This forum is for Tips and Tricks. Please do not post any questions in this forum. It is only for information.
2 posts
Page 1 of 1
So I've got a wild tip/trick I figured out here this week with S1.

I was recently given an old M-Audio ProjectMix I/O as a surprise gift from a very good friend. It was a fairly-hated, easily-forgettable bit of audio equipment made during the digital home studio arms race of the mid-2000s. It has some decent I/O and the specs are nice but I guess the latency was terrible and the sound sucked. People ended up HATING it because it was apparently last sold in 2008 and driver support ended in 2011. Three years! That's it! Sheesh.

Anyway, there's a bunch of these type of desks lying around from different manufacturers and most do not work anymore and haven't for almost a decade due to the manufacturers ending driver support super early. They go for dirt cheap. According to ebay, a Tascam FW-1082 just sold for $.99. Yes, that's ninety-nine cents.

I incorrectly believed that I could run the control surface separately through MIDI. Turns out, you can send certain messages from the board to Studio One. But in Learn Mode, Studio One wouldn't wouldn't register anything other than midi notes and not button or controller commands. It's hard to explain what I was seeing but it just didn't make sense. Mackie Control and HUI modes didn't work either. Also, I could also see that the board was receiving MIDI data from Studio One through the console MIDI input, but it wasn't reacting to faders, solos, and mutes.

I realized you could send certain messages through MIDI only, but for the most part, the board is set up to ONLY send and receive through the firewire cable. I spent days scouring forums and searching for some way, ANY way to use the control surface hooked up to my computer. I searched forums, sent emails, and contacted support lines. Nothing from nobody.

Told myself yesterday morning that it was the last day as work had started to pile up. Well, last night I figured it out.

And if you have a Mac and a second older Mac lying around, here you go. You can get a fully functional, easy-to-use, and often-mapped-for Studio-One control surface for under $100.

So, let's begin.

You will need:
-your DAW computer (DC)
-an old macbook (OM) with firewire + compatible driver software
-ethernet cable
-firewire or USB cable
-some old interface with a control surface

1. Open the driver software on the OM. Ensure the old interface is hooked up and recognized.
2. Connect the ethernet cable from DC to OM.
3. Open Audio/Midi Setup on both computers
4. On both, click the Window tab in the toolbar
5. Click Show Midi Studio. It'll look like this.
Image

Mac OS has the ability to send MIDI over a network. I've used it before for communicating between instruments and it works wonderfully. It's also the secret here. With the driver installed, it'll transmit control surface data only.
6. Click on the Globe / Network logo. A config box will pop up and look like this.
Image

7. Click the + on the left and give your session a name by double clicking the name and entering a new name. Click the box so it'll publish the network info.
8. Do the same on the OM.
Note: You MUST give yourself a different Bonjour name on both networks. Make sure the Port is the same on both computers. In my case it auto-enabled to 5004.
9. "Who may connect to me:" set to Anyone.
10. Live Routings: on the DC you must select the NETWORK SESSION NAME. For me, Project 2. On the OM it will be the name of what you want to control. It'll look like this and will change depending on the names you choose. Choosing the network session name on the OM will not work.
Image
Image

10. Hit Connect on the OM. (I can't get it to work if I try to connect from the DC. Only the OM, maybe there's a reason for this but I don't know?) Now you have created your MIDI network.
11. Make sure the driver app is open on the OM. This appears to be the only way to send MIDI data correctly.
11. Open Studio One and add the board in external devices. If you happen to have a ProjectMixIO, add the board as a control surface and select Mackie Control. I'll explain why in a second. Hit the Send and Receive options and select your NETWORK SESSION NAME as the Send and Receive. Hit Ok.

Guess what? You're connected. You just set up a MIDI studio control surface for almost no money. Stability has been 100% with S1 and about 70% with Pro Tools. I don't use any other DAWs to verify the connectivity with them.

The ProjectMix has a Cubase Mode, which I have found offers nearly 100% compatibility with S1. I say nearly because I haven't found a situation that it doesn't work, but I'm still messing around with it and imagine I'll find one. I accidentally purchased a Tascam FW-1884 the other day on Ebay and when it gets here, I'll detail how it works and the setup involved here. If I'm right, setup will be the exact same except for the selection made in the Live Routings menu.

Proof of concept video below.
phpBB [video]


All the encoders work and label correctly. Bank Select works perfectly.
Image

Gotta find a new spot for the other computer, but for now this is fine I guess.
Image

Let me know if you have ANY questions. I'd like to get this process nailed down to a science and I'll do what I can to help.

-Ian
Last edited by ianaeillo on Tue Dec 21, 2021 12:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

Studio One Pro 5.5, Studio One Pro 6.12, Faderport 16, Faderport Classic (1.45), Metric Halo ULN-8 MKIV, Presonus Quantum, Presonus Quantum 2, Ferrofish Pulse 16, (2) Digimax DP88, Audient ASP800, BLA HD192, 27-Inch Late 2012 3.2GHZ i5 32 GB 1600 DDR3, 2Tb SSD, 10.13.6 High Sierra + 10.14 Mojave + Windows 10
User avatar
by ianaeillo on Sat Oct 23, 2021 11:45 pm
I do understand this might be common knowledge and I just didn't know where to look. I totally get that. I didn't find anything like this anywhere, but either way I hope it helps!

Studio One Pro 5.5, Studio One Pro 6.12, Faderport 16, Faderport Classic (1.45), Metric Halo ULN-8 MKIV, Presonus Quantum, Presonus Quantum 2, Ferrofish Pulse 16, (2) Digimax DP88, Audient ASP800, BLA HD192, 27-Inch Late 2012 3.2GHZ i5 32 GB 1600 DDR3, 2Tb SSD, 10.13.6 High Sierra + 10.14 Mojave + Windows 10

2 posts
Page 1 of 1

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests