I have a setup where I have 2 Bome Boxes connected over a network. One at one end of the network the other at the other. They seem to pass midi info between them no problems. I also have macs and 2 PCs all connected using Bome Network Pro.
Today something weird happened, one of the PCs connected to the Bomebox stopped receiving midi, even though it worked for over a year. It can see the bome boxes and they can see the pc, but no midi is entering my program (Touchdesigner).
The only thing I have changed recently is enabling Jumbo frames on the network switch, because I'm using Waves soundgrid.
I've tried everything I can think of, checked the routing, removed and re-added the devices, reinstalled Network pro.
Could it have anything to do with the Jumbo Frames?
We have a show on Friday, so i'd really like to get it working reliably before then... For the moment I've connected a usb midi interface and run a long midi cable, which is far from elegant.
Hi can you show some screenshot on the problem BomeBox? If connected by WiFI, show me the WiFi settings screen. If connected via ethernet, then show the ethernet screen. Then show the MIDI routing screen, the network MIDI screen and post the project file you are running on the problem BomeBox. Oh and also the device screen so I can see how you have aliases defined (if any).
A complete map of your setup would probably help too if we want to expedite getting this resolved. If you are seeing Both BomeBoxes and the PC’s then I would doubt it has anything to do with Jumbo frames. If you see the network devices then it means you have a good network connection between them using Bome Network.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist bome@sniz.biz
Thanks a lot for your prompt reply and willingness to help. I’ve been out of the studio this evening and won’t have access to the bome boxes until tomorrow afternoon (Berlin, Germany-time). I’ll send you the screenshots as soon as I can.
In the meantime attached is a quick network diagram and send to clarify the setup.
It’s been working great for over a year, so it’s truly a strange problem. Worst case, we can do the show with the midi interface connected, it just means running a midi cable along side the network cable. I’d just prefer not to have it running like that long term.
Do you normally receive midi from you lighting PC from both BomeBoxes? If so, is it receiving from either?
If only one, which BomeBox are you not receiving from? I assume you have checked the default routes and/or the translators within the source BomeBox.
If there was a problem with the configuration with one of the switches, I would assume you wouldn’t be able to even see the BomeBoxes but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Also they wouldn’t see each other if the were not on the same network (unless you have configured the switches with some advanced network routing).
Does your lighting PC expose the BomeBox network MIDI ports? Do you have any other applications running on your lighting PC that may be capturing the MIDI (and blocking the connection to Touchdesigner)?
The good news is that the PC sees the BomeBoxes, so the issue is either MIDI routing (default routes or translators) , or the MIDI port on your PC being hijacked by another program.
Let me know when you are available to troubleshoot further.
Knowing the intended MIDI routes in your diagram should help further. I assume your lighting PC is supposed to receive MIDI commands originating from somewhere but not sure where and that path it is supposed to follow.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist bome@sniz.biz
Thanks for checking in. The show went well. I stuck with my midi interface backup system, as I didn’t have much time during the sound check to try anything else.
I’ll unpack the rig in the next few days and get you all the screen shots and other info you need.
I’m sure we can find a solution and I appreciate your help.
Thanks for your patience. I finally had time to set everything back up and take some screen shots. Please find them attached.
I’ve tried to include the name of the Bomebox in each screen shot at the top right.
To answer your question of where the source of the midi is: Everything plays off our Cymatic audio uTrack24, which is at FOH. Some of the midi signals are routed to the FOH rack and others on to the stage bomebox. The Lighting PC which is not responding anymore is connected to a wireless AP (with ethernet ports) in the Stage rack via ethernet.
You can see the simple routing page of the Stage Bomebox in the screenshots.
We do not receive any midi -from- the lighting PC, it only responds to midi commands. That’s normal. We also don’t use any bome Translator or project files, just routing.
Basically it’s Cymatic audio utrack24 to all, and each device responds only to its specific midi channel.
The Red Missing devices is because I haven’t connected them. They have nothing to do with the Lighting PC problem, as they are unrelated devices.
The Lighting PC is called \"IS_Visual\" in the bome boxes. It receives midi directly from the FOH bomebox (Midi DIN in - IS_Visual).
Could I get a look at your network MIDI screen and your Alias Screen on your FOH BomeBox? I would like to check to ensure your FOH BomeBox has a good connection with IS_Visual. Also makes sure that the alias IS_Visual is properly set to your lighting PC.
Another suggestion that I think I would recommend.
Instead of running each BomeBox with no project file and assuming you also have a license for Bome MIDI Translator Pro, I would recommend you set up project files for each BomeBox with just MIDI routes set. That way when you load the project, all of your MIDI routes will always set they way you want them. It would be much quicker than going to each BomeBox and adding each needed route manually. You could leave the project with no translators so that only the routes get loaded.
Also, your screenshot on FOH routes does not look complete. It looks like there are more routes after LV1-Main but cannot see them because they are below scroll area.
I also noticed on BomeBox Stage you have a route between IS_RehearsalMAC to BomeBox Stage. It is generally not a good idea to route something to itself as this could create MIDI loops.
The missing routes on the FOH are in the screenshot by itself called: Screen-Shot-2019-11-13-at-15.35.38.png – The 4th Screenshot from the top.
I can remove the Rehearsal Mac to stage routing, but the rehearsal mac was not connected at the time of the problems so I guess that wouldn’t create a midi loop?
It seems Midi is simply not arriving at Touchdesigner via the Bome Virtual Midi driver. Could there have been a recent windows update that broke something? Or any other windows setting that could affect it? Touchdesigner works fine with the USB midi interface however. That was my backup for the show.
Try temporarily disconnecting BomeBox Stage from the configuration. Maybe there is MIDI going to BomeBox Stage that is also routing to IS_Visual creating duplicate MIDI output or some sort of MIDI loop.
The procedure would be to remove one other MIDI route at a time, until you see the route from BomeBox FOH to IS_Visual come back to live. Also make sure there is no alias called IS_Visual that is tied to some other output location.
Ok, I might try deleting and removing all devices and all routes from both boxes, disconncting the pc etc. from all locations and starting again from scratch. What do you think?
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