Fastlane And New Imac - No Midi Out, Failing MIDI Interface Options

[WiredforTom]

I'm working with the latest standard iMac with Fastlane and Audio/MIDI Setup test does not show any MIDI Out. No light on the Fastlane - nothing. The inbound test works fine. This is too strange. -Tom

[ckb]

Hey, Tom:

Not only have I had the same problem, but it's also in a school lab. What a coincidence!

Anyway, last summer I bought seven new iMac 2.66GHz, 24-inch, yada yada for the university computer-music lab that I manage. On six of the seven machines, FastLanes. On the seventh machine, a humble old MIDIman interface (can't remember the model -- MIDIsport? little 2x2 number.) That's the only one on which MIDI output works.

I did some tests using the excellent free utility MIDI Monitor and found that Audio MIDI Setup was indeed sending the test MIDI notes out. But for whatever reason, they weren't getting to the FastLanes.

Sometimes unplugging the FastLane and plugging it back into a different USB port would "wake up" the MIDI output, but not always (this sent me down the trail of differently powered USB ports, but that wasn't it because it wasn't, ultimately, consistent).

Never got to a solution with MOTU. So anyway, we spent the whole last school year (09-10) with output back to the keyboards not working -- except on the old MIDIman interface. Never a hitch there. Fortunately we accomplished enough of the learning objectives using software instruments.

-CK