I have two Windows 10 laptops, one is primary and the other a backup just in case…) that I use with the same physical “rig” and same gig file. The physical rig includes two MIDI keyboard controllers that are merged using a MIDI Solutions Merge box, then fed via a DIN connection into a Mackie Onyx 2.2 Producer audio interface. In Rig Manager they show up as one MIDI input device which I have named “Mackie” when creating the MIDI Input plugins for the controllers.
Everything works fine on the primary laptop. However, when I swap laptops the MIDI Input plugins do not respond to the physical MIDI controllers. The only way I can get the backup laptop to recognize the MIDI controllers is to go into each MIDI Input plugin and use the “Change MIDI Input Device” function. There I see the “Mackie” global name, which I then select and answer Yes to “Do you want to change all similar MidiIn blocks in every rackspace”. I have to repeat this process for each MIDI Input plugin that is mapped to the controllers. After that, everything works fine on the backup laptop.
I know there must be an easier way using Rig Manager, but I can’t figure it out. I should note that the Mackie audio interface is displayed with a different device name on the primary and backup laptops. On the primary it is displayed in Rig Manager as:
Yes in the Rig Manager, you can add (+ button) a MIDI input device with name “Mackie” and associate the MIDI device “2-Mackie MIDI in” of the frist laptop or the “4-Mackie MIDI in” of the second laptop.
I still can’t get Rig Manager to work with the two laptops. It won’t let me define the “Mackie” input device twice, once for each laptop with a different mapping. It always retains the last saved mapping and requires that I go into each MIDI Input plugin and use the “Change MIDI Input Device” function before the MIDI In blocks respond to my controllers.
I even tried using the Export and Import functions in Rig Manager to save and recall each laptop’s config. Perhaps I am missing something.
David-san, can you post a pic of your Rig Manager configuration and explain the steps that I need to follow to define the two laptop devices?
You can start from the first rig and when you add the second one you can simply ducplicate the first one. Then do the changes you need starting from the first rig.
This doesn’t directly address your question, but the reason Windows gives the same piece of hardware different names on different systems is because Windows remembers all the USB devices you ever plugged in. It also treats the same item plugged into two different USB ports as two different devices.
So, let’s say you have three USB ports on a brand new laptop. The first port you plug your Mackie into will create an impression in windows called “Mackie”. If you then unplug it and plug it into the next USB port that will become “Mackie 2”. The third will be Mackie 3. Depending on the hardware, if you update the firmware windows may see it as a new device, and if you then plug it into all the ports again you’ll end up with Mackie 4, 5, and 6.
It’s possible to make windows forget about all these, and go back to just seeing it as “Mackie” again. It won’t prevent the peculiarity of creating a new “Mackie x” for every different port you plug it into, but if you always use the same port it’ll at least always be the same Mackie.
Rig Manager is definitely the best way to handle this, but other audio apps don’t have a Rig Manager, so I periodically go through and clear this stuff out on my systems so I can copy files across systems without driving myself nuts addressing this over and over again.
But get your Rig Manager working the way you want before attempting this or you might end up making things worse instead of better.
So I should create two entries in Rig Manager, one called “Mackie1” and the other “Mackie2” for example, mapping the first to laptop 1 and the second to laptop 2? How can I then associate both entries with the same MIDI In controller plugin?
I re-read the Rig Manager tutorial. Since I want to use the same name for the MIDI input device “Mackie”, would I then create two separate rigs (one for each laptop)?
I also wonder if I painted myself into a corner by not using the OMNI Midi In block in my rackspaces, and instead opting for the Mackie audio interface connection (which Windows names differently per port/device)? According to the GP user manual:
One method is to use the MIDI In (OMNI) plugin. Omni, in this case, means not simply that it responds to messages on any MIDI channel, but also that it “hears” all connected MIDI devices.
Since my controllers are sending on different channels, the MIDI In blocks should “hear” everything that is being sent. I will try that tonight.
So I tried creating two rigs, one for my Dell laptop and the other for my HP laptop. I used the same global name “Mackie” in each rig mapped to the hardware device name that each laptop has assigned to the audio interface. However, the MIDI In blocks still do not respond to my controllers until I go into each MIDI In block and “Change MIDI Input Device” to Mackie. I’m stumped.
The only approach that works is to assign my MIDI In’s to OMNI. I realize this is not best practice and would create loops if I use virtual MIDI devices. As a keyboard player, I am not currently using, nor do I have plans to add any virtual MIDI devices. So for now, this is my work-around until I have more time to experiment with other options.
Bruce, could you please take a screenshot of your Rig-Manager window?
I think this would make it much easier for us to understand what you have done so far…
Thanks.
I’m having the same problems.
creating two rigs, one for my Dell laptop and the other for my desktop pc,
I’m getting no midi ins and have tried with rig manager but seems the only way is to create 2 separate rigs one for each pc and even then have to change all midi in blocks on one computer
The problems you have I cannot understand.
Are your midi in blocks really using names from rig manager?
Can you post screenshots of a rackspace showing your midi ins and rig manager.
I am sure you did something wrong.
I use the same rig file on my Dell and HP laptops and it works fine. I made the same mistake by thinking I needed a separate rig file defined for each device. Is not the case.
I have a powered usb hub plugged into a rack mount pc
2 usb keyboards and audio interface go into the hub
What I want to do is this …,if rack mount pc with gp on plays up I can just unplug usb from rack pc and plug into laptop USB port to use laptop as a backup with same gig on it to save time
Will do pics etc tomz cheers
