Minitaur + Ableton USB and MIDI

The Moog Forum Taurus, Minitaur & Sirin
1

Hey guys !

First post here !

Got my minitaur 2 days ago and quite happy with the sound but am really disappointed about not being able to use the editor vst in ableton… This was one of the main reasons I chose this synth over others.

Through reading LOADS of posts on the forum about people having the same issue. I learned that it was because windows couldn’t share devices.

SO I had the good idea of plugging a midi cable from my Focusrite soundcard midi out to my midi on the minitaur and selecting that midi out put in Ableton’s ext instrument effect.
I am able to use the minitaur with the editor (selecting presets and it even displays the visual feedback) BUT i can’t record any automation from the minitaur..

Can someone help me here please ? What am I missing ? I’m hoping there is a way, I don’t want to become one of the many people on the forum who have taken their minitaur’s back and exchanged them for alternative synths !

2

Any joy yet?

I am in the exact same situation. Although I am interested that you say you can get the editor to display visual feedback. Not me. I have a normal MIDI out going to Minitaur in ext instrument in ableton, USB on the Editor.

If you are getting feedback in the editor, is it possible to design sounds and save them with that setup and then close the editor and use USB MIDI out and in with Live to record live parameter twiddling from the minitaur?

I believe they are still working on getting the windows USB midi driver to work.

3

Have the same problem. Except you say you can get feedback from the minitaur to the editor? if that is the case can you edit sounds in the setup you have and then change the ableton settings to just use USB with ableton (no editor connection) and then then record your knob twiddling into Live?

4

Hi there,

Andy from Moog Music here…

You must be using the newest Editor for best results:

(editor)
http://www.moogconnect.net/downloads/minitaur/Minitaur_Editor_3.0.4_OSX.zip

http://www.moogconnect.net/downloads/minitaur/Minitaur_Editor_3.0.4_WIN.zip


Also, our programmers are still developing a driver for Windows that will allow the same type of performance that Mac offers out of the box. It is not completed yet, but it is coming soon!!!

Thanks,
Andy Hughes
Tech Support Manager
Moog Music, Inc.
andy@moogmusic.com

5

Thanks for the response Andy. Look forward to the new driver.

6

Any further news on progress on this driver for the Minitaur?

7

I am also suffering woes with the Minitaur and Windows 8/Ableton Live compatability.

I have researched every available internet resource, read the manual and all readme’s that you have supplied, updated my firmware and attempted to install the usb midi driver (failed - same error as everyone else).
I went and bought a usb to midi cable/interface, after many hours of trial and error I have the Minitaur functioning in Ableton with windows 8, well 1/4 functioning and it crashes my projects constantly.

MOOG
Am I right in assuming that the only way to edit the completely necessary editor functions (such as LFO retrigger, glide modes) is to disable the Minitaur in Abletons midi preferences, then enable the USB To Midi device (a usb to midi cable converter I bought). Then create external instrument, send the midi of that instrument to the USB MIDI device. Then with the Minitaur plugged into the computer via windows usb the plugin will open and show firmware connected when placed on that external instrument channel, respond to paremetre changes and play sounds from another midi device (in my case Push).

Ok so far so good, when it doesn’t crash ableton or disconnect for no reason (requiring Moog restart or computer restart to fix) all of the above functions work.

This brings me to 1/4 functionality with this setup, which is the only documented setup that works.

When I enable Sync on my USB Midi interface Device in the Ableton preferences, upon playing the session it sends a steam of midi data to the Minitaur, making any notes played stick and generally glitch it out.
So there is NO SYNC FUNCTIONALITY as it must be disabled for playability.
Also, because the Minitaur is only receiving midi from the usb midi device and you cannot enable the Minitaur in Abletons preferences or the interface won’t work, this means that there is
NO WAY TO RECORD MIDI AUTOMATION, as there are no ‘working’ inputs in this setup.
Also when the plugin is functioning and connected, it only takes around 10 minutes of playing, or even a few pluginside parametre changes and it either disconnects, crashes my session or completely freaks out and starts making new tones etc.
No my moog is not faulty, Windows and your plugin is faulty.

If there is currently a working way to use the Minitaur with ALL advertised functionality in WINDOWS 8 please enlighten me. This means I can edit the hidden functions (which are necessary imo), record or draw in automation and play back midi from clips and also play live from another Ableton device (such as push or any usb midi device).
I claim false advertising.
I love the synth, I want to use the synth, let me use the synth Moog.

I bought analogue to make my workflow more efficient, didn’t expect to be in for half a week of troubleshooting.

Hate to say it but at least the Microbrute does everything out of the box and works flawlessly without confusion.

8

I would also like to know how that driver is going :slight_smile: ?

FYI I just found a workaround that seems like it is working well.
Please note this is for WINDOWS 8 users having problems with multi midi and who are wanting to automate sync and change under the hood settings all whilst keeping the instrument functional in an open Ableton session.

My method:
Download Minitaur Control Max for Live plugin. (3rd party solution)
Go into your Ableton Live midi settings:
ENABLE Minitaur tracking/sync/remote Outputs, and Minitaur tracking Input.
ENABLE USB to Midi Device (go buy a cheap cable/interface that converts usb to midi output) and have that plugged into the Minitaur and your computer alongside the USB.

Create one Midi channel with the Minitaur Control Max For Live device on it and set the MIDI inputs and outputs on the CHANNEL strip to ‘Moog Minitaur’.
This is your vst plugin replacement, it should echo your control inputs on the device and be fully mapable and automatable (actually better then the plugin but no presets, if your using presets with a Minitaur your doing it wrong anyway).
Now for control, Create an External Instrument on a track next to them, on the CHANNEL strip select the midi from device to whatever you want to control Minitaur (in my case Push). Make sure you set the audio input to correspond with wherever the Minitaurs audio is coming from just like in Moogs youtube video.
Done. Now you can do everything I complained about in the above post.
Yes this potentially means 3 tracks or at least 2 grouped tracks, yes you can’t save/browse presets, but as far as I’m aware this is the most stable and most functional way to integrate Minitaur into a modern ableton setup on WINDOWS 8.

Hope it helps you, took me a while to realise/think up.

9

Thanks for the post.

10

Thank you for the workaround.

However, this does not solve the fact that this is 3rd party software solution, using Max for Live, which uses up a lot of CPU power (compared to dedicated plugins (or native solutions)).

I am considering investing into the Moog product line, but if this cannot be resolved I will likely be spending my budget elsewhere.

Also, the fact that I asked for more information on this exact subject via the website contact form - and did not receive any response is beginning to fill me with a sense of neglect.

11

Hi gang!

There’s been some progress on this. We think we’ve determined why the Windows USB driver was not working for some people. It required a small change to the Minitaur firmware.

If you are using the Minitaur on Windows and you wish the Editor and your DAW could use the USB MIDI at the same time… I have something for you to test.

I don’t want to post a link here on the forum or I won’t know who’s testing it… so if you are interested, send me a PM.
(I’ll go ahead and send a PM to the folks who have posted here already)

Thanks,

Amos

12

Thanks for the reply Amoss.
Please don’t take my above posts as bashing of the product, I understand a lot of these problems are due to poor audio/midi functionality in Windows and not your product. I also understand this is a very niche problem.
The synth itself is amazing, my frustration was born from the fact that it has been sitting virtually unused since I bought it and everytime I attempt to assimilate it into my workflow it turns into hours upon hours of troubleshooting, crashed sets and stress, followed by being placed back on the storage shelf.
I still run into issues with my above posted ‘fix’, sometimes it works, othertimes it turns into an hour of ableton/computer restarts and replugging/rewiring setups.

PM sent, Amos, hopefully your workaround help my issues and I can update the thread with detailed instructions for all.

:smiley: