Control surface continually quitting on me...

[JNeffLind]

I've got a Korg Micro-Key 37 that has recently gotten extremely buggy. I hadn't used it in a while so I'm not sure if the bugginess might have been tied to an upgrade or if my hardware is potentially dying on me. I did just move across the country and it may have gotten banged up due to jolts in the car, etc.

Anyways, It'll work fine for a while, then will just suddenly stop. The lights on the keyboard never go out and as far as I can tell by clicking on it in the "Devices and Printers" section of the control panel, windows says it is working properly. I've got the newest drivers installed. Usually if I go into "control surfaces" in reason and uncheck the "use with reason" box and then re-check it, it'll start working again, sometimes for only a note or two, sometimes for a few minutes. If that doesn't work, I usually can get it to work by deleting it as a control surface and "auto-detecting" it, though sometimes that doesn't work either. Sometimes I need to restart reason to get it to start working and sometimes I need to restart my computer.

I'm not too bright when it comes to computer tech, so am I missing something obvious, or does it just sound like my controller is dying? It's less than a year old so it should still be fine. Any tests I should run or whatever else?

Suggestions?

Edit: by the way, I'm running the latest version of Reason 7.

[Raveshaper]

Get MIDI-Ox or similar and monitor whether the controller continues to send information after it seems to stop. If it isn't sending anything after halting regular behavior, it's actually broken in some physical way.

If it is still sending data, it could be an issue with remote itself, but this would be something like midi feedback rather than poor scripting of the device codec.

I'm not sure what would cause a controller to fail early, but I would nominate blown capacitors. Probably something else because midi controllers are often low power.

Edit: if you can use a different USB cable with it, do that. It could be a kink in the wire.

[JNeffLind]

Get MIDI-Ox or similar and monitor whether the controller continues to send information after it seems to stop. If it isn't sending anything after halting regular behavior, it's actually broken in some physical way. If it is still sending data, it could be an issue with remote itself, but this would be something like midi feedback rather than poor scripting of the device codec. I'm not sure what would cause a controller to fail early, but I would nominate blown capacitors. Probably something else because midi controllers are often low power. Edit: if you can use a different USB cable with it, do that. It could be a kink in the wire.

Thanks for the suggestions man. I'll have to try those options out. I hope your tech adventures are continuing to bear fruit.

[Raveshaper]

Want to test out something weird?

[JNeffLind]

Want to test out something weird?

Anyone that says no to that question isn't an artist...


... so yes!

[JNeffLind]

Alright, I've got MIDI-OX installed and open. Went to Options > Midi Devices. It shows my microKey as a MIDI output, but not as a MIDI input. I'm guessing this is not good... Can you advise? Don't really know how this thing works. The Microkey is still lit up and still showing as "working properly" as far as my "Devices and Printers" menu is concerned.

[JNeffLind]

And now I seem to have established that it ALWAYS shuts down when I use the little buttons that switch the octaves. That's not the only time it shuts down (i.e. sometimes it shuts down without touching those buttons) but shifting the keyboard up or down always kills the sound in Reason. 

sigh

[Olivier]

I've noticed that when connected via a usb hub, that is on itself connected to my (windows) pc via a 5 meter usb extension chord, my akai mpk has this behaviour. I connected it to another port, on itself, problem solved.
(This ofcourse points to too little power to the controller)

[ionly]

I have a similar intermittent problem with my Akai LPK25 - stops working/lights on/no MIDI signal. I haven't tested whether it is a problem with certain buttons yet, or a faulty usb connection on my laptop, but I'll try to ascertain what the cause is this eve (and post an update).


Cheers

[tibah]

Trying another USB port and / or USB cable should be obvious. Otherwise, it could be an issue with the gear inside itself. I still have issues with my new controller these days. Will run for e.g. 10 seconds, stop, then work properly. Rather seems to be an issue with the general USB hub on my main-board, just one hiccup though. Back in the days, my first controller could only run on USB 1.1 ports, so yea. Fingers crossed.

[JNeffLind]

Two updates:

First: I know someone who has an identical keyboard. I borrowed it, plugged it in to the same port using the same wire, and it worked like a charm. Never died on me, even with excessive octave switching so I'm pretty sure it's a hardware issue.

Second: Despite being not really a tech guy, I decided on a "hail mary" approach and took the keyboard apart hoping to find an obvious problem like a loose wire I could solder into place. Instead I found a giant cockroach (identical to the ones that I used to hunt for sport in my L.A. apartment) living inside my keyboard. I laid the smack down on that fucker with extreme prejudice, and put the keyboard back together hoping that the problem would be solved, that the roach was somehow shorting wires or whatever. The problem persists.

So now I believe I have the ghost of a cockroach haunting my keyboard. Anyone know any exorcism firmware updates?

[Raveshaper]

So you didn't find any loose connections?

What about an RMA. They should be able to replace it.

[tibah]

Second: Despite being not really a tech guy, I decided on a "hail mary" approach and took the keyboard apart hoping to find an obvious problem like a loose wire I could solder into place. Instead I found a giant cockroach (identical to the ones that I used to hunt for sport in my L.A. apartment) living inside my keyboard. I laid the smack down on that fucker with extreme prejudice, and put the keyboard back together hoping that the problem would be solved, that the roach was somehow shorting wires or whatever. The problem persists.

So now I believe I have the ghost of a cockroach haunting my keyboard. Anyone know any exorcism firmware updates?

Sorry, but...

...BEST Reasontalk moment ever!

[FGL]

Indeed very nice. Sounds like a real Bug.

[JNeffLind]

So you didn't find any loose connections?

What about an RMA. They should be able to replace it.

No loose connections. I'll have to make some calls tomorrow and see what my warranty status is.

[JNeffLind]

Second: Despite being not really a tech guy, I decided on a "hail mary" approach and took the keyboard apart hoping to find an obvious problem like a loose wire I could solder into place. Instead I found a giant cockroach (identical to the ones that I used to hunt for sport in my L.A. apartment) living inside my keyboard. I laid the smack down on that fucker with extreme prejudice, and put the keyboard back together hoping that the problem would be solved, that the roach was somehow shorting wires or whatever. The problem persists.

So now I believe I have the ghost of a cockroach haunting my keyboard. Anyone know any exorcism firmware updates?

Sorry, but...

...BEST Reasontalk moment ever!

Glad you enjoyed it. I got a moment of nostalgia for my roast infested K-town apartment, then I smashed the memory just like I smashed that little batch soul. FATALITY!!!

[JNeffLind]

Indeed very nice. Sounds like a real Bug.

Indeed. Putting the bug in buggy.

[Soft Enerji]

Sounds like you may have to invest in a new CS. I once had a Roland keyboard that worked like a charm for years then pretty much overnight it karked it. I never did work out what went wrong with it.

The roach story made me laugh though. I can imagine your reaction was priceless

Cheers

Mark