Problem running 4x MOTU 'micro lite' MIDI interfaces

Thanks, pancenter, for your reply. Of cause I was hoping for better news... Can an OS in the year 2016 be really THAT stupid??? Or is it a USB limitation (I hate USB anyway...)? Or is it a limitation in the MOTU micro lite or the MOTU driver?

So at the moment more than one identical MIDI interface is a no go. Unless one gets through reconfiguration of the whole MIDI studio everytime when the computer has been rebooted...

But what would be a reliable and convenient way to work then with a large amount of outboard MIDI equipment (16 instruments and effects)?

One interface and then MIDI thru?

Some recommendations? MOTU? Or rather not? Have seen complaints about reliability of MOTU interfaces, don't know if those are still valid nowadays.

To my knowledge 3 daisy-chained MIDI devices should be working without latency problems, correct?

So, what connection type? MIDI through boxes (do they exist?) connected to the 8x8 interface? Or daisy-chaining equipment directly via the Thru-Outputs on devices? In that case, I assume, the device that has another one daisy-chained, has to be powered even if it's not in use?

Thanks again :-)

I have contacted MOTU support about the problem... After all, their advertising says: "Need to connect another sound module or synth? No problem. Just add another MOTU USB MIDI interface via any available USB port." No answer so far.

Daisy chaining would have the disadvantage that the respective devices have a one-way only connection, so no SysEx dumps or patch editing from the computer, etc. Unless I patch around all the time...

If MOTU has no solution, I may look into the option of using three different types of interfaces, since the problem seems to be that I have 4 identical interfaces that have obviously no way to be marked individually so the OS can recognise them properly... Maybe keeping one micro lite, adding an 8x8 MOTU and even a 3rd one from another manufacturer. A weird setup indeed... but it should work in theory, I think.

I got a reply from MOTU tech support:

"This sounds like a very annoying situation for you and one that should certainly not be happening.

Here's how the identification system works when using multiple micro lites:

There is no "internal" hardware identification built in to the unit. Multiple units will be identified based on the order that they are connected to the computer and the physical USB port. The devices will be assigned a number.

In your MIDI studio in Audio MIDI setup you should be seeing micro lite, micro lite #2, micro lite #3, micro lite #4. I've attached a screenshot. Let me know if you see anything different.

Once these number are established they should not change unless the physical USB port the interface is connected to is changed.

I just tested your exact setup (OSX 10.11) my Macbook Pro and could not reproduce the problem.

I used a 4 port Targus USB hub. All configurations were recalled after both restarting and disconnecting the USB hub.

Are you using a hub or connecting all four micro lites directly to the Mac?

If you are using a hub, try a different hub. It might be possible that your hub doesn't know which USB ports are which after a restart. You can also try disconnecting the hub (or USB cables), restarting the computer and plugging the hub (or USB cables) back in the correct order.

Again, the bottom line is that this shouldn't be an issue. I do hope it is your hub that is causing this problem."

Sorry for the delayed update...

I have tested the new USB hub (the same model the MOTU support person mentioned). With no success when connected to the same port on the Sonnet USB-3 card in my Mac Pro. I then tried one of the USB-2 ports on the front of the computer. On this port the problem does not exist so far. Everything is as expected regarding the numbering of the interfaces. So far so good as long as it stays that way... But once, after a restart, I got my former problem again: one of the four interfaces was marked offline in 'Audio/Midi Setup'. Had to reboot again... has always been a nightmare, and the reason I hooked up the interfaces to the USB-3 card on the Mac Pro. We will see how it goes.

So it seems my problem has nothing to do with MOTU or Apple, but with the Sonnet USB-3 card I was using.

I didn't mention the USB-3 card? Sorry, my fault. The reason for this might be, that I had observed the same problem on my old machine, a Power Mac G5 which has no USB-3 card. So I didn't consider it of any importance in making a difference. On my Mac Pro, all the original USB ports gave me the problem of not always mounting all the 4 interfaces. Most of the time one or two or three being offline, was driving me crazy. By the way, this also happened on the old machine... In fact, one reason for buying the USB-3 card (besides needing USB-3 for other purposes) was that I hoped for a more stable USB-2 situation for the micro lites too. **** knows what's going on... For now everything seems to work fine using one of the front USB ports on the Mac Pro. But I expect the offline problem to arise soon again :-(

The USB-3 card is this one: http://www.sonnettech.com/product/allegrousb3pcie4port.html

Seems to use no special driver on OS X. I will contact Sonnet when I have some spare time.

So you think that USB-3 is expected to give this problem? Shouldn't it be downwards compatible? Maybe using a USB-2 hub on a USB-3 port is causing it?

😟