does not track the assignments?
Anyway, have to go.
Thank you.
Jeff
That is not the problem, as the matter of fact, Gig Performer’s Rig Manager solves the problem if you have (say) three identical MIDI controllers.
In any case, you should’ve deffered Windows Updates (and other updates) at least a week before your gig.
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I wouldn’t upgrade any software (OS updates, GP, plugins, etc, even other applications) within 2-3 weeks of a show. One doesn’t need the stress of trying to fix issues introduced by updates when you have a deadline
Guys, first thank you for your help.
I did not do the Windows update before the issue arose. I read the blog that said not to. I probably should not have included the fact that Windows was prompting me to do it, but the issue arose without me doing the update. I do not think it is relevant to this.
I have a Casio PX350 and a Casio CTK-7200.
I named each of them as aliases in Rig Manager. In most cases (as of now) I am only using the CTK-7200 in GP. For reasons discussed in another post, I only (intentionally) send out data from the CKT-7200 on channel 3.
I feel very confident (although I admit I could make a mistake about something) that GP sometimes switches synths. So, the midi input block I assigned to my CTK-7200 instead was controlled by the PX350 (and vice-a-versa).
I feel confident that this caused the issue. I am thankful this is all that it was because all I had to do was change all the midi input blocks to the PX350 alias and now the CTK-7200 controlled everything as I intended (the alias’ name was now incorrect, but that is not a big deal. It worked fine at my gig.).
You guys have never had an issue with GP doing something like this? Maybe it has to do with how it recognizes a particular keyboard (I don’t have much of a grasp how this works).
Right now I think I am good shape. But, if I am going to add the PX350 as another controller (it would work only on Channel 1, while the CTK-7200 only used channel 3) I would need to figure this out.
Like I suggested above, maybe it’s an issue with Casio? Maybe they don’t identify they each keyboard in the way GP would expect? (They were not really designed to be full midi controllers).
Even if GP “arbitrarily” switches keyboards (perhaps due to something in the Casio hardware), this could be worked around if, when I notice the issue, I just swap them back. This time I replaced all the midi inputs with the other keyboard and it fixed the issue. Maybe I could go forward (just label them keyboard 1 and keyboard 2) and if they switch I could could just switch them back at the gig?
I hope this made sense. (I am always open to the possibility of some type of user error).
Thanks again for everything.
Jeff
Maybe the issue with the Rig Manager switching controllers is related to the use of a USB hub.
So, as a result it cannot directly recognize a particular keyboard?
(Due to the limitation on the number of USB ports on the laptop, I don’t think there is an option not to use a USB hub).
I know that Gig Performer doesn’t arbitrarily switch keyboards.
I also know that Windows can be tricky with its port naming conventions.
See here: Gig Performer | USB MIDI Port names keep changing on Windows
It might be the case that the identifiers (for instance pid and vid) at the USB level of the Casio keyboards are the same. Then it is not really possible to keep them apart. I must admit that it would be a little sloppy…
I will read that. Thank you.
So, it may be that (due to reasons GP can’t control) the controllers will switch.
So, what is the best way to check and correct that at a gig (or at home)?
Saturday, I just changed a (wrongly assigned) PX350 midi block to CTK-7200 and had it make the change to similar blocks (I think that is the language used).
This worked because at this point I really only use the CTK-7200 as a controller (solely on midi channel 3). (But the PX350 was plugged in and had an alias in Rig Manager).
But if I also used my PX350 (solely using channel 1), then if I just changed all similar (wrongly assigned) blocks from PX350 to CTK-7200, this would not change the (wrongly assigned) CTK 7200 midi blocks to PX350.
Do, I guess I am wondering if I could basically swap out the midi input blocks and this would quickly fix the issue whenever it arose
I think the usual way would be using rigmanager to map the devices, but I have no possibility to test that myself. I think @dhj and @David-san are people that do these things all the time because, compared to me, they use a zillion times the number of midi devices that I am.
I, for myself, would be tempted to program two Teensy-s to act like a midi-proxy, because the name of the midi-usb-device Windows sees can be easily hardcoded. But if you have nothing done of the sort, then it would be quite an extension to your education 
Yes, one of the purposes of the Rig Manager was to address this issue with multiple identical keyboards. The idea is that you define the devices with names in the rig manager and then you explicit use named MIDI In blocks in your rigs.
Then, when you start GP, perhaps at a gig, you can quickly open the rig manager and have it learn which device is which for that session.
This is something I’ve had to do quite often when I setup for sound check as I have three identical Roland controllers in my rig.
That said, I suppose that if one of your keyboards is always on channel 1 and the other is always on channel 3, then you could just use MIDI OMNI blocks, but two kinds (one that only allows channel 1 and the other that only allows channel 3 and remaps to channel 1)
Save those as GP Presets and use them going forward.
Ahh, but the reason I can’t do the 2nd option is my PX350 sends out sustain on channel 1-4 without any way to filter it. So, the CKT-7200 controlled sounds would get the unintended sustain from the PX350 pedal. (That was the way I originally set things up. I bored you guys with this issue in a prior post.).
Yes, I will experiment with tweaking the Rig Manager when this happens. Maybe that will do it.
And Frank, I think you are correct, that is probably above my knowledge base.
Jeff
Well, if that can’t be fixed and you don’t want to use a different keyboard, perhaps this device can help
Thanks, let me think and work on this. No rush.
If I can keep everything working the way that it currently is, I will be very happy. Thanks to GP I have been able to (methodically) add amazing horns instead of my weak hardware synth horns, a great violin for fiddle parts, and, perhaps most importantly, virtual infinite range of synth sounds with arpeggiators, etc.
I will report back.
Jeff
So, my planned set up is to have the following rigs (Rig Manager and Midi Input Block) set up as follows:
CTK-7200: All Midi Block Inputs would be CTK-7200 and it would filter all midi channels out except channel 3.
PX350: All Midi Block Inputs would be PX350 and it would filter all midi channels out except channel 1.
The problem is, apparently due to some configuration issues with the Casio, sometimes the two keyboards are swapped.
So, the issue is how to quickly correct this when they are swapped. If so, not big deal. I can check if before each gig (or at home)
So, I thought maybe the Rig Manager would let you control midi input blocks. But it is not configured that way.
So, the problem is how to to swap the midi input blocks in rackspaces.
Thankfully GP allows the user to change one (let’s say) CTK-7200 Midi Input block to PX350 and apply it to all other CTK-7200 midi input blocks. (At this point the alias “PX350” would actually be connected to the CTK-7200 synth, but correcting the name is not a big deal in the Rig Manager).
But, the problem is now I could not distinguish between the new PX350 Midi Input Blocks (which are really connected to the CTK-7200) and the preexisting PX350 Midi Input Blocks that are incorrectly connected to the CTK-7200.
So, my thought is do a two-step:
First change the (smaller number) of PX350 midi input blocks to “Local GP Port” (which I never use and know nothing about).
Then change all the CTK-7200 midi input blocks to PX350 (which will now actually be connected to the CTK-7200 synth).
Then I can change all “Local GP Port” midi input blocks to CTK-7200 (which will actually control the PX350).
So, by going through this (it should not take too long) I basically will have swapped out my (incorrectly assigned) PX350 blocks so they connect to the CTK-7200 and swapped out the (incorrectly assigned) CKT-7200 midi input blocks so they connect to the PX350. (If I feel like it, I could then correct the alias names).
If you have any thoughts, I am always interested (especially if there is a flaw in my plan). I will let you know how it goes.
Jeff
Use Rig Manager
Just define different rigs but with the same MIDI Device Aliases.
No need to replace anything in the rackspaces.
I am sorry, could you explain that a bit more?
The CTK-7200 has to be associated with existing midi input blocks that only allow channel 3.
And the PX350 has to be associated with existing midi input blocks that only allow channel 1.
Jeff