Differentiate between identical control surfaces

I've had this problem before, when I was using two Livid Brains in my DIY controller. Now, having replaced the DIY with 6 Akai APC Mini's, the problem has become more annoying. I wonder if there's a solution other than my workaround.


The Problem:
When MT is launched, it cannot differentiate between the 6 APC controllers. What is seen as APC #1 upon launch may be seen as APC #2, or APC #3 and so on. Similarly, the other APCs seem to be scrambled. This doesn't always happen, but now and again...even though I've left everything plugged in during the time the computer is shut down, the assignments become scrambled.

I believe this may be a problem with Windows (I'm using Win 8.1) but it results in MT being unable to assign the controllers properly.
I have tried two work-arounds.
1) Simply shuffle the physical locations This works but at this point, I've added labels to various buttons and faders, and they're not the same for the different APC's so it's not really a solution.
2) Restart MT with the APC's unplugged. Then plug them in one after the other, waiting for MT to recognize one before plugging in the next. This works but is inconvenient and time consuming.

- Is there any way I can solve the problem?
- I've heard that Macs may be able to handle this situation better than PC's...is that true?
Gabriel

What if you work with different MIDI channels?
So that each device will send MIDI data on a different channel.
Does this help or will the result be the same?

Thanks, Scripter, for your suggestion. Unfortunately, the APC Mini's are not programmable, and can send midi out only on channel 1.
I'm not sure the result would be different, but it might.
Inserting an instance of MidiOx before midi reaches MT would test the theory, and I'll try that, but I believe the problem is caused by Windows itself, before even Midiox could reassign midi channels.
I'll report as soon as I've done the experiment.
An alternative would be to put a Midi Solutions router between each APC and the computer, but they cost $149 each, and it's a somewhat messy solution.
Thanks again,
Gabriel

Well, unfortunately I couldn't get the results I wanted with Midiox/MidiYoke. It seems not to be able to remember settings from one session to another.

Haven't run into this myself, but have heard or similar problems with Macs too. It doesn't seem safe to rely on the OS to detect controllers in the correct order consistently upon boot up. The only reliable solution I know of is to power on (or connect) the controllers in the order you need after the OS has booted and before you try to use them. You could also try connecting them all to a USB hub and powering it up (or disconnecting/reconnecting it in the case of a non-powered hub) after the OS has booted. You may run into similar trouble there, but it's worth a shot.

So far that's the only solution I've found (Connect controllers one at a time) but since there are six of them, it's rather tedious. I do use a hub for APC's, but that doesn't help.

The only real feasible way I can see this working with a PC is to change each unit to its own specific midi channel. This way each pad/control/key will output a specific midi message. Is it possible to assign specific midi channels to each of your controllers?

If this is possible, you wouldn't need to really worry about the midi device names, but focus on the messages they send instead.

to chime in: for most devices, it is programmatically possible to differentiate multiple units of the same model, e.g. by way of their USB serial number. Then, inside MT, they could be renamed to get the same index as they had the last time. We'll work on such functionality for MIDI Translator Pro after the upcoming 1.8.1 release.

Thanks,
Florian

Florian,
Do all Midi Devices "broadcast" their Serial Number over USB? Can I tell somehow, if the APC's do that, perhaps using MidiOX or MT itself?
Thanks,
Gabriel

USB devices provide a serial number to the USB host, but for MIDI devices, it's not mandatory to use a unique number. Some MIDI devices just report 0. But it's not a MIDI function and I don't know a software to read it. Though probably there are USB sniffer programs that let you peek into that.
Thanks,
Florian

Thanks Florian,
I've tried getting information from Akai, but their support is ...... well...... not very supportive!
Gabriel

On the other hand, I believe Live automapping allows for differentiation when up to 6 APC Mini's are connected, so maybe Akai has put in an ID.