Hello Rod,
I've split your post off from the original topic (since it's asking about something different), given it a title, and moved it here.
If the PC is sometimes losing connections to Launchpads whilst you're actually using it then the most likely cause is insufficient USB power for the USB devices attached to the computer. If attaching them via a USB hub, make sure that the hub is good-quality one with its own dedicated mains power supply, and that its rated maximum power is greater (allowing a good margin for headroom) than the total maximum power requirements of all of the USB devices attached to it.
Also make sure that all power-saving options in Windows and the PC's motherboard are completely disabled, to try to make sure that Windows doesn't try to put anything to sleep (especially USB devices). See the 7th bullet point in the '
Performance tuning: Other operating system and computer optimizations and diagnostics' section in the Hauptwerk user guide (page 274 in the current v6.0.2 version) for how to do that. If that Windows USB-sleep option isn't disabled then the PC may well lose communication with USB-MIDI and/or USB-audio devices -- a very common problem.
It's also important that you don't attach, detach, or turn on/off any USB/audio/MIDI devices whilst Hauptwerk is actually running; doing so may cause the USB connections to other USB devices to be lost. Hauptwerk doesn't support 'hot-plugging' audio/MIDI devices.
Also, if you have several identical MIDI devices (e.g. more than one Launchpad Mk2s) attached to the computer then note that the driver/Windows may sometimes change the order in which it presents them (resulting in the devices appearing to be swapped in Hauptwerk), and/or change their MIDI port names (making them appear to be missing/new/different devices to Hauptwerk, with a prompt to that effect when you launch Hauptwerk).
Here are two posts that cover that:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=19309&p=144962#p144953randallschmid wrote:You need to set the device ID on one of your LP's to 2. This will create a different midi port name for the second LP, i.e. "Launchpad XL 2" which you can reference in your HW auto-config.
The below quote is from page 4 of the programmers reference that can be found at
https://d2xhy469pqj8rc.cloudfront.net/s ... -v1-02.pdfLaunchpad MK2 has a bootloader mode that allows the user to configure and save certain
settings. The bootloader is accessed by holding the Session, User 1, User 2 and Mixer buttons
while plugging the device in. Figure 1 shows the functions of the bootloader.
The top two rows of square buttons can be used to set the device ID of Launchpad MK2. The
device ID ranges from 1 – 16 and the selected ID is represented by an orange button.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=19309&p=144962#p144962mdyde wrote:To add to Randall's reply, the problem will simply be due to both Launchpads currently having identical names (so that there is no reliable way to tell them apart apart from the order in which Windows lists them), and their driver/Windows having swapped the two devices around internally. That happens from time to time when two or more identical USB-MIDI devices are used, especially if Windows installs any updates, or if you plug in or unplug any USB devices. That isn't due to any fault in Hauptwerk, or any difference in v6 compared to v5 -- it will simply be that the driver/Windows has swapped the devices around. There's nothing Hauptwerk itself could do to prevent that.
However, In Hauptwerk v6+ you can now 'remap' MIDI ports via the 'General settings | MIDI ports' screen within Hauptwerk, thus avoiding the need to auto-detect settings again if/when devices get swapped around.
Just change the columns in which the relevant Launchpad rows are ticked. Since you might not be able to tell which Launchpad is which (given that their device names will probably be identical, aside from the number according to whatever order Windows is currently presenting them), you might need to try swapping the ticked Launchpad columns around in their ticked rows until you find the intended devices. (For the relevant Launchpad row, try the tick in a different Launchpad device's column, see whether it works, if not, try another, etc.) Give the ticked Launchpads' rows meaningful 'aliases', e.g. 'Left Launchpad' and 'Right Launchpad' so that you can tell them apart easily in the future.
If you can set the Launchpads to present distinct names by changing their hardware IDs (as Randall suggested) then that would be ideal for the longer-term, since it should prevent them being swapped around by the driver/Windows in the future.
[Edit: P.S. I see Andrew and I replied at the same time.]
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.