Ableton Forum

I'm using a Windows 10 64 bit computer. I have 3 controllers set up in Live: Maschine Studio, Push 2, and an APC 40. I leave my computer on 24/7. I never turn it off, but I have to reboot at least once a day if I want to use Live because I lose connectivity with Push 2 and the APC 40. Live just won't recognize them sometimes without rebooting. What I really don't understand is why Maschine Studio never loses connectivity.

Is anyone else having this problem?

Does switching the USB plugs to different USB ports have any kind of effect?

Sometimes certain USB peripherals, especially composite ones, mask each other. In my case, I had troubles connecting an Oxygen 2 and another M-Audio keyboard at the same root hub, one of them (depending on the order I switched them on) never worked. Connecting the keyboards to different USB root hubs (each hub serves a pair of ports, or more).

This might be dumb, but I've read a few things about Windows enabling power-saving mode to USB ports as default...but I'm not totally sure. I did a bit of Googling at it looks like it's a "thing."

Shift Gorden wrote:This might be dumb, but I've read a few things about Windows enabling power-saving mode to USB ports as default...but I'm not totally sure. I did a bit of Googling at it looks like it's a "thing."

There is a Power setting that disables usb ports to save power. I have that feature disabled.

kb420 wrote:

Shift Gorden wrote:This might be dumb, but I've read a few things about Windows enabling power-saving mode to USB ports as default...but I'm not totally sure. I did a bit of Googling at it looks like it's a "thing."

There is a Power setting that disables usb ports to save power. I have that feature disabled.

Well bollocks. That's all I had for ya! Sorry man.

Shift Gorden wrote:

kb420 wrote:

Shift Gorden wrote:This might be dumb, but I've read a few things about Windows enabling power-saving mode to USB ports as default...but I'm not totally sure. I did a bit of Googling at it looks like it's a "thing."

There is a Power setting that disables usb ports to save power. I have that feature disabled.

Well bollocks. That's all I had for ya! Sorry man.

Well, thanks anyway.

For anyone who may be having the same problem I was, the problem was nothing that I would have ever believed. It was Google Chrome, my default internet browser. I was on another forum where users were having issues with connecting to external gear, and this solution was presented:

Google Chrome Users

Google Chrome has the ability to access your MIDi device drivers, so you may encounter this error while using Google Chrome. You can do the following to disable MIDI access from Google Chrome:

1. In chrome navigate to 'Settings > Advanced Settings > Content Settings'.
2. Locate the 'MIDI devices full control' section.
3. Enable the 'Do not allow any sites to use system exclusive messages to access MIDI devices' option.

I didn't know Chrome would have any affect on my midi controllers, but I was wrong. Usually I would have to reboot to get Push 2 and my APC 40 to reconnect to Live. I was just about to reboot when I saw this on the other forum. I changed the setting, closed Chrome, and opened Live. Problem solved.

I hope this may help someone having similar connectivity issues.

That setting doesn't fix the problem unfortunately. As the name implies, it just stops sites from communicating with MIDI devices via SysEx. It does not stop sites from trying to grab hold of MIDI ports, which is what is actually causing the problem. I'm not aware of a setting that prevents that. So, you need to actually close Chrome so that it releases all MIDI ports, freeing them up for use in Live.

For those interested, this problem only exists on Windows and only with controllers that use single-client drivers. That's why it doesn't affect the Maschine controller, it doesn't use a single-client driver, while the other two controllers in question (and all controllers that use class-compliant drivers for that matter) do use single-client drivers.

Additionally, other applications can cause this problem as well. In short, if an application is using a MIDI port associated with a single-client driver, no other application can use it. To fix it, you simply have to close all applications except for Live and, in some cases, power cycle (turn off and then on again) your controller(s). Once Live is using the MIDI ports, you can then open other applications (like Chrome).