H9 – problem connecting & syncing to DAW

[Vonoom]

I've recently purchased an H9, and love the sound, but I am experiencing
some difficulties with its midi and the H9 Control program.

The H9 and
the control program run just fine on their own, but whenever I run my DAW (ableton) and try to connect to the H9 pedal (over usb) while the Control program is running, the 'H9 Pedal' option becomes unavailable. If I shut down Control, things run fine again and even sync.

I have tried to connect a midi device to the h9 via Midi DIN, but there seems to be no reaction from the H9. When I double click on a device, I get an error with the following message:
"H9 control was unable to open the MIDI in port for the device…". This is often followed by the Control program crashing. 

So currently there is no way for me to sync the pedal to my DAW AND have the Control program open, which is a pretty big hinderance to the way I was planning on using the pedal.

I have had my friend bring by his H9, which works fine at his place, but it had the same issues as my pedal, so that seems to indicate a software/driver issue. I've tried switching usb ports, reinstalling drivers, and just about every other possiblity that I can think of. The curious thing is that the same thing happens on my laptop, which leads me to suspect an issue with my soundcard, which is a Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 (fully updated firmware & software). 

Have you had any other reports of incompatibility with focusrite audio interfaces? Do you have any other suggestions for what I could try in order to identify the problem? It's super irritating, as I love the sounds this thing makes. I really need to get this sorted soon as I'd like to take advantage of the MAX offer before april 1st, but I don't want to buy any algorithms until I'm sure it will work as intended.

Thanks for your help! 

[nickrose]

Sounds to me as if Ableton/Focusrite is taking over the USB MIDI. Try the MIDI (DIN) again, but make sure that the USB is physically disconnected from the H9.

[Vonoom]

Hi Nick, thanks for the answer.

I just tried connecting the H9 to the Control app over DIN, but I get the 'Device not found' screen. When I then try to use my midi interface as the manually selected device, I get the 'H9 control unable to open the midi input' message again. Control will only recognize the pedal over usb. Is this normal behavior? Or should Control be able to communicate with the pedal over DIN as well?

I suspect that something is blocking the H9's ability to communicate with any of my midi interfaces (of which I have two, both tested with the H9 with no luck). Very frustrating!

[Vonoom]

I just tried connecting only with DIN, but Control simply says device not found. When I try to manually select a device, and choose my midi device, I get the "H9 Control was unable to open the MIDI in port input for the device…" error. This happens for both my midi devices (my focusrite audio interface and a novation SL midi controller). It seems that Control can only communicate with the H9 over USB. Is this normal? Or should it be able to run over DIN without the USB?  

[Vonoom]

Sorry for the double post, I wasn't sure the first one got through…

[nickrose]

I think this needs our H9Control expert, who should be back on Monday. In the meantime, you could try another computer. Make sure that the USB is unplugged from the H9 if you are using DIN MIDI.

[Vonoom]

Ok, thanks for your input though!

I have now tested the H9 via DIN on my laptop, where I began by removing my focusrite drivers and software, and used the built in soundcard for the audio, but with the same results as on my desktop. I used the novation sl to try to connect with the H9 (without usb), but it still wouldn't recognize any midi device and put the H9 in demo mode. Any midi I send from the DAW to the novation doesnt' seem to go any further. If I then connect the usb, the device is recognized by Control, but I still can't get midi to transfer.

I didn't reinstall the h9 control software after removing the focurite stuff though, that might be another thing to try just to rule it out completely. Testing with another device than the Novation might also be worth a shot. Will try that tomorrow.

I'll look forward to hearing from your H9 Control expert 🙂

[gkellum]

Presumably, you're working on a Windows computer?  On Windows multiple apps can't use the same MIDI devices at the same time.  But there are a couple of things that you could do.  You could connect H9 Control to the H9 via Bluetooth instead of USB, or you could try to use a program like Jack (http://jackaudio.org) and connect both H9 Control and your DAW to your H9 through Jack.  (I've never tried using Jack on Windows though. So, I can't guarantee that this will work.)

[Vonoom]

Yes, I'm using Windows 7. Thanks for the suggestions, I will try them in a couple of hours when I'm home again. Really hoping to get this up and running soon as I'd like to take advantage of the MAX upgrade before april 1st, but I'm reluctant to buy any more algorithms before things are running smoothly.

I'll report back soon! 

[LA Keys]

as gkellum said you cannot have more than one app using a single midi port on your computer. Using midi + bluetooth is probably the easiest way.

To be able to use Ableton and the H9 control software you could also use an "all hardware" solution….

Here is the way to do this:

You will first need 2 midi ports. Midisport 2×2 or any similar will work. The H9 controla app will use one midi port, ableton the other.

Then because both of those guys are talking to the same device, the H9, you also need a midi merger like the midi solution merger. (http://www.midisolutions.com/prodmrg.htm)

LA

[Vonoom]

In regard to gkellum's post, I discovered that I don't have bluetooth on either my desktop or laptop computer (I thought my laptop did…) so I am currently unable to try that approach. I tried setting up jackaudio, but I didn't manage to figure out how to set it up properly yet.

An all hardware solution would be an alright solution to this, but just to clarify, shouldn't the H9 be able to communicate with Control over USB, AND be able to receive midi from a midi device? Why do the two seem to be mutually exclusive for me? As stated earlier, when I try to connect with a midi device, Control usually crashes, regardless of whether or not the USB has been plugged in or not, and when it doesn't crash, it still shows no sign of actually responding to any midi, no matter if it's sync or CC messages, despite all midi channel settings and so on being set correctly.

I'd just like to know if this is common behavior on a PC setup, or if my situation is unique?

 I don't have a midi merger at the moment, but will see if I can track one down.

[gkellum]

Vonoom:

In regard to gkellum's post, I discovered that I don't have bluetooth on either my desktop or laptop computer (I thought my laptop did…) so I am currently unable to try that approach. 

There's an FAQ item that recommends a few Bluetooth dongles that you could get for under $20.

https://www.eventide.com/AudioDivision/Products/StompBoxes/H9_FAQ1.aspx#H9c3a

Vonoom:

shouldn't the H9 be able to communicate with Control over USB, AND be able to receive midi from a midi device? Why do the two seem to be mutually exclusive for me?

The two are mutually exclusive.  USB and MIDI are connected to a single underlying thing that can only be used by either one of them at a time.  And Nick can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe the H9 can switch back and forth between the two.  Either USB or the MIDI ports are going to be active.

Vonoom:

I'd just like to know if this is common behavior on a PC setup, or if my situation is unique?

Well, what is common behavior on Windows is that two applications can't use the same MIDI ports at once, and what's also common behavior is that a DAW will lock up all of the MIDI ports making it impossible for another application to do anything with MIDI.  

[nickrose]

Greg is of course correct about the MIDI and USB. When the USB is connected, the DIN MIDI is disabled. This is because when we designed the hardware, we only expected the USB to be used for updates, so this was a useful design simplification.

Since then of course, the amount of computer use has mushroomed, so with hindsight it may not have been the best decision.

[Vonoom]

Alright, good to know. Thanks for clarifying that guys. I will try to get a hold of a bluetooth dongle and/or a midi merger and get back to you.

It seems my local computer shop only has bluetooth 4.0 dongles… Hmm, will have to hope it's one of the 'good' ones that play nice with H9. 

[Vonoom]

Ok, I've now got a bluetooth dongle, and I am able to connect with the H9 over bluetooth. That's a step in the right direction. H9 Control, however, is crashing pretty regularly. This may be because when I open it it is trying to connect with my soundcard as this was the last connected midi device. I get the "H9 control was unable to open the MIDI in port for the device…" error. Previously, I was able to solve this by reinstalling h9 control, but now it seems that it retains that setting. Is there perhaps a settings file or similar that remains after uninstalling Control? 

I'm also getting the sm_response_timeout (tried restoring factory settings several times) error quite often, both over USB and when using bluetooth. This doesn't seem to break the connection with the H9, however, but pops up on a regular basis. Hrm… 

[Vonoom]

Eureka! I am now able to run H9 Control while I run Ableton, including sync, with the bluetooth handling Control and USB running the midi from Ableton. Sweet! 

I'm still having the crash issue with H9 Control, as it is still trying to connect with my soundcard, and when I click on 'Connect midi device to eventide device' to remove the connection, Control crashes. 

[gkellum]

Vonoom:

I'm still having the crash issue with H9 Control, as it is still trying to connect with my soundcard, and when I click on 'Connect midi device to eventide device' to remove the connection, Control crashes. 

In H9 Control click on the Settings button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen and go into "Reset Settings" and use the "Reset All Settings" button to blow away you're settings.  You'll have to go through the registration process for your H9 again after doing so, but this will take care of that crashing problem.  

[Vonoom]

Ah, of course! Thanks for all your help guys, so happy to have everything up and running now, it would have been rough to have to return such a lovely sounding pedal. 

Thanks for good support and for creating such lovely tools 🙂 

[pykup]

same problem here

[tepa]

Hello,

Iam on Windows 8.1, i have been able to get around this problem with Midi-Ox and LoopBe30 with Space and Cubase “On Windows multiple apps can’t use the same MIDI devices at the same time”

I own Eventide Space and recently i’ve bought Pitch Factor (great gears 😉 , since there is 2 devices for 1 midi port on H9 Control, i have tried midi merge and Thru and did the config chl 1 for Space and chl 2 For Picth Factor, but unsuccessfully.

Yesterday i read that Windows 10 have a new internal system operation for midi :

MIDI API – also available across all Windows 10 devices – this new API allows multi-client access to single MIDI hardware, new jitter-free operation, plus other bug fixes – we hope they embrace the RTP MIDI (over the network too)

Iam not sure if it’s meens that Microsoft solved the problem, does someone tried it on Windows 10 ?

 

Thks

 

 

[teabandito]

Hello, is it possible to connect H9 to Ableton Live and send midi messages from Ableton Live to H9 via bluetooth? Thanks in advance!

[Michelle911]

This is the same thing I’m experiencing except I’m not trying to run two programs at once.  just Control.  I have 4 other USB midi devices all of which will crash Control.  I’ve tried them all separtely and one at a time of course, even with the others being off and unplugged.  For my triggerfinger and keyboards it says error opening midi device, and I have a source audio hothand (expresion contoller),  I can connect this but as soon as I turn it on, and it starts sending midi, Control crashes.

So with everything plugged in USB and only Control running, should I not be able to connect a midi device?  Everything else is the same tho, Win7pro 64.

[gkellum]

Michelle911 wrote:

So with everything plugged in USB and only Control running, should I not be able to connect a midi device?  Everything else is the same tho, Win7pro 64.

Do you mean with everything plugged in USB and only Control running should you not be able to connect a MIDI device that communicates with ths H9?  Or are you saying the H9 Control is somehow capturing your MIDI devices and not allowing them to be used by other applications even though they shouldn't be being used by H9 Control at all to communicate with the H9?

[Michelle911]

I mean that I’m not using bluetooth (can’t use it actually because I’m on PC), and I’m not using MIDI cables.  All I have is a USB plugged in.  Shouldn’t I then be able to choose in Control’s settings to attach to one of my midi devices?  it does work this way doesn’t it?  because it absolutely doesn’t for me. I wanted to be able to control my H9 with my midi devices. But Control just keeps crashing.  Midi was one of the big things for me….  I’m frustrated by all all these problems   I’ve yet to just sit down and just play and forget about making things work.

[gkellum]

Michelle911 wrote:

I mean that I'm not using bluetooth (can't use it actually because I'm on PC), and I'm not using MIDI cables.  All I have is a USB plugged in.  Shouldn't I then be able to choose in Control's settings to attach to one of my midi devices?  it does work this way doesn't it?  because it absolutely doesn't for me. I wanted to be able to control my H9 with my midi devices. But Control just keeps crashing.  Midi was one of the big things for me….  

Do you have a DAW or anything else trying to connect to these same MIDI devices?  If so, then that other software application is going to lock up the MIDI port and make it impossible for H9 Control to open it and connect to it.  I've heard that Microsoft fixed this in Windows 10 by allowing multiple devices to connect to the same MIDI device.  On Mac multiple devices have always been able to connect to the same MIDI device.  Further up in this thread people helpfully explained the various solutions that they have found to work around this problem in earlier versions of Windows.

[Michelle911]

right I know….  that’s why I say ALL I’m trying to do is run Control (the only midi app currently running on PC) and simply trying to connect a midi device.  I already know that ports get locked.

[gkellum]

Michelle911 wrote:

right I know….  that's why I say ALL I'm trying to do is run Control (the only midi app currently running on PC) and simply trying to connect a midi device.  I already know that ports get locked.

Alright, we'll check it out and see if we can reproduce the problem.

[Michelle911]

thank you! I appreciate that

[gkellum]

Michelle911 wrote:

thank you! I appreciate that

Alright, we were able to reproduce the problem that you were describing.  I just sent an email to the email address associated with your forum account with a link to a new build which should resolve that problem.

[Michelle911]

Thanks Greg, I’ve installed and tested and replied back to your email.  I think you guys have already gone home for the day tho, I’m in oregon so our timings not great.  here’s a copy of my reply (just in case).

 

I’m glad you were able to duplicate this…  but unfortunately I’m still getting the same behavior.  If it helps I’ll detail exactly what I’m seeing:  open the Connect Midi Device setting and choose one of my midi devices;  at this point one of two things happens, there’s an immediate crash, or I can try sending a midi signal with my chosen device and THEN it crashes. 

That’s one scenario,  another is, I’ll open my Connect Midi Device setting and choose a device, if there’s no crash I can try selecting the same midi device again and a dialog pops up saying “H9 Control was unable to open the MIDI In port for [my chosen device]”.

ok, that’s all I can think of. just wanted to be thorough.

[Author]

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