Nomad Lion ESIM4U - Working

Oortone · Joined: Mar 07, 2011 Posts: 30 Location: Sweden

I got Nomad to work in my setup and thought I'd share it here.

I downloaded Nomad 0.3 (OS X version) here:
http://nmedit.sourceforge.net/

Installed following the instructions in the package.

My setup:
MacBook Pro 15" (new version that ships with Lion)
OS: 10.7.2 (Swedish language selected)
Clavia NM1
ESI-M4U (USB 4x midi interface - native, no drivers)
MOTU 823 mkIII (MOTU Firewire driver)

It took me a while to understand I should click the yellow square (down to the left in Nomad) to connect to my synth. Maybe I should read the manual.

Two problems - solved:
1. Firewire Midi/Audio messes witth Java midi somehow. The Firewire soundcard must be turned off when Nomad is started. Luckily it can be turned on as soon as Nomad is sucessfully connected to the synth. I haven't tried using it for long, Nomad connection might be lost under certain conditions (inactivity maybe) but not during my tests.
2. The native driver for ESI-M4U has issues in Java midi. It presents the interface twice in Nomad. See the picture! If the "real" ports doesn't show restarting the midi device (disconnec/reconnect USB) solved the issue.

nomad-setup.png

Description:

My 4x midi device from ESI presents itself twice under java midi in Nomad. It's the first four ports that works. No other midi devices where connected.

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toneburst · Joined: Apr 13, 2005 Posts: 17 Location: London UK

Still not managed to get Nomad working with my MacPro/Lion/MIDISport2x2. Glad you got it working, thought!

Could you tell me what Java MIDI provider you used? I've tried Mandolane, MMJ, and the ones that come with the Nomad package, and none have worked for me. Now, with any of these, I just get a blank grey panel at bottom-left, where the icon for the Modular and the connection button should be.

I did get these buttons at one stage, but only managed to successfully connect to the synth on one occasion. After that, the buttons weren't even there.

I do have a MOTU 828Mk.III, like you, though, and I can't be sure that wasn't turned on on some of the occasions. Can't check right now, as I'm at work. Were you getting the blank-panel thing when your 828 was connected, may I ask?

a|x

Oortone · Joined: Mar 07, 2011 Posts: 30 Location: Sweden

toneburst · Joined: Apr 13, 2005 Posts: 17 Location: London UK

Hi Oortone,

thanks very much for getting back to me. I think I'm going to give up on Nomad in Lion, too. It's a shame, and especially frustrating because it definitely did work, just that once... Either something broke after that, or there's some feature of that original setup I've not been able to replicate since.

I've actually got an ancient iBook I can run the beta version of the Clavia OS X Editor on, so I'll just go with that, I think. If I can get the iBook onto our WiFi network (another problem in itself), I can even use screen-sharing to have the editor running in a window on my MacPro.

Thanks again,

a|x