Issues with M-Audio Keystudio 49i

Question

Issues with M-Audio Keystudio 49i

Hello,

I recently purchased Logic 8, 18 iMacs and 18 M-audio keystudio 49i keyboards for use in an educational setting. The keystudios worked fine with the iMacs until I updated OSX to 10.5.6. This caused a problem that meant the Keystudios were not recognised when logic 8 started up. I downloaded the new driver from M-audio's website, and this seemed to fix the problem. The driver changed from 'Keystudio IO' to 'M-Audio Keystudio IO' so I assumed this was just an update.

However, on some machines the keyboards still drop out from time to time and the old driver, 'Keystudio IO', is back, but no longer works.

This can be fixed by turning the keyboards off and on again, but if there is any way I could fix this permanently it would be great since where there is a class of 30+ children trying to use Logic and it keeps cutting out on them, it can get quite irritating.

Any help would be fantastic. I have tried the generic quick fix 'repair disk permissions' but this doesn't seem to work. Thankyou for any help you can give!

iMac Intel Core Duo 2.4 Ghz / 4GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.5.6), Used for education

Posted on Mar 9, 2009 8:15 AM

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Answer 1

Eriksimon

Level 6

15,448 points

Mar 9, 2009 9:54 AM in response to Presdales School

Reinstall the correct drivers on the troublesome machines. remove the old drivers from their folder.

But, if it is only on some machines I would rule out hardware issues first, so switch a working Keystation with one showing problems and see if the problems 'migrates' with it or not. The fact that switching the KS off and on temporarily works would also point to problems in the KS itself, or maybe the connecting cables.

regards, Erik.

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Answer 2

Pancenter

Level 6

14,788 points

Mar 9, 2009 11:10 AM in response to Presdales School

I know this is perfect hindsight but why did you upgrade perfectly working systems? All security updates can be had for 10.5.5? There were no musical/Logic/performance related benefits to 10.5.6.

This isn't the first OS upgrade that's caused problems, next time try upgrading only a couple of machines and make sure the upgrade is solid before upgrading the whole lot.

As Erik mentions, remove -all- components of the old driver before re-installing
the new one.

pancenter-

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Answer 3

Mar 9, 2009 11:18 AM in response to Pancenter

M-Audio are one of the worst offendors when it comes to keeping their drivers up to date.

That's why mine went on ebay.

Take heed of the advice you've had, never upgrade anything without a backup/cast iron security that your system will function as before.

Steve

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Answer 4

Mar 11, 2009 8:27 AM in response to steve shadforth1

Thanks for the help - I know, I know, I should not have updated to 10.5.6 without first testing. But you live and you learn.

Anyway, I can't find the folder that the original driver is located, and don't know where to look. Have tried searching spotlight for 'keystudio' and 'm-audio' but to no avail.

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Answer 5

Eriksimon

Level 6

15,448 points

Mar 11, 2009 8:36 AM in response to Presdales School

No, spotlight won't find these, they are in a place it doesn't search. try this location: startupdisk>Library>Audio>Midi Drivers and perhaps also startupdisk>Users>'activeuser'>Library>Audio>Midi Drivers.
I take it the machines have multiple user accounts? Or just one?

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Answer 6

Mar 16, 2009 3:04 AM in response to Eriksimon

Okay, tried searching for drivers in these locations, the only thing I can find is called 'EmagicUSBMIDIDriver.plugin' (In the first folder you suggested.) Could this be anything to do with the problem?

Again, thanks for your help.

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Answer 7

Eriksimon

Level 6

15,448 points

Mar 16, 2009 4:53 AM in response to Presdales School

I don't think the Emagicdriver is the problem. I even think it is essential. When you named those drivers, in the first post, where did you see those names? In AMS?
---
I just installed the driver, and noticed a few things: it also installs a Preference pane in *System Preferences*. I cannot access that (device not connected - I don't have one 🙂 ), but maybe you need to inspect the settings there, see if they are different on the malfunctioning ones.

Another thing I noticed was this sentence, after opening the drivers' installer, about changes in v. 1.7.2: +•Automatically update the *KeyStudio 49i firmware* to version 1.31.+ That firmware update may have gone wrong with some? It should be possible on the individual keystudio's to display the firmware version, maybe when it is starting up?

Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the driver, on the affected machines? There is an uninstall option in the Keystudio's driver installer.

And when you say in your first post about the keyboards 'dropping out', do you mean midi was no longer sent, or audio? Or both?

regards, Erik.

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