Conductor Troubleshooting

FAQ

Does Conductor work with my DAW?

I can say; almost definitely yes. Conductor is a "class compliant" MIDI Device, which means it does not require any special drivers or software to operate. It should work with any DAW on Windows 10+ and MacOS 10.10 or later.

Do I need to update the firmware if I just bought my unit?

All devices are loaded with the latest firmware as of the date of purchase. Unless a new firmware has been released since the date of purchase, you do not need to update the firmware.

Can I use connect multiple units simultaneously?

Yes you can, however, you may need to disconnect all but one device during programming. This is because the web editor always connects to the first device it detects. But after programming them, you can reconnect multiple devices and use them concurrently in your DAW.

Can I download the editor instead of accessing it online?

Yes you can The editor is open source, written in Javascript and entirely contained within a single .html file. You can download a copy of the file from Github. Click the "Download Raw file" button in the top right corner, and store the file on your computer.

Common Issues

Device is not detected at all

Oh dear, that's not good, is it? Not to panic, by far the most likely culprit is a bad cable, or a bad connection between the USB port and the cable.

Try disconnecting and re-connecting the cable a few times.
Try using a different cable.
Try a different USB port.
If using a USB hub, extension lead or similar, try plugging directly into your computer (Conductor does work with USB hubs, but sometimes power management issues caused by other devices can caused hubs to misbehave. It's best to eliminate variables while finding the root source of the problem).

On Windows you can also check if the device shows up in Device Manager:

Open Start Menu and type "Device Manager" to search for it. Open it.
Under "Sound, Video and Game Controllers" check if you can see Conductor in the list.

If it does not appear in the list at all, this indicates no connection has been made to the computer.
If it does appear in the list, but shows a yellow "alert" symbol next to it, please contact us for support.

Web Editor shows error "Could not connect to MIDI Device"

First, ensure your device is connected and working as intended within other applications, such as your DAW. If your device is not showing up in any software applications, your issue is unrelated to the web editor. Please see "Device is not detected at all" section above.

Solution 1

Be sure to close down your DAW before trying to launch the editor. Midi devices cannot be shared across applications, so if one application is already using it (such as your DAW), then the device won't be available for Chrome to access. So please try:

Close your DAW.
Close Chrome (all windows and tabs).
Wait 10 seconds.
Open Chrome again.
Launch the web editor.
Make your changes and hit Upload.
Be sure to close the Web Editor again before launching your DAW, otherwise the device will continue to be under Chrome's control and may not appear in the DAW.
Note: You shouldn't have to perform all these steps each time you use the editor, it is usually enough to hit the refresh button on the web page in Chrome and then close the tab afterwards. But just to be sure, I recommend going through each step while debugging the issue.

Solution 2

Resetting the MIDI security permissions in Chrome.

Web MIDI may be disabled by Chrome's security settings. When you launch a web page that wants to use a "device", Chrome will ask permisssion to use the device, for example; your webcam, microphone, GPS location, etc. and this also includes MIDI devices. It's possible you may have accidentally told Chrome to block access to your MIDI device.

Try clicking the "Reset permission" button in the Site Information menu (click the icon next to the path bar).
Refresh the site and Chrome should prompt you for permission to control the Midi device again. This usually fixes the issue.

If the problem persists, you can verify that Chrome allows control over Midi devices.

Click the little piano icon.
Click "Manage".
Ensure the option "Sites can ask to control and reprogram MIDI devices" is active.
Reload the web editor site.
If needed, perform the "Reset permission" process described above.

Troubleshooting Tips

The following programs are very useful when working with MIDI devices. They let you connect to the devices and inspect the message they are transmitting. If you are experiencing abnormal behaviour with your unit, you can use these to check whether your Conductor is transmitting the intended messages.

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