Hi! I’m finding that in the default config, I’m running out of sound card identifiers with about 14 USB midi devices — I can’t seem to get more than eight or so of them working at once. Adding more (or booting with them connected) gives kernel errors of the form:
[ 391.820000] no available usb audio device
[ 391.820000] snd-usb-audio: probe of 1-1.4.4.3.1:1.0 failed with error -5
Would it be possible to have this limit raised, or is this a sign that I need to buy a second box and crosslink them on the network?
You are not trying to hook audio devices are you? BomeBox only allows for MIDI device type, qwerty keyboard (input), network MIDI (Bome Network) and serial (USB serial adapter).
Please define the USB MIDI devices you are trying to attach and how they are attached? (powered or unpowered USB hub).
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
No, not audio devices — the error is from card.c in the ALSA framework; it’s used for both audio and midi devices, as best as I can tell. Everything is run through a powered USB 3 hub. The devices are an ESI M8U EX midi interface (nothing plugged into its hub), and a bunch of controllers and synths. All of them work independently, but having more than eight USB midi devices plugged in (in any combination, regardless of whether they have multiple midi ports) results in that kernel error.
OK, It looks like it is class compliant so it should work, however I’ll have to check to see if we’ve seen any issues with this before. As far as I know there is no hard limit to MIDI devices attached to the BomeBox. I assume you are running the latest BomeBox Firmware?
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
OK, checking into it. I don’t think we have this in house but maybe a google search could yield some information here. I think BomeBox is USB2 not USB3 but should be backward compatible (except for transfer speeds).
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
The error is independent of which devices I have connected. I haven’t gone through all the possible sets exhaustively, mind you, so I guess it is possible that it’s something specific acting weird, but it really doesn’t look like that. If you google that exact error text, pretty much the only hits you find are from the kernel source.
Hi,
Reading further on the ESI M8U EX, it looks like it can have up to 16 but only inputs or outputs.
For instance
16 inputs
16 outputs
12 inputs 4 output
4 inputs 12 outputs
or any combination.
What combination are you trying? Normally with class compliant USB MIDI it requires the same number of inputs and outputs, so not sure if it will support a combination as class compliant if the number of inputs and outputs is not the same.
Still researching …
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
The ESI enumerates all 32 possible ports, and then only sends data in from ones it gets incoming midi traffic to/sends data out to ports that have a cable connected that’s not an input, as far as I can tell. However, I still have this problem of not being able to connect more than eight USB midi devices even if I do not have the ESI connected at all, but rather have eight other class-compliant devices connected.
You may also need to check this setting on your ESI. (from the manual)
USB 2.0 legacy vs. USB 3.0 high performance mode (DIP switch 3)
M8U eX ships with the USB 2.0 legacy mode being enabled. This is a requirement as many older operating
systems, for instance Windows 7, only have limited USB 3.0 support, in particular for MIDI devices. In USB 2.0
legacy mode, the USB MIDI interface inside M8U eX works as a USB 2.0 device, rather than as a USB 3.0
device with higher performance. The USB 3.0 hub with the 3 ports is not affected by this setting.
Hi,
I’m able to load 2 4 port hubs (MIDIBOX and MIDIHub) in addition to an Arturia Beatstep via unpowered USB hub and everything shows up so I do not think there is an 8 port USB device limit.
I now have 9 USB ports plus 1 MIDI DIN Pair, plus 1 network attached port to my PC.
How are you powering the BomeBox? If via USB, see if you can use a different power cable or adapter or even better still POE (which is what I use as the higher voltage seems less susceptible to voltage variations.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
More than eight class compliant midi devices in general — they’re mostly synths, argon8, minitaur, etc. I’d rather run stuff on USB midi than cables if I can; less wire to deal with. I pulled the ESI out of USB 3 mode, but no change in the behavior. If the Bome doesn’t support USB 3, it would have to be auto-negotiating down anyway, but I guess it’s good to eliminate that somehow messing up the whole USB stack or something. I also confirmed again that I get the same out of audio devices kernel message even with only single-port class compliant devices plugged in.
So, the situation here would be more like plugging in 9 midihubs or 9 keysteps via a powered USB hub. When I say I get an error with more than eight USB ports, I don’t mean USB midi virtual devices, I mean actual class compliant USB midi hardware boxes. The Bome is bring powered off the factor USB cable, plugged into a 120W Belkin USB power supply that guarantees 2.4A per device.
(And the powered hub I’m using is the Startech industrial hub that has a 60W power supply; no signs that anything isn’t getting enough power on that side, either, and no other notable kernel errors)
OK,
I now have the following hooked up through 2 powered USB hubs (cascaded)
2 - MIDI Fighter Twister
1- Arturia Beatstep
1- Novation Launch Control
1–Novation Launch Control XL
1-Korg NanoKontrol2
1-Novation Launchpad MINI
1-Novation Launchpad MINI MK3
Whoops that is 8 let me add another. So much for my math skills
All 8 are physically attached devices are recognized by my BomeBox but not the 9th
2 of these devices have more than 1 virtual MIDI port exposed so I have 11 USB MIDI ports exposed as well as 1 network port and the MIDI DIN Port.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
