Arturia Forums
Hardware Instruments => MiniBrute => MiniBrute Technical Questions - FAQ => Topic started by: chiefthomson on December 29, 2012, 10:38:52 am
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hi there
I received the Minibrute 3 weeks ago and now wanted to try to connect with their software "minibrute connection".
The software has been extracted with the mfb file. As I open the software it first tries to connect but fails.
It says: "Unable to communicate with MiniBrute. Closing connection!".
I turned off and on again, didn't help
I swaped the usb cable, didn't help
I ran the software as an administrator, didn't help.
If I use it as a midicontroller it works, I get a signal, so usb connection seems fine to me.
Any help?
I use Win7 with latest updates und just downloaded software 1.0.1-
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Hi,
it's because the firmware is older than your Editor.
Just Ignore this message, go to firmware tab, and start the update. It should work fine.
If not:
-powerup the machine with both octave switches pressed -> the 5 octaves LEDs should be On.
- launch Editor, go to firmware and start update.
Let me know
Bruno
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Thank you Bruno, it took me about 5 times to make it work. 4 times it was not able to download the firmware and I had to end the process.
Now it's fine. Firmware is up to date with 1.0.1 and I can use the editor.
Thanks for the support.
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Hi,
My Minibrute was 1.0.1 and I just tried to update to 1.0.2.1.
I also had the ""Unable to communicate with MiniBrute. Closing connection!"" error message, and I had to use the "octave up/down" trick so that the firmware update worked.
Now the editor says the Minibrute is 1.0.2.1 so the update worked,, but it still can't communicate, I tried rebooting the MB several times already :(
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Hi,
Same trouble here. I've tried all the above methods but am still getting the connection error message.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
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Scratch that, fixed it. Not sure how but kept retrying all the options.
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I tried all that too & it still doesn't work. The only thing i havn't tried yet is running my pc on 32 bit o/s instead of 64 bit...
...I'll give it a go.
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what it your OS and version?
What is the error message you got?
if on windows be sure no other software has open teh usb/midi port. Windows usb midi driver is limited to 1 client at a time.
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I'm on windows 7 64 bit. The brute is up to date on the firmware. I set the synth when it was new using this computer, no problem then but now it's not communicating. "Unable to connect with minibrute. Closing connection"
A royal pain in the backside just to flick a couple of switches. It's like the obvious design flaw in the death star. >:(
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It looks like you are using a connection software that is (much) newer than the Firmware in the machine? Or that no messages are received from Minibrute.
Can you give a try to the enclosed TechNote, to force the firmware update?
Let me know.
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Well, i've done all of that and it just will not connect. Fat lot of good the software is then ! >:( Might think twice about getting that microbrute too now if this is the story .
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does Windows recognize it, in device manager?
Can you use it with a DAW or another midi software?
Did you try on another computer?
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No it doesn't show up in device manager. I don't use any other computer & this is the laptop that i used when the unit was new to set it.
I can't see what's changed. I bought the Brute new in January this year & one of the first things i did was to open the software & set the unit as i wanted it as a starter thinking that i could always change it later if i needed to. Then about a month ago i tried to connect up again & nothing. Just error messages. The method in your pdf doesn't work, i have tried it & when it failed i have tried again. I have tried connecting it up with the software open & with the software closed.
As for the DAW thing, i don't use one , period.
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Just a thought here, this would qualify as a fault wouldn't it ? I mean, it's part of the operating system of the synth & it doesn't work.
I could return it & get my money back couldn't i as it's still under warranty. Only had it 9 months. ???
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No it doesn't show up in device manager.
nothing at all, or is it marked as faulty, in unknown devices?
You should definitely double check usb cable, use another USB port, and ultimately try on another computer.
The USB interface on the mini "can" be fried, but it's every unlikely to happens, especially if you haven't used it. I have never heard of such a case.
If you still can figure it out you'll have to contact technical support, for a RMA.
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There is an unknown device listed yes. Here's the message i get....
The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)
There is no driver selected for the device information set or element.
To find a driver for this device, click Update Driver.
Seems strange.
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In the connection manager it says. Firmware unknown. In the device manager there is a devise showing there (Guess that is it) under unknown devices & i am unable to find or update the drivers from there. Here's the message it gives...
The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)
There is no driver selected for the device information set or element.
To find a driver for this device, click Update Driver.
Seems strange.
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Do you have other Midi/usb device? are they working fine?
you ca try to, disconnected any other USb/midi devices and:
open Device manager
right click on the unknown device(probably minibrute), choose uninstall.
When processing is done, disconnect and reconnect USB cable
as long as it's not properly recognize by the device manager it will be unusable by any software.
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I'll try the uninstall idea. Sounds like a plan ! Will get back if that works. Thanks.
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I uninstalled the device & restarted my computer. Reconnected it & still the same so i tried the hold down the octave button method & the driver install failed. Nothing else running or connected. I'm going to try again now with the manger updater.
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No. No driver found.
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I have forgotten about the updater.
You need to do it twice in fact:
1/ plug the mb
2/ uninstall unknown device.
3/ power off MB
4/ hold octaves switches
5/ power up MB
6/ uninstall unknown device
7/ power off and disconnect MB.
8/ Connect it again, windows should reinstall generic midi usb drivers, if you update frimware it will install it for the updater too.
let me know
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No, sorry it doesn't work. If i try & update the firmware i get the message ,this file is not an arturia crypted firmware file
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It's acually showing up in device manager now as 'minibrute'
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Unable to prepare the minibrute for update. Please check your connections.
It must be a fault with the minibrute. My cables are all good & i use them for other things too. I even just tried another one which i keep as a spare. It's not going to work & it looks like a warranty claim.
Shame really because i like the synth but this is ridiculous. How many times should i plug - unplug blah blah to be convinced it's not working.
I like to refer to this kind of glitch as 'Friction' between me & the sound i want to make. It's down to manufacturers really to not produce it but instead give us a product that works.
Am i really going to have to return this unit because of a software issue ? Analogue synth fails on software shortcomings....Sounds wrong !
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I got it to work on another computer running windows vista on 32 bit o/s. The computer i used is at least 6 years old.
My computer which it will not connect with now but which it did in January is running windows 7 on 64 bit o/s & is only about 2 - 2 ,1/2 years old.
My minibrute is only 9 months old !
Why does the minibrute struggle to connect with it's only necessary sofware ? It's not like the connection manager is overly complicated compared to other software for which arturia is known.
I hope you don't mark this thread as being solved because it really isn't. I appreciate your efforts to help Bruno, thankyou but something is stil wrong.
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It's acually showing up in device manager now as 'minibrute'
It's a good starting point, it means the machine is fully functional and that the system can speak with it.
I got it to work on another computer running windows vista on 32 bit o/s. The computer i used is at least 6 years old.
My computer which it will not connect with now but which it did in January is running windows 7 on 64 bit o/s & is only about 2 - 2 ,1/2 years old.
My minibrute is only 9 months old !
Why does the minibrute struggle to connect with it's only necessary sofware ? It's not like the connection manager is overly complicated compared to other software for which arturia is known
It has no relation with the age of your computer, or the OS you use. I have developed, and use very often the Connection Software on my Win7 64bit PC.
You obviously have a conflict with an other hardware, driver, or software. If your MB was unknown in the device manager, that means windows generic USB audio/midi drivers was not healthy. The machine relies on an OS provided driver, like many other. I sure you can understand we can, and do provide support, but can't be responsible of what happens to a third party driver. One more thing this driver is monoclient, that means only ONE software can use it at a time, if your DAW is using it, Connection software won't connect.
1/Anyway, we need to be sure your driver is properly working now. If you sent midi notes or whatever message to the MB using a DAW does it work? The other way, can you receive midi notes send by the MB?
2/ if so, just to be sure download the software package again, properly unzip it to directory(do never run a .exe inside a zip), you should see side by side in the WIN subdir MiniBruteConnection_V1.0.2.1.exe and MiniBrute_FirmwareRelease_V1.0.2.1.mbf
3/disconnect any other USB audio or midi devices close any software that could be related to Midi
4/ run Connection Software.
If it still odes not work, a clean Windows install may be good solution
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During my efforts to connect this i have not had any other programs open any of the time. As i have stated before , i do not use a d.a.w & do not send or receive midi via a computer ever. I do run my brute via midi from external hardware equipment though & it will send & receive in the normal expected way. Yup !, your talking to an old skool stylee guy here...No computers.
As for the idea of a "clean windows install" , you're asking too much of anyone here to do that just to run your small client.
Thanks for trying to help Bruno but i'll leave as it is for now. At least i have been able to update the firmware although i do not know what changes were made. I also got to change a setting or two.
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Hi,
same issue here... can't establish a connection to my MiniBrute with the "MiniBrute Connection_V1.0.2.1" with my MacBook!
Every time i start the software, the light stays off with "NOT CONNECTED"... By clicking on the light, it blinks for a moment with the message "CONNECTED" and after that, it stays off again.
Strange thing is, that there is no problem to connect to the MiniBrute with my Win7/64-Notebook. That's what i did, to update the firmware to v1.0.2.1...
However the MiniBrute is recognized by my MacBook (it's listed in the Audio-MIDI-Setup-Configuration), i need the software running on my MacBook, cause
1) production and DAW = MacBook
2) my Mg MiniTaur also claims MIDI.channel 1... so on every DAW.start i have to set different MIDI.channels to avoid conflicts!!
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Every time i start the software, the light stays off with "NOT CONNECTED"... By clicking on the light, it blinks for a moment with the message "CONNECTED" and after that, it stays off again.
and you don't get an error message?
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Sure... the same error message as shown @snapshot from chiefthomson (initial.posting of this topic!)...
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can you launch it into a terminal and post the outputs?
thanks
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Hey Bruno,
sorry for the delayed response... I think, your last post, solved my problem :)
"MiniBrute_Connection_1_0_2_1.zip" contains the .app-file for MAC named: "MiniBrute Connection_V1_0_2_1.app"...
As far as i know, Macs don't understand spaces in filenames!? So, after inserting the "MiniBrute_Connection_V1_0_2_1.app" everything works fine :)
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i'm quiet surprised, i thought every user friendly system since the 90's does support spaces.
Anyway thanks a lot for figuring this out, it was a tough one.
I will not use spaces anymore.
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If it still odes not work, a clean Windows install may be good solution
Thought this would be worth posting here. For various reasons i have reinstalled windows o/s on my laptop. I did it because i noticed a few undesirable glitches here & there, none of which had anything to do with my connection manager issue.
Anyway, to my point. I did the re-load about a week ago & my computer is still updating automatically as you might expect because i wound it back to factory settings. There is update after update & this is the reason i would not want to restore a computer to this state unless there is a very good reason for it, which i thought there was.
There is no point in my trying the arturia connection manager just yet because my system is still looking for & installing updates. If the issue before was anything to do with something being outdated then i might as well wait until my laptop is fully back up to date with the latest system requirements.
This brings me back to point that it is far too much to expect anyone to carry out this operation if it were just for the sake of the arturia connection software. It takes a long time to get your system back up to speed.
In my opinion the issue is a shortcoming on arturia's behalf & if i had have taken the advice & carried out this operation i would have been very pissed at arturia's advisor for suggesting it.
So this post is here now for the sake of anyone in the future who experiences the same problem. If you want to reload your entire computer system just to humour one little app the choice is yours but make no mistake, it is a hassle !
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I tried on a different computer and to my surprise the program screen was completely different, despite the two computers have the same operating system Windows 7 64Bit Pro
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Hi, I'm having a similar problem connecting from Win7 32-bit. DAW not started, no issues with the installation of the Microbrute driver, not Generic USB Midi or any such issue. Can send and receive Midi notes over Microbrute USB interface.
I notice in this forum post, you said to start the Microbrute Connection Software from the terminal. I did that - started cmd.exe as Adminstrator, and redirected stdout and stderr to a log file.
Not sure if this helps, but nothing was written to stderr, but stdout displayed the following:
Unable to open 1
Unable to open 2
Unable to open 3
Unable to open 4
Device family member2 : 1 !
I know this forum topic is very old, so I'm happy to create a new Topic, but on the back of your advice that stdout would contain info, I stuck with this thread. Let me know if you want me to create a new Topic.
** EDIT **
Had a bunch of useful stuff here about my experiences... But lost them as my session on this site must have timed out :-(
Anyway, here's the short version...
Found the Technote at the start of this Topic, holding both Octave buttons down on startup. Five Octave lights came on the Microbrute. Tried Updating Firmare, was stuck at 0% on the "Downloading Firmware, don't unplug or switch off the Brute" screen. Stayed like that for ten/fifteen mins, decided to close the software.
(Shouldn't that be "Uploading" not "Downloading"??).
Restarted the Microbrute - five Octave lights stayed on, and Microbrute was non-operational. No attempts to update the firmware worked...
Pulled out a Win7-64-bit laptop, connected the Microbrute (in 5-octave-lights mode), came up as "Updater" device in Windows. Downloaded the Microbrute Connection software, and after two or three attempts, the firmware was updated on the Microbrute. Good stuff! Microbrute back in the land of the living.
Restarting the Microbrute Connection software, connection was established from the laptop to the Microbrute.
Back onto the Win7 32-bit DAW Desktop, connected the Microbrute. Came up as Microbrute device. Started the Microbrute Connection software, still can't connect to the Microbrute. No Virtual Midi software started on my machine, or anything that should lock up the Midi device - I can use the Microbrute for Midi Note input just fine in Ableton. Stdout still presents:
Unable to open 1
Unable to open 2
Unable to open 3
Unable to open 4
Device family member2 : 1 !
FWIW, I have an Ableton Push 2 (switched off), a Steinberg Midex 8, a Codemeter-Stick to store my Reason licence, a USB Keyboard and Mouse and External Hard Drive, and a Motu 828 Mk3 Firewire, connected to the DAW Desktop machine.
Lesson learned:
If you follow the technote (both-octave buttons down on startup), be sure to have another computer around you can use if you need to bring the Microbrute back to life again.
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Issue resolved in v1.7.0.217 of the Midi Control Centre software on my main Win7 32-bit DAW host.
Nice to see the Microbrute-specific settings for under-the-hood stuff there in that software too.
Nice one guys. Thanks!