First world problem - two Electras

General discussion
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Question - if I’m using the web app editor and happen to have more than one Electra One connected to the computer, there doesn’t appear to be a way to talk to more than one of them. I have to power one down, then power up the other.

Is it possible to be able to assign a unit ID number to an Electra One and then have the web app be able to select the current unit or is this a limitation based on the USB port naming?

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work is being done on this.

At this moment app.electra.one allows you to pick the ports. That means that if you give the second electra a different name (in Audio Midi Setup), you can use two tabs in the browser, each connected to particular electra.

Midi Studio in Audio Midi Setup:

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and then the port selection in the app.electra.one:

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Still on the todo:

  • app.electra.one does not remember the settings, ie. you have to pick the ports for every session.
  • I am planning to make it possible to name the ports on the controller directly and display the name in the app.electra.one. That should make it easy to see what electra the browser is connected to. This, unfortunately, will not work on Windows. The default Midi driver ignores port names.

Please note, you can use two Electras in two tabs even if you do not use different names. In such case, the you will see duplicate entries in the list of ports and you have to pick the correct ones…

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That’s not true, but the problem is that there are at least 3 different ways of naming midi ports in Windows.

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I meant that the windows driver does not use the port names provided by the USB descriptor of the controller. @markus.schloesser would you share info how to set the port names on the windows with us? Thanks!

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i have two electras plugged to a hub on the same computer, and i need to make sure one is always assigned the same OSX Midi Device name (eg. Electra 1 will correspond *always* to HW unit 1). is there any way to specify a hardware name programatically?

even if i rename them to Electra 1 and 2 they will each take random slots e.g. hw A will be 1 and B will be 2 sometimes, other times vice-versa.

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I have never had duplicate MIDI devices, so haven’t encountered this, but have had similar issues with connecting duplicate external computer monitors via USB C to a MacBook .. the multi screen layout randomly swapped around each time I unpaused or rebooted. I worked round it by connecting one via an HDMI port on a usb hub, which made the two monitors appear differently to the operating system.

Maybe @martin has some thoughts here, but as possible workrounds, I suggest you try:

  • Connecting the two E1s with different USB connection pathways (to try and make these look uniquely connected to the OS which might be enough for the MIDI mapping to consistently map the same hardware to the same MIDI port) - e.g. connect each to separate USB hubs which are in turn connected to different USB ports on your Mac, or maybe one directly connected, and one connected via a USB hub etc.
  • Try something like BOME MIDI Translator to thru- map the os - mapped MIDI devices to appropriately-named virtual MIDI ports “E1 HW Unit 1”, “E1 HW Unit 2” (which you use in your music software). When you need to switch the hardware device mapping around, you only have to click a few checkboxes in the MIDI Translator UI each time to re-map to the correct virtual ports.
  • Use a dedicated external USB MIDI mapping / routing device that can handle multiple connected USB MIDI devices (like a Mio, or CME H4MIDI WC) to connect your multiple E1s
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I have similar issues with my 4 MOTU Midi Express 128. For the most part they keep their “place” but then again, mainly after I haven’t used them in a while they switch their name… Needing me to reshuffle them in the Audio Midi Setup… I’m on a Mac too.