FCA1616 missing MIDI events

[tom.k.cook]

Hi all,

I've got an FCA1616 connected by the USB interface to a laptop running Ubuntu 16.04. I'm starting jackd with the commandline:

Code: Select all

/usr/bin/jackd -dalsa -dhw:FCA1616,0 -r96000 -p64 -n2 -H -Xraw

The audio recording works really well. However, the MIDI interface seems to miss events fairly regularly. With it hooked up to gmidimonitor, through either the JACK or ALSA MIDI systems, pressing single keys *usually* works okay, but playing a simple triad will almost always result in at least one note 'stuck' on after it's released.

The keyboard I'm using is a Yamaha Clavinova CVP-20 (I know, really old) and I've tried this with the 4.4.0-66-lowlatency and 4.8.0-42-lowlatency kernels.

I don't have another source of MIDI events or another MIDI interface to try to figure out which is causing the problem. Is this a known problem with any of these pieces of kit? Can anyone suggest any way to improve the situation?

Thanks for any help,
Tom

[asbak]

Periods for USB cards are usually set to 3, not 2.
Try something like this:

/usr/bin/jackd -P89 -dalsa -dhw:FCA1616,0 -r96000 -p64 -n3 -Xraw

or

/usr/bin/jackd -S -P89 -dalsa -dhw:FCA1616,0 -r96000 -p64 -n3 -Xraw

[tom.k.cook]

Thanks for the advice. However, it doesn't help. The audio IO still works well, but it looks like MIDI data is being corrupted somehow. For instance, Playing a C triad gives these MIDI events:

Note On E octave 4 velocity 34
Note On C octave 4 velocity 28
Note On G octave 4 velocity 35

But releasing that triad gives:

Note Off C octave 4 velocity 64
Note On G octave 4 velocity 64

That's not a typo - releasing the triad goves C off, G *on* again and nothing at all for the E. Single note on/off events usually work okay.

I've ordered a cheapy USB MIDI interface just to check it's not the keyboard doing strange things or a bad cable or something, but otherwise I'm running out of ideas. If it was a problem on the USB bus then I'd expect the audio to be doing strange things too, which it isn't. Could still be a driver problem, of course. If I get desperate I could always cut a cable up and get the oscilloscope out on it, I guess!

[asbak]

It may also be worth downloading a copy of AV Linux and booting off a USB stick and re-running your tests to see if you're getting similar results, just to rule out any OS configuration issues.

If that still fails to resolve the problem I guess it's down to either one or a combination of:

- Hardware & BIOS / UEFI settings (are you using a USB2 or USB3 port?)
- Cable
- Something strange with the soundcard (update firmware perhaps?)
- Keyboard

I've had MIDI xmission problems in the past with an old keyboard after the key contacts had become dirty or corroded. After taking it apart, cleaning and re-assembling it, the problem went away.

Your problem seems to be somewhat different though.

[rghvdberg]

That looks suspiciously like broken hardware.