I use a Maschine Mikro Mk3 to drum. I have it set so that the pads “off” colours are different (e.g. kick is blue, snare is red) and all pads have the same “on” colour. Generally this works fine, but every so often the pads stop changing colour when hit. They still work - the Maschine sends MIDI notes and I can play, they just stop changing colour. If this happens and I load up the Controller Editor, no colour changes made in the Controller Editor have any effect.
TL;DR - the pads on my Maschine Mikro Mk3 will sometimes stop changing colours, but still work to play.
Yeah on the mikro this happened to me when the sensitivity slider was set to most sensitive in the settings in controller editor. When I would back it down a bit, this would start happening a lot less.
Hi, I have the same problem, but I didn’t have time to write to NI.
I thought my case was a little different than others since my computer runs 24/7 (it’s required for my job).
To solve the problem, I turn off the controller (unplug the USB cable) and after turning it on everything returns to normal (I have to restart AD2 as well as it loses connection). If I leave the controller “without turning on the lights”, after some time (few minutes) it stops responding completely, i.e. sending MIDI codes. This happens once every few days. For professional use, this is a reason to replace the equipment, but for me, at least for now, it is simply an inconvenience.
I experimented with sensitivity. This solved another problem that was critical to playing. Some pads, I would say often, especially HIT HAT, remained on (ignited) after pressing and it did not respond to gentle touches. You had to touch quite hard that it returns to normal. This completely disrupted the play. Lowering the sensitivity in Maschine2 helped. I haven’t noticed it in a week, so I assume it helped.
Please, write back what NI replies, because I would also prefer to have a 100% working device.
A quick followup. I’ve sent NI a video that demonstrates the problem. They replied, suggesting that it was the USB cable, the USB hub, the version of MacOS… anything except the Mikro. So I did another test, connecting the Mikro to a PC (not a Mac) using a different cable, no hub. The problem still shows up. So I’m waiting to see what they say.
I’ve now noticed another issue, which might be the same one that @Michal reports, and I’d like to ask if anyone else also has it. I powered on the Mikro, touched a couple of pads to check it was working, and went off to make a cup of tea. When I got back, the Mikro was off (no lights, no response). I powered the USB hub port off and on again and it woke up. I then left it untouched, and it shuts off after between one and two minutes. It seems to do this every time.
That seems like it’d be a defective unit. But if I start playing… it stays on, and works. It only shuts off if I don’t touch it.,
As @Michal says, issues like this make it challenging to use the Mikro for professional use (playing live).
@Robert_Mathijs - you have used a Mashine Mikro more than most of us. Do you see the shutoff issue also?
This was my problem: https://file.io/4r6XHnUQMQjF
It was solved with setting in the NI Maschine2 app
Menu → File → Preferences → Hardware Pads → Touch Sensitivity
to something like 60%
The issue I see once every few days is harder to report, so I haven’t bothered with it yet.
I didn’t notice Maschine turning off or anything happening to it during my absence - my comp is on all the time, days, weeks ;). In your case it could be a problem with the USB power saving settings.
But I’m not using the Maschine2 app, I’m just using the Mikro as a MIDI controller. And if the solution is to lower the sensitivity on the pads, doesn’t that just make it a worse MIDI controller?
I also thought of USB power saving, but it’s not that; I’ve tested with and without the hub and on a different PC, and there are several other devices (including an 88-key MIDI keyboard) connected to the same Mac/hub that don’t power themselves off.
Lowering the sensitivity works when pads get “stuck”, which means they don’t go back to the state they were in before you hit them.
If you have this, he device I too sensitive and lowering the sensitivity will actually make it better. Some newer mikro devices do seem to be too sensitive when the sensitivity is all the way up.
That said, the thing turns off when idle… that does not seem like a sensitivity problem. I think it did happen to me in the past sometimes where I need to turn the device on and off, but then indeed when playing it just works. And if I understand correctly it won’t turn off when you’re doing other stuff on the computer and simply not touching the mikro.
It really sounds very much like some sort of power saving thing. Maybe there is something going on where a usb powered device can send a signal that it does not want to be cut off from power when the computer is idle… that would explain why certain devices don’t turn off and the mikro does.
If so, it could probably be fixed with a firmware update, but my guess is NI does not care because almost nobody cares about resetting their device after they left it idle for a while. The problem arises with a live show on stage indeed. Not many people have that problem obviously so maybe there are not that many complaints.
