Snow Leopard audio midi setup (AMS) is cumbersome

as of 10.6, the MIDI window will not allow user definable device spacing. The OS snaps everything back to a left-to-right sprawl. It's silly!
AMS never was as good as FreeMIDI or OMS, but now it's just simply a huge step backwards.
Hopefully this gets fixed soon.

More specifically, SL has broken something with regard to AMS!
I'm a film composer using LOTS of hardware MIDI devices (in addition to my soft-synth array). Yes, hardware still exists, and serves a vital/professional purpose. I've got 6 MOTU MTP-AV interfaces (all USB) and they all connect their individual MIDI ports to individual MIDI devices.
In all versions of OSX (pre SL), AMS would retain my graphic layout of my studio. Now, no matter what I do now, AMS insists upon snapping the entire hardware footprint along the top portion of my AMS screen. Completely useless and arcane!
All versions of AMS were bad enough (a step backwards from MOTU's OS9 FreeMIDI), but this is truly ridiculous.
Are we all giving up on hardware/professional synths??? Can this be fixed???

Similar Messages

Reloading Audio MIDI Setup (AMS) settings

Hello all, I recently had to reinstall a fresh copy of OS X onto my system but I did make a backup of my hard drive before hand. Is it possible to reload my old Audio MIDI Setup (AMS) settings from my backup hard drive? If so, where might I find that file? Thanks
G5 2.5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

More specifically, SL has broken something with regard to AMS!
I'm a film composer using LOTS of hardware MIDI devices (in addition to my soft-synth array). Yes, hardware still exists, and serves a vital/professional purpose. I've got 6 MOTU MTP-AV interfaces (all USB) and they all connect their individual MIDI ports to individual MIDI devices.
In all versions of OSX (pre SL), AMS would retain my graphic layout of my studio. Now, no matter what I do now, AMS insists upon snapping the entire hardware footprint along the top portion of my AMS screen. Completely useless and arcane!
All versions of AMS were bad enough (a step backwards from MOTU's OS9 FreeMIDI), but this is truly ridiculous.
Are we all giving up on hardware/professional synths??? Can this be fixed???

Audio Midi Setup seems to do nothing but crash lately

I looked around for a more suitable forum but this seemed like my best bet. I recently started having very poor luck with Audio Midi Setup (AMS here).
I just installed Logic Pro, a MOTU Ultralite, and a MOTU micro express, but I have never used AMS on an Intel prior to installing this gear, so I don't know if any of the three is responsible.
AMS will randomly crash for no reason that I can figure whenever I'm in the MIDI pane. Additionally, I can cause it to crash by fiddling with MIDI routing. The crashing becomes more frequent if I change icons and colors of MIDI devices. There is one guaranteed way to get AMS to crash, and that is to click on one of the MIDI devices' information bullets. Come to think of it, not all devices have these buttons, and I have no idea what they're supposed to do. But I can't resist clicking on 'em.

LOL
Aside from crashing and other AMS weirdnesses I've seen over the past few months (on both Logic-based and DP-based systems), and aside from the fact that Logic's environment renders the MIDI side of AMS redundant, here's the thing I really don't like about Logic + AMS integration:
When you create a MIDI instrument in AMS, Logic will recognize the instrument and add it to the environment's MIDI instrument layer, but it won't show up there the first time you launch Logic. Might show up the second time. Or it might not show up at all.
But aside from this bit o' behavior, any multi-timbral AMS-created MIDI devices that appear in the environment will have the program change checkboxes enabled for every channel, the program numbers themselves seemingly set at random. This means that if you select this instrument (on any channel) as the thru instrument in the arrange window and hit play, the MIDI device will be sent this not-set-by-the-user-and-very-random-but-transmitted-anyway program change. So say bye-bye to any edit that might have been living in the synth's buffer.
The workaround here is to remember not to select any of those instruments for use in the arrange window until you first select each sub-channel of each multi-timbral MIDI device (as it shows up in the environment) and manually uncheck all of the program change check boxes. And trust me, it's a major pain in the *** to do on just one multi-instrument, let alone, say, 16 (as was my original AMS-derived environment setup).
So that's yet another reason not to define your instruments ('specially multi-timbral instruments) in AMS.

Audio Midi Setup, multichannel speakers, Snow Leopard & possible bug

I scoured this forum as well as the usual places across the net and haven't seen any mention of this issue, thought I'd post it here and see if anyone else has had this issue. I'm having a problem with a fresh install of 10.6.2 that I detailed in a bug report to Apple. Here's what I sent them:
"I have a firewire audio interface I use successfully with Logic Pro/Quicktime Pro 7/Finder in a multichannel (5.1) configuration for scoring and post, which works fine in 10.5.8. I can play multichannel (interleaved) 5.1 files bounced out of Logic Pro in Quicktime Pro and from within the Finder using QuickLook, and all channels play out of the speakers (which is of course configured properly in both Audio Midi Setup and Logic Pro).
In the latest version of Snow Leopard however, even though multichannel audio works fine in Logic Pro (probably because it has its own multichannel speaker config in Logic's audio preferences), this same hardware setup does not work outside of Logic. Multichannel audio files only play out of the left & right channels (C/LFE/Ls/Rs are summed). I believe the problem is Audio Midi Setup. Even though I enable the correct stream and choose the correct speakers from with "speaker configuration," and even though the test tone buttons work over the appropriate speakers in that window, after I hit "apply," when playing multichannel audio files in QT7 or via Quicklook in the Finder, the problem persists (summing all channels to L & R speakers).
Furthermore, when I click "Done" in the speaker config window and quit Audio Midi Setup and re-open it, the speaker configuration window reveals that my multichannel setup has reverted to Audio Midi Setup's intial state: a 2 channel (stereo) setup. I've done this at least ten times, as well as having deleted the AMS prefs and launched the utility in 32-bit mode with no success."
Has anyone else with a multi-speaker setup had any problems with AMS initializing their speaker configuration, and just plain not working?

Brent Daniels [Free] wrote:
... I believe the problem is Audio Midi Setup. Even though I enable the correct stream and choose the correct speakers from with "speaker configuration," and even though the test tone buttons work over the appropriate speakers in that window, after I hit "apply," when playing multichannel audio files in QT7 or via Quicklook in the Finder, the problem persists (summing all channels to L & R speakers).
Furthermore, when I click "Done" in the speaker config window and quit Audio Midi Setup and re-open it, the speaker configuration window reveals that my multichannel setup has reverted to Audio Midi Setup's intial state: a 2 channel (stereo) setup. I've done this at least ten times, as well as having deleted the AMS prefs and launched the utility in 32-bit mode with no success."
Has anyone else with a multi-speaker setup had any problems with AMS initializing their speaker configuration, and just plain not working?
I don't know if this will help you, but I once had a problem with Audio Midi Setup forgetting its settings - I found that the settings were only securely stored if I made the changes while logged on as an administrator.

Audio MIDI setup not allowing aggregate device

I recently upgraded to a mac pro, and transferred everything from my old mac via firewire..
On my previous computer, using my aggregate device (Roland Fantom + Built-in output + built-in input) was no problem. I would simply choose in Logic my aggregate device under the core Audio preferences, and I could play logic software instruments with the roland keys, record audio through the roland, and play it back through the built-in line output no problem..
Now, on my mac pro, I can't do this because the aggregate device I created on my previous computer is not showing up under the devices pull-down menu in the core audio preferences in logic, and I cannot create a new aggregate device on this computer, as a matter of fact I cannot even seem to delete the old one... when i click the plus or minus (+/-), the blue shade highlighting the selected audio device just goes straight to the device at the top of the list (which happens to be built-in mic). it does not even allow me to deselect or select any checkboxes within the existing "9/25 aggregate".. when I try it just makes the devices listed in that window wiggle...
I have attached a screen shot of the Audio Midi setup screen (where one should be able to create aggregate devices)
Please let me know if you know what could be causing this..

Ojan36 wrote:
Could uninstalling and reinstalling Logic completely possibly fix it? I guess that would be unlikely because the audio MIDI Setup window is OS X, unrelated to Logic..
Correct.
when i click the plus or minus (+/-), the blue shade highlighting the selected audio device just goes straight to the device at the top of the list
This is one of the reasons why I am still suspecting some kind of permissions problem, even though you said this user has Admin privileges. I suspect a permissions problem because the symptom you described ("the blue shade highlighting the selected audio device just goes straight to the device at the top of the list") is exactly what happens if you do not have Admin privileges and you press the + button.
I think this issue has to do with the fact that there was not a clean install of snow leopard
I agree. My theory is that something about the way you moved items to this machine led to a permissions problem, and this permissions problem is causing AMS (Audi MIDI Setup) to behave the way you see.
I recently upgraded to a mac pro, and transferred everything from my old mac via firewire..
I know you connected via FireWire, but how did you control what was being transferred? Did you use Migration Assistant, or some other method?
In my comment here, I advised 55plus to check something. What happens when you check the thing I advised him to check?
You have not mentioned Disk Utility. I would use it to Repair Permissions. Then launch AMS. Does the + button work now?
Next I would try this: create a new OS X user account, with administrator privileges, and log in as that user. Then launch AMS. Does the + button work now?
55plus, I intend to respond to you too, but this is all I have time for right now.

Audio Midi Setup not responding

Hello Experts,
I have the following problem:
My Audio MIDI Setup is not responding. It starts but I have no control over it and have to force quit it to exit the application.
I have audio but I can't launch Logic Pro, Djay etc.
PLS HELP!

I used a RME Fireface 800. But I'm not using any external interface at all right now.
The situation is:
I had a Power Mac with Snow Leopard using Logic Pro. Bought a Mac Book Pro with Mountain Lion and installed my old environment via Time Machine on the Mac Book.
That might caused the conflict.
I spoke to an apple technician and he advised me to uninstall all applications using Audio MIDI Setup to bring the Setup back on track and then reinstall everything.
I did so but still can't launch the Audio MIDI Setup.
I was even thinking about uninstall the Audio MIDI Setup but I don't know how to reinstall it.

Audio MIDI Setup - drop-down menu of mfrs. and devices empty?

As the subject says, I'm trying to set up my small arsenal of MIDI gear, and the drop-down lists of manufacturer and device names in the Audio MIDI Setup->MIDI window are empty (there are supposed to be dozens of items to choose from). I've just recently performed a new installation of Snow Leopard, and everything is up to date. I even installed Garage Band, thinking that its installation might fix the missing MIDI device list, but no luck. Another odd thing is that my MOTU MTP AV is recognized by name within System Profiler (as an attached USB device), but I had to install drivers for it to appear in the MIDI Setup window.
Anyone experience this and/or have a solution? I own Pacifist, and if someone knows where the missing files are located within the SL installer disc I could try a custom installation. Help...

same problem here, no more device manufacturers and names, but a bigger problem to me is that I see no way of reorganizing the view in the MIDI window anymore, it puts all my devices next to each other, with 30 devices that makes it totally unusable.

Audio Midi Setup has no choice for 88.2 kHz

I downloaded a 24 bit 88.2 kHz music file in Apple Lossless format from Linn records, but I can only see 44.1, 48 and 96 kHz in Audio Midi Setup.
I use the optical digital out connected to Benchmark DAC1 USB. The manual states all sample rates between 28 and 96 kHz are supported for the optical input. Why isn't 88.2 kHz a possible choice in Audio Midi Setup? Is it possible to fix? Thanks! Joachim
PS
I noticed now the 88200 option is there when connecting via USB. But I prefer using the optical if possible.

This was the reply from Nomad:
I wrote:
Is the D82 Sonic Maximizer plugin compatable with Snow Leopard?
They replied:
Hello,
The D82 Sonic Maximizer CANNOT cause any problem to your system, it is just
a plug-in, it cannot remove or change your connections midi or others.
Yes it is (compatible) for AU, VST and RTAS,

I need to upgrade my 10.5.1 os on my G4/1.25 (I'm having some audio-midi setup problems), but it's a machine that is not connected to the internet. Do I have any options? Thanks!

Friends,
I'm having some audio-midi setup problems on my G4/1.25/10.5.1 machine. I'm thinking that a routine OS upgrade might help. However, this machine is not connected to the internet. Are there any alternate methods for upgrading system software? Thanks in advance!

OK, what you should do is download the updates on another machine and burn them to a disc. Start at this link http://support.apple.com/downloads/#leopard for downloads and find, among other things, the 10.5.8 combo updater that works on PPC machines, plus security, QuickTime and other updates. Going from 10.5.1 to 10.5.8, there will probably be a bunch of things that you should install. Being off the internet with the machine, you can't have Software Update sort it out, so something might get missed, unfortunately.
My suggestion is this: if it looks like you might need a download, get it onto that disc.

Kawai CN41 electric piano will not show up in Audio MIDI Setup.

Hello,
I have a Kawai CN41 Piano that I would like to connect to my Macbook via USB to control some midi functions in Logic Express (incredible software by the way...)
The Manual that came with the piano says that it should just work. But for maximum clarification, I'll retype what the manual says.
"The CN41 piano can be connected with a personal computer with a USB cable for excahanging MIDI data. You need a USB Driver installed in your computer.
[For Windows XP/ME users]
A standard USB driver is already installed in your computer. You don't need to install a new driver.
[For Windows 2000/98SE users]
You need to install the desigated driver in your computer. Visit the KAWAI website at http:/www.kawai.co.jp/english/Download1.html and download the program.
[For Macintosh users]
Macintosh OSX automatically recognizes our USB interface. No Special driver is needed. Older Macintosh OS are not supported by us. If you have an older Macintosh OS, please us an appropriate MIDI interface and MIDI cables when connecting the CN41 piano to a macintosh computer.
NOTE:
When both MIDI jacks and USB port are connected, USB has priority.
When connecting USB cable to the CN41 piano, first connect the USB cable and then turn the power of the CN41 piano on.
It may take some time to start communication when the CN41 piano is connected to the computer via USB. When USB communication is unstable with connection via hub, connect the USB cable directly to the USB port of the computer.
Turning the power of CN41 piano on/off or disconnecting the USB cable while the follwing actions may cause unstable communication.
while installing USB driver
while booting up the computer
while MIDI application is working
while communicating with the computer
while the computer is in energy saver mode
* If you have any problem with USB communication, consult the instruction manual of your computer and check your computer setup.
* The USB-MIDI conversion board TID10000934 used in the CN41 piano is approved to show the USB logo. The USB logo can be used only for the product which is approved by USB-IF (USB Implements Fourm Inc.) test.
* Windows is registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
* Macintosh is registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc."
So when i follow the directions just like the manual says the only thing that happens is my mouse stops working for about 30 to 45 seconds. After it starts working, nothing whatsoever in the department of MIDI. It won't even show up in the Audio MIDI Setup application. Also, I'm not 100% positive about this, but I don't think it's showing up in the System Profiler as well.
I've tried pushing the rescan button in Audio MIDI Setup, nothing.
I've repeated everything with a different usb cable with no improvement.
And I even contacted Kawai Technical Support. The guy I talked to via email said that he wasn't a mac guy but he'd ask his friends who were if they had any problems, his friends told him that everything was working fine for them. Then he told me to go and buy a USB-MIDI interface and plug it into the traditional MIDI ports on the CN41 and see if that would work. (I really don't want to do that, one of the reasons I bought this piano is the midi-straight-to-computer-via-usb-cable-connection connection. Buying a little usb interface would defeat the point. Although, I'll probably buy one down the road eventually. I would just like it to work.)
This piano is really nice, It has keys that feel like the real thing and using it to write some tracks in Logic Express would be a delight if it would work. If I could, I would take this issue to the Apple store in Salt Lake City, but I'm thinking that I would also have to take the piano and its kinda big. I'm using a Macbook running OS X Leopard 10.5.4 with a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2 Gigs of ram. I also run a Line 6 Toneport UX2, I'm not sure if there could be any Hardware conflicts, but I'm not much of a computer guy so I figured I'd just let you know as much as I can.
Aside from this thing with the piano, OSX has worked beautifully! I will never buy a Windows running machine again. And the few times when I'm forced to use one, (Work and stuff) I get really cranky.
Thank you for your time,
Jon Worms
P.S. I'm more than willing to scan the manual and email it for you upon request, I tried to find a link to it somewhere with no luck. But you know, thats just my luck. :P

Hey Rob, Thanks for responding!
As far as I can see there is not. The piano does have 3 usb ports on it though. 2 A size ports to go to Kawai approved devices, such as a hard drive for recording directly to portable memory. These plugs are labeled USB to Device. Then it has one B size plug that is Labeled USB to Host. The manual says that this is the one to connect to the computer.
USB Controls do exist though. But manual states that they are for when you plug in a small hard drive/flash drive. The controls allow you to create new folders and move recordings around on a flash drive. And without a hard drive plugged into one of the A size ports I don't get anything but an error message.
Tomorrow I'm going to try and get it to work on a windows box. Maybe i'll have a little luck.
Thanks for your help.

Audio MIDI Setup not working, please help

Hi,
I am using a macbook pro with Lion OSX 10.7.4. I've been trying to setup my ipad as a wireless MIDI controller but when i open up network in the MIDI window in Audio MIDI setup i just get 'MIDI device properties', instead of midi device setup.
I also noticed that there is no com.apple.audio.AudioMIDISetup.plist file in my preferences folder.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks

Try dragging the following .plist(s) to the desktop and rebooting:
com.apple.audio.AudioMIDISetup.plist
com.apple.MIDI.0016cb8a99c1.plist
com.apple.MIDI.001b63933178.plist
They are in
~/Library/Preferences
If you still think you need to reinstall the entire app, use Pacifist and extract it from your original Leopard DVD.
Message was edited by: nerowolfe

Problem with Audio MIDI Setup using multiple accounts

I'm having a problem with Audio MIDI Setup recognizing all of the MIDI devices on a G4 Tower with a non-administrator account. The main administrator account has no problem seeing anything, but the non-admin account won't see anything. Does it all have to be added in manually, or is there a preferences file to copy over that will take care of this. Failing that, is it a problem with file permissions? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Don't know whether this of any help, but there's an identifiable issue with AMS and Digital Performer 5 where DP5 simply won't load with AMS setups configured with previous versions of DP. Which is probably irrelevant to your problem, but ...
What I and other DP users have found we have to do is start with a completely new, blank AMS setup, and reconfigure our devices from scratch, and although this was kind of hit and miss and on the fly (don't really understand what the the issue was, exactly), I think the bottom line was if we used the new AMS setup with DP5 before anything else that might cause its data tables to change, we were ok.
So if you can do it, it might be worth setting AMS to a new blank template, then connecting your interfaces, see how far you get. And always make sure you've got the latest drivers of course, though I'm sure you've done that.
Never used Mbox or 410, but I've an Ozonic which I think uses the same M-Audio firewire drivers as the 410, and don't have any problem with that, FWIW.
G5 Dual 2.7, MacMini, iMac 700; P4/XP Desk & Lap. Mac OS X (10.4.8) mLan:01x/i88x; DP 5.1, Cubase SX3, NI Komplete, Melodyne.

How to configure Audio MIDI Setup?

How does one configure Audio MIDI Setup?
With every reboot of the system, the values revert to 44100.0 Hz, 2ch-24bit integer. I suppose these are the default values, but my most used software (Finale 2012) requires the Built-in Output to be set to 44100.0 Hz, 2ch-16bit integer. It is a real pain having to dig into the Utilities folder, boot the Audio MIDI Setup and reset the values every single day.
Is there a way I can make the required values stick through reboots or modify the default values? Thanks in advance!

Ok, this is pretty simple to fix. First of all, even if there's a breakout cable at the Firebox for both midi and S/PDIF, you're not connected on S/PDIF but on the midi in. This is not related to your problem but important to know.
Now, to the problem: you use two different interfaces: the Firebox and the computer built-in. Since those are two different drivers and Logic can talk to only one driver at once, you have to set-up an Aggregate Device in AMS. Open AMS, select the audio tab and from the audio menu, select Open Aggregate Device Editor. There, create a new device with both the Presonus and the built-in. Now, all you have to do is going back to Logic, open the audio preferences, select the drivers tab and select the aggregate device.

Soft route audio from line in thru to headphones / Audio Midi Setup

howdy,
I am trying route audio from the line-in jack to the headphone jack. It seems that this should be possible using audio midi setup but the "thru" buttons don't respond to mouse clicks. Any ideas? The shareware program "Line-in" works but I only get audio on the left channel.
thnaks, Dan

to answer my own question, the through routing is possible using GarageBand. I'd still be interested to seeif anyone knows how AMS is supposed to work.

Applescript - Audio MIDI Setup to match the track currently playing in iTunes.

I havent played with Applescript but assume this is possible?... write a script to automatically change the sample rate in Audio MIDI Setup to match the track currently playing in iTunes.
Anyone any experience of doing this?
thanks

I havent played with Applescript but assume this is possible?...
write a script to automatically change the sample rate in Audio
MIDI Setup to match the track currently playing in iTunes.
Audio MIDI Setup is not scriptable. It is possible to script non-scriptable applications using the UI, but how easy and how effective this is depends on the application.
The real problem is that AppleScript is not suited for the kind of task you have in mind. Basically, you want a daemon running in the background who either checks or receives notifications from iTunes and tells AMS to do something. This is something AppleScript does very poorly. IMHO you should look for something else.

Snow Leopard audio midi setup (AMS) is cumbersome

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