[QLab] M-Audio 410 Problems

[Clay Benning]

Hmmm, this sounds familiar, doesn't it Chris? (He and I were just  
having this same configuration discussion off-list. Perhaps I should  
have included everyone...)

OK, here's what I've learned:

M-audio DOES support multiple 410's on some level, because you can  
access and configure multiple boxes from their control panel. There  
is a bit of a hang time with Qlab, with both boxes connected, when  
you initially launch (ie. spinny beachball 'o death) and you try to  
access any menu items immediately. I have not had Qlab crash on me in  
this instance, but there is about a 30 sec delay in menu functionality.

Once open, Qlab seems to handle both boxes fine, either as an  
aggregate device or two separate devices. FYI, you need to logged in  
as an administrator to create or delete aggregate devices, even  
though the OS doesn't prompt you to authenticate. (It looks like you  
can do it otherwise, but your changes will not be saved.)

The big cavaet for me right now is having two 410's connected causes  
a total CoreMIDI interruption. You are unable to access any MIDI  
ports on the 410's or on any other connected MIDI device. I have  
emailed M-audio about this. Their response so far has been "Make sure  
you have the latest driver, OS, blah, blah...." I have all this and  
it makes no difference. I'll let you know if I hear back from them.

My setup for those interested:
Intel Mac Mini 1.66 Duo
10.4.8
Qlab 1.1, EA, MIDI, Control licenses


Good luck Chris and Ryan. Say hi to David for me...

Clay



On Jan 25, 2007, at 1:28 PM, Christopher Kulesa wrote:

> We just got off the phone with M-Audio.  We have been told by their  
> technicians that their engineers did not write drivers to support  
> more than one sound-card.
>
> QLab will launch.  However, selecting the menu bar and pressing  
> "command-," will both crash QLab.
>
> We are daisy chaining them via FireWire.  Each FireWire 410 has two  
> firewire ports.
>
> On the up-side, however, when the FireWire 410's are connected but  
> not ON (connected to AC power and firewire to the Mac Mini, power  
> button not depressed) and we start QLab first then power ON the  
> FireWire 410's, QLab will not crash when we select the menu bar or  
> press command-, .  We have not done any extensive tests.  We have  
> only found that QLab does not crash.
>
> We are pretty sure that the problem stems from the drives of the  
> FireWire 410's.
>
> Thanks
>
> Ryan and Chris
> NCSA Sound Program
> Second Year Grads

______________
Clay Benning
Stoutpost Internet Services
clay at stoutpost.com