DM 4800 REMOTE Layer Not Working

[Jonne B Goode]

I’ve been using my DM 4800 for a year now, and I love it.

HOWEVER… when I brought the system up this morning, it’s not working properly.

In REMOTE mode:

• Not “reading” the signal from Logic Pro X 10..2.2 to match the project faders/levels/pans, etc.
• There is no “Assignment” information on the REMOTE screen
• The transport controls are not working at all
• When I touch the Faders, or push any Transport Controls, the board makes a noise like you are plucking a string.

Logic Pro X is working fine with the mouse and keyboard, so I don’t think it’s the DAW.

Audio is going through the board, and shows on the meter board while in Chanel 1 - 24, 25 - 48, 49 - 64, and while in REMOTE.

The Faders work in the first 3 Layers, but not in REMOTE. While in REMOTE, if I touch the Faders, it makes the string plucking noise.

I have rebooted the system in every sequence you can think of—didn’t help.

I have changed out the USB cable to eliminate that as a possible problem.

I would rather not reset to factory settings, or reload the firmware, but I am at a loss.

And, now I’ve lost a full day of production.

The problem seems to be isolated to the REMOTE layer.

I did do an update to Logic Pro X 10.2.2 on March 8th.

I am running OS X 10.9.5 (Mavericks).

Anyone had a similar problem? Or, more importantly, does anyone have a solution?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Arjan P]

This sounds like a MIDI assignment problem. You say touching the faders in remote layer makes a string plucking noise - but I assume you mean that sound comes from your monitors, not the faders. In that case you're playing a synth with the DM, and somehow your MIDI in Logic has to be checked.

 

[cmaffia]

Logic update on March 8th? There's the smoking gun. As ArjanP said, sounds like a MIDI assignment problem. I'm going to bet that the update wiped out your Mackie configurations. Go through the Remote Layer setup in Logic as you did a year ago. I'm fairly sure you'll see that 3 required Mackie controller assignments are gone. This is why you don't see “Assignment” information on the REMOTE screen. Also touching the faders and hearing a MIDI note is also evidence that your MIDI configuration got wiped in Logic. It's quite possible that this isn't the only configuration that you lost. Also, make sure that your MIDI source is not ALL MIDI DEVICES or something similar to that. It needs to be your specific MIDI controller (presumably the MIDI IN on your FireWire card). If not then your DM4800 will be included as a MIDI controller and that's why you're hearing notes being played whenever you touch the faders.

 

[Jonne B Goode]

Good Morning, Arjan P & cmaffia:
Thank you for your replies. I really appreciate it.
Yes, the plucking sound comes from the monitors, rather than the DM itself.
I did check and recheck the MIDI Studio Device settings a bunch of times, but no change.
Now, I am going through every MIDI setting on the DM, step-by-step, including REMOTE, MC SET, MACHINE CTRL, EXT. CTRL--which is stressful, because when I delete the current control settings to replace them, it doesn't alway want to load the replacement settings. After I fiddle with a little bit, I can get them to accept them.
I am always concerned about "Updates", and was a little suspicious of the one I did on March 8th, except that I used it all day March 9th, with no problems. On March 10th, is when the issues showed themselves.
cmaffia: not sure what you mean by: "... 3 required Mackie controller assignments are gone." Also, are you suggesting that I reload Logic to correct when you say: "evidence that your MIDI configuration got wiped in Logic." ?
Thank you again, gentlemen, for your input--greatly appreciated.

 

[cmaffia]

I had suggested to check your Mackie Control assignments in Logic for Remote Layer usage.

• In order for the DM4800's Remote Layer to work with any DAW, you need to set up 3 Mackie Controllers. 1 for fader bank 1-8, 1 for fader bank 9-16 and 1 for fader bank 17-24.

• The Mackie Controller assignments & the Remote Machine CNTRL setup in the DM allow the Remote Layer to work properly.

• Each Mackie Controller needs to point to a specific MIDI IN/OUT port (see documentation in link below for specifics)

• Confirm whether or not the 3 Mackie Controllers exist in Logic. Logic Pro > Preferences > Control Surfaces >

Here's the documentation from Tascam's website on how to set up the DM3200's Remote Layer with Logic. http://tascam.com/content/downloads/products/33/dm3200_logic_v110.pdf
Remember that you will need to add a 3rd Mackie Controller with the DM4800 and point it to MIDI Port 7.

 

[Jonne B Goode]

Ah! Gotcha.
I had checked the 3 Mackie Controller settings and the other settings yesterday, and then again today. It didn't help. Now, I'm going to go through and delete all the setting and start over. At least, then I'll know they are freshly loaded. Make sense?
Appreciate you including the documentation.
I'll let you know what happens.
Thanks a lot for the help.

 

[cmaffia]

Before you do anything can you confirm you have a working midi connection? Does TMC connect?

 

[Jonne B Goode]

If you mean the Tascam Mixer Companion [yes, I realize I should probably know what you're referring to ], yes it does--don't see any problems there.
Thanks for asking/pointing that out.

 

[Jonne B Goode]

Okay... So...

I've checked, deleted/replaced all setup/settings I could find, and done everything I know to do, but to no avail.

The only changes to the DM are:

• I now have track information (instrument, MIDI, etc.) in the REMOTE/ASSIGNMENT screen, but not the fader levels, usually. Sometimes the REMOTE/ASSIGNMENT screen gives false levels, on only some of the tracks, other track levels are blank.
• On some songs, the faders no longer make any noise when touched. On other songs, they still make the “string plucking” sound.
• When I touch the transport controls, sometimes they make the “string plucking” sound on some songs, and on other songs, each button now makes various sounds that seem to “echo” back and forth in the speakers. [No, I’m not smoking any herbs.]
• The transport controls don’t execute the appropriate operation—they just make noise when pressed. [See above]
• The led lights above the transport controls light up when in REMOTE layer, while I’m operating the controls with a mouse/keyboard. They didn’t light at all before.

It seems the only thing left to do is reset the DM to factory settings, update the Firmware and go from there. This is scary to me. I would like to avoid doing this, if I can.

Does anyone have any suggestions, warnings or cautions they could offer.

HELP!!!

Thanks.

 

[Jonne B Goode]

Halle-freaking-lujah !!!!

Gentlemen! You were correct!

It WAS the three Mackie Controller Assignments. They weren’t wiped out, the icons were showing on the Control Surface Setup window, but apparently they got corrupted somehow (perhaps from the update). I had deleted and reloaded them, and checked the settings a bunch of times. However, I was mostly focused on the “Output Port” of each being correct.

I think the “Input Port” had “Automap HUI” originally, so I changed that to “Automap Logic Mixer”, which seemed to make sense to me. WRONG!!! The “Input Port” and the “Output Port” need to match. Once I did that and tried it: VOILA!!!!!! It works!

I agree Arjan P, Logic saw the DM 4800 as a MIDI device—making sounds when touched.

I can’t tell you guys how much I appreciate your feedback/input. It was invaluable. Without it, I’m not sure I could have figured it out. Thank you both so much for your time and effort.

I hope some day to return the favor, even though you guys’ knowledge and expertise far exceeds mine.

Thanks a million.

 

[Arjan P]

Glad you got it sorted! But, credit to where it's due: I merely suggested where the problem could lie, while Charlie really came up with some focused pointers of where to look.

 

[cmaffia]

Amazing what you can do when you have the proper documentation
Glad you got it sorted out!