Yamaha RX-15 - how to get midi to work

Hi guys I'm a bit stumped on how I can my newly purchased Yamaha RX-15 to respond to Midi in signals. I've read through the manual and followed the instructions but no dice. :( Anyone got experience with this or similar that can help me out? Cheers.

er, not sure...always a chance the midi could be broken, but having just got my hardware out of the cupboard and set it all up for midi i'd suggest checking what channel/s you are sending midi on and making sure the RX-15 is set to receive on the right channel, check to see if omni mode is on or off (if it's on it shouldn't matter about the midi channel - should respond to all), trying different midi cables and buggering about with the midi sync settings on your DAW (if that's what you want to sync it with).

edit: do you want it to start/stop in sync with your DAW and play it's own sequences internally or do you just want it to act as a sound module where all sequencing etc is done externally? if it's the latter you usually just have to plug in a midi cable, set the channels and make sure the RX-15 is NOT set to sync with an external device - when you press play on your DAW the RX-15 won't start but will play the notes being fed into it...

Yeah I did set it to OMNI mode and had the right cables plugged in but no response. :-( Conversely when I tried the midi on my Microkorg it just pretty much worked with no hassles. I need to figure how to get it going 'cause it stopping me getting another drum machine if I can't get such an important function to operate!!

well, if you can get it to work with other gear it might just be simply that's it's broken... i wouldn't let it put you off drum machines though, seems a bit of an overreaction...midi is sometimes a bitch to get working, especially with older gear...for me it often involves hours of ticking and unticking various boxes in various programs on my computer, cycling through teeny tiny menus on bits of hardware, plugging and unplugging various cables, remembering to turn things on, getting annoyed and hitting stuff and eventually getting it all to work. all part of the fun...

edit: try plugging the midi out from your microkorg directly into the midi in on the RX-15, setting the send and receive channels the same etc and playing a few keys on the microkorg - if you can get it working from the microkorg's input then at least you know it's working and it's then just a matter of fucking about with the settings on your DAW etc.

Sometimes certain midi cables don't work with certain gear too. Try a different cable. My Preen is a bit grumpy about certain cables. I think the gauge size of the fittings can vary slightly from kit to kit.

Other than that, just run the usual troubleshooting regime: isolate, verify, alter, repeat.

ALso get midipipe if you don't have it already to check your midi signal. See if filtering out certain parts of the midi messages can fix it. (ie. clock, active sensing, mmc, etc) Maybe there is some part of the message that is choking your drummachine.

I got it working. I had the cables the wrong way around lol. Got it set to OMNI. Will post some joints soon with just Yamaha RX-15 beats!! :D

  On 8/1/2012 at 11:08 PM, The Bro said:

I got it working. I had the cables the wrong way around lol. Got it set to OMNI. Will post some joints soon with just Yamaha RX-15 beats!! :D

jesus christ, bro.........

glad you got it working, though. was gonna suggest you buy something else, but as you got it working.... nice + cool! :

edit: )