MIDI unplugged during session, how to re-activate in TD?

General TouchDesigner Discussion
1

If I lose MIDI for whatever reason, let’s say it gets unplugged and plugged back in while Touch Designer is running, how can I re-establish the connection without restarting Touch Designer? If I go to MIDI Mapper it still appears as an In Device but I’m not getting any incoming messages to show in the console or in the Midi IN CHOP. Tried all sorts of resets and refreshes but it seems like I have to restart Touch Designer to get it to read again.

Thanks!

2

That’s a hard one.

For shows I usually build a helper app that handles all of the incoming midi, formats and names channels correctly, then touch-outs to my main instance. If I loose a midi connection mid show I can restart the communications instance without having to restart my playback instance.

3

Interesting, what are you using to write your helper app? Any useful libraries for that? That could definitely be an option especially since it sounds like it would help this issue across any application that requires a MIDI connection. What do you mean by touch-outs, just output to Touch?

Thanks!

4

Are you running 088 or 099? Because 099 has a bunch of MIDI support added for disconnecting and reconnecting a MIDI device mid-session so this should be working.
The features added to 099 are:

  • MIDI devices now recognized when plugged in after starting TouchDesigner. If device is unplugged and replugged, tscript ‘midi -r’ will reconnect all devices.
  • MIDI OPs receive data when devices, unplugged, replugged.
  • MIDI OPs now reconnect, after unplugging, replugging automatically.

Also, have you tried the “Check MIDI Devices” button in the MIDI Device Mapper dialog, it will re-poll the system for available MIDI devices.

5

ben - SO SO AWESOME

dbsierra - I should have been more clear. I mean that I use another instance of Touch whose only job is to catch, format, and distribute midi. For awhile Mary did a similar thing with Rouge allowing OSC or Midi controllers to be routed into Rouge without complex rewiring inside of Rouge itself.

6

Thanks Ben, that’s amazing! Excuse me while I update to 099 :smiley:

And thanks Matthew, that sounds like an interesting technique indeed, I will keep that in mind.

7

I’ve used Copperlan for ~6 years now. Automatic midi reconnection is just one of the side benefits! Free, crossplatform, networked midi that typically reconnects properly even across physical devices! copperlan.org/