Routed USB clock signals work in BMT but not in Bomebox

Hello!

I have a BMT project running on my bomebox which handles a bunch of things like velocity scaling using a controller for 8 midi channels, and some timers running as envelopes to send cc’s triggered by incoming midi, to a midi2dmx converter, and a bunch more basic midi translations and routings. I am using a usb hub connected to my bomebox which mainly serves as usb power supply for devices but also routes midi. the usb hub receives midi from a squarp pyramid sequencer, faderfox controller, and retrokits rk006 midi router which sends midi via regular midi ports to other hardware midi devices (synths, drum machine, mixer, another sequencer, etc). The issue is this: all worked perfectly, running on the bomebox, until the clock stopped being sent through. when I connect the same usb hub with all devices to my pc and run the same BMT project as is running on the bomebox, all works as it should. when I now go to my bomebox, for some reason midi clock is not being received via usb from the squarp pyramid (which is the master clock). I was wondering if there are some common reasons for clock signals to work differently within the bomebox as compared to a BMT project running on a PC? I checked the ports and all devices are detected by the bomebox, so that can’t be the issue. It could be something specific to the RK006 as it’s a pretty specific little device… any thoughts on this are most welcome! thanks!

oh I forgot to add that it’s a powered usb hub, so there shouldn’t be a power difference between my PC and the bomebox for the hub.

Hi and welcome back!

My first thought is perhaps you don’t have one or more of your aliases setup correctly on your BomeBox.

Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care


Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz

Hi Steve,

Thanks! I’ve been using the Bomebox for some years now with much success, which is the reason I was gone for a while :wink: Still love this device a lot!

Sadly the aliases were not the problem, as they were all set up correctly. I am suspecting it is related to the RK-006. It’s a super handy little MIDI hub, especially combined with the Bomebox the two become a very powerful pair. I also use an RK008 and RK002 (a fully programmable MIDI cable), and recently met the founder of Retrokits in Amsterdam at one of my shows some time ago. The company reminds me of Bome in the sense that they have a passion for MIDI and making new connections possible. The RK006 was a present they very kindly sent me when I ordered the RK008. It works with a MIDI clock priority system, giving priority first to the hardware midi input, then USB, then the other hardware input, and finally the internal clock (which it has). I’ve noticed this priority system was not always fully consistent when combined with the Bomebox for some reason, so now I switched to the hardware MIDI input on the RK006 which always has first priority for MIDI clock and that seems to fix the issue for now. Not sure why it worked fine for so long and suddenly got confused like this for some reason. I also noticed my Faderfox EC4 is usually not detected by the Bomebox, unless I disconnect and connect after the rest is connected. Is this related to how USB works with a priority system?

Anyway, thanks a lot as always!

I don’t think there is a priority setup based on MIDI DIN vs USB although USB certainly has a faster data rate.

I have a FaderFox EC4 but it is always connected directly to my computer. I use it primarily to try to replicate issues or questions posted by Bome MIDI Translator Pro users. It has nice small footprint that I can use for testing many situations.

Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care


Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz