Sat Aug 10, 2019 3:16 am
I don't often post to the forum (but read it regularly). However with this topic I feel I might be able to add something useful. My setup is a self-built (stand-alone) computer running Windows 7 with a Motu Mk3 Hybrid - and it works well. I've had it in place about 5 years. But I can quite often get a situation where the Hauptwerk system tells me that the Motu is not connected - even though it's sitting there humming away quite happily.
I think from analysing over the years when it happens I know what is going on. If I switch on the computer and the Motu at the same time, so that the Windows OS is loading at the same time as the Motu is going through it's warm-up routine, then that is when I get the message from Hauptwerk which tells me that the OS has not loaded the Motu driver. I've assumed that when Windows loads it first of all looks around all of its ports to see what external devices are connected and switched on. So it finds the mouse, the keyboard, the twin screens, my Midi Keyboards stack and hopefully the Motu. It then loads the appropriate Drivers for these. However if the Motu is still going through its own set-up routine then it misses loading the drivers for the Motu.
With Windows I have two user profiles set up. One is the Administrator (which I only rarely use, if needed, for computer maintenance) and the other is named (self explanatory) 'Play the Organ'. The second of these is configured to auomatically load up Hauptwerk.
So my start-up routine requires a bit more patience but works faultlessly. After I have switched everything on with mains power (but without firing up the computer). I either
(1) wait about 20-30sec until the Motu system completes its start-up which is indicated by a green light whcich switches from 'flashing' to 'steady' and then start up the computer, or
(2) Start the computer and let the Windows OS load until I have the user profiles screen showing - then turn on the Motu and wait 20 sec until its green light goes steady AND the blue light showing activity on the computer settles down (that tells me it has finished load the drivers). I then select the 'Playing the Organ' user profile.
as an aside....
The only other issue I sometimes get (say 5%) after the Hauptwerk system loads is crackling/pops which I solve by selecting the 'Restart Audio/Midi' from the 'Engine' Menu. That solves it but I haven't been able to work out why this sometimes happens.
I hope this may be helpful to some with this setup.