[F] (Android bug) Midronome not forwarding program change messages

[Milosdrummer]

Short description of the issue: Midronome is not forwarding MIDI program change messages

Setup (devices connected to the Midronome and how):
Android tablet/phone connected to USB port of Midronome, MIDI out 1 or 2 connected to Roland SPD-SX

Steps to Reproduce:
Send a MIDI preset from tablet/phone containing any program change values (MSB LSB PC, usually should be 00 00 XX for SPD-SX). The source device should, of course have the MIDI channel adjusted to the receiving side value and the MIDI port should be Midronome/All

Expected Behavior:
Midronome should forward those MIDI program changes to the SPD-SX and have the patch number jump to the value of PC -1

Actual Behavior:
No program changes are being forwarded, there is no response from the SPD-SX (nor is there any recorded messages in a MIDI monitoring test. Only the tempo sync is being transmitted).

Midronome Firmware version:
3.0

More info:
I have tested multiple setups with SPD-SX and TD30 modules connected to each other or to a computer, it all works fine except when Midronome is used.

[Simon]

Thanks Milos for reporting! )

This does indeed sound like a bug - that does not happen very often!!

I'll do some quick tests tomorrow and post my updates here.

Simon

[Simon]

Hi Milos

I did some quick testing and on the Midronome's side everything seems fine, both on MIDI Out 1 and MIDI Out 2.

See the attached screenshot from pocket MIDI:

• MIDI Out Monitor window shows what I sent to the Midronome over USB, on the port called "Midronome Midi Out 1"
• MIDI In Monitor window shows what my audio interface (Focusrite Scarlett 4i4) receives on its MIDI port

(and of course I have a DIN-MIDI cable connecting the physical MIDI Out 1 of the Midronome to my audio interface's MIDI input).

The yellow messages are CC, the "B2" messages are the MSB/LSB of the PC message, and the "C2" messages are the actual PC messages. 90 and 80 are MIDI notes - just to test. Point is, everything is transmitted correctly.

I tried on both MIDI ports and it works fine. So at least we know that if the Midronome receives the MIDI data it forwards it correctly.

So my guess is that somehow your PC messages never make it to the Midronome? Do you have another application you can try to send the MIDI messages to the Midronome?

Simon

[Milosdrummer]

Hey Simon,

Thanx for the effort! I have tested more and finally managed to confirm your findings. Program changes do get forwarded through Midronome after all. Using the pocket midi app you suggested, I have made a similar setup and it worked, as well as the monitor showed the pc messages leaving the computer, going through Midronome, changing the preset on SPD-SX and coming back to the MIDI in of the soundcard. That leaves me with a mystery of how to do the same with Band Helper (swapping the source to the tablet again had no result, pc messages just don't reach Midronome), it seems like I'm doing something wrong. The pocket midi monitor shows the sync signal being sent to the sampling pad, but no pc messages are getting transmitted.

Do you by any chance have a way to test any device with Band Helper and Midronome connected and see what could be the issue there? I doubt anyone from BH support can test this exact setup.

Edit: I suspect that this has something to do with MIDI ports again, maybe BH is just not using the correct port for these kind of actions?

[Simon]

Nice progress

So you're saying that BH is sending MIDI CC messages to the Midronome, but not PC messages?

If so, then yes my guess is that they are sent to the wrong USB-MIDI interface.
Remember you have 3 interfaces: "Commands", "MIDI Out 1", "MIDI Out 2". If you send the PC message to the "Commands" interface it will not work.

Maybe BH considers PC messages differently, and by default sends them only to the first interface? They might not be able to test it but they could check their code to see why CC works and PC does not, while they should have the exact same behavior

Do you have any way of choosing the interface you are sending? I saw earlier you wrote something like "all" - just be aware that sending random CC / PC data to the "Commands" interface might give you strange behavior with future firmwares, if for example more commands are added (while for now they might be ignored, being not supported commands).

Simon

[Milosdrummer]

The only two options when choosing the MIDI port are 'All' and 'Midronome#265' (the number changes with each physical reconnection) which is the port for the F8 messages transmitted. That tells me the that there is only one port that BH uses to send anything.

[Simon]

I see. But am I correct that the CC messages are working while the PC are not? If so I would really contact BH as they might be able to see something in their code. Mention to them that the issue is probably related to the fact that there are more than 1 pair of MIDI-USB interfaces.
Simon

[Milosdrummer]

I will do that. In the meantime, could this be down to Android system's ability to recognize/use multiple MIDI ports?

[Milosdrummer]

Here is an update, just to add to the confusion
The screenshots are from different devices, both Android, one from tablet that works normally with Midronome but doesn't 'see' all the ports (and consequently doesn't manage to get the program change to work), and other from phone that 'sees' more ports but the BandHelper app freezes after starting MIDI.

Edit:
The additional ports are probably from some other app. Also, after turning off MIDI thru in Bandhepler, that device stopped freezing. Still no sign of other MIDI ports for Midronome.

[Simon]

I doubt it is a problem with Android since it works with CC messages and not PC messages. It must be something with BH. Also the fact that it crashes is a good point to bring to their support...

[Milosdrummer]

I doubt it is a problem with Android since it works with CC messages and not PC messages. It must be something with BH. Also the fact that it crashes is a good point to bring to their support...

Well, I thought the port for cc messages is not the same as for other MIDI info that should be forwarded? There should not be a problem if it would use the same port.

Anyhow, the freezing problem was due to MIDI overload and is solved with turning off MIDI thru option in BH.

[Simon]

Well, I thought the port for cc messages is not the same as for other MIDI info that should be forwarded?

It's definitely the same USB-MIDI interface that is used, either the second one "MIDI Out 1" or the third one "MIDI Out 2" depending on which physical DIN port you want to forward the data to.

Just FYI, I am making this bug as "Rejected" as it is not caused by the Midronome. I am still happy to help if you need something

[Milosdrummer]

Yes, this can be closed as a bug report, thank you!

[Milosdrummer]

I'm glad to inform that the issue is solved. It was down to Android after all, I have updated to ver 14 and the MIDI ports finally all got recognized! Thank you for the support!

[Simon]

Amazing, very glad to hear! Thank you for the update!