Steinberg SMP-24 MIDI interface

NCGM · Post by **NCGM** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:34 am

Thanks Malc that is very kind of you. A couple of hours ago I tried unplugging the hard drive and booting Cubase v2.0 MCA from floppy disk, with only the SMP24 driver active. However the same result...no SMP24 entries in the dtop down menus.

Apart from cables is there anything else the SMP24 does not like, i.e. TOS 2.06 or 4MB or STE even!?

NCGM

mal7921 · Post by **mal7921** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:51 am

The smp itself has no concept of what it is connected to, so long as it's communicating with something it can understand and can understand it, it should just play happily.

It may be worth trying the copy of pro24 that is hidden in the atari midi warez page, one day I will get a page written about that software

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NCGM · Post by **NCGM** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:55 am

The reason I got the SMP24 was because my MIDEX+ does not work with the Falcon for MIDI, plus I saw someone on a forum saying they used the SMP24 with Cubase Audio on their Falcon. Now if my Falcons stop working or I sell them, I still want to use them with Cubase on the STE. I suppose trying pro24 might establish if the SMP24 or cable works or not.

NCGM

NCGM · Post by **NCGM** » Wed May 11, 2011 11:49 pm

Hey Malcolm did you get chance to see if any suitable Centronics cables were knocking around at your workplace? No mad rush although I am itching to get the SMP24 up and running, so I can work it into my CAF setup!

NCGM

mal7921 · Post by **mal7921** » Thu May 12, 2011 2:40 pm

NCGM wrote:Hey Malcolm did you get chance to see if any suitable Centronics cables were knocking around at your workplace? No mad rush although I am itching to get the SMP24 up and running, so I can work it into my CAF setup!

NCGM

Blimey, how odd. I didn't find a cable and as I've been made redundant today I don't think I'll get the chance to go into the other server room now. I did however find mention of the SMP-24 in the Cubase Audio manual, and it looks like there may well have been a software or firmware revision. I'll look at it further in the next few days (Since I have some time on my hands now).

NCGM · Post by **NCGM** » Fri May 13, 2011 12:26 am

Hi Malcolm,

first of all did you just say the dreaded word redundant? I really hope I totally misunderstand you on this as it has happened to me a couple of times, and it is the pits.

Regarding the firmware, I do not know what mine has yet so maybe this can be upgraded easily if need be?

If you do not find a cable, I will just have to take pot luck and buy a cheap one that might work.

Take care,

Ian

mal7921 · Post by **mal7921** » Fri May 13, 2011 6:01 am

Sadly you read and understood correctly, and ironically now I have nothing to get up for, I'm lying awake at 5:30 in the morning on Friday the 13th of all dates!

Cable wise I don't have anything, my last printer cable was disposed of years ago when I donated my old printer to a family friend. As I said though I'll look up the reference in the Cubase manual and post what I find.

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NCGM · Post by **NCGM** » Fri May 13, 2011 10:15 pm

Ahh *, * and double *! Bugger! Well my advice initially would be to totally immerse yourself in something, which in my case was the completion of a two year project to finish my older material, for my own pleasure and satisfaction only; the closing of a chapter if you will and it was well worth it. The worst thing you could do is wallow and become lethargic, which is what I have done the last eleven years since the project. It's so easy to become cut off and begin to drift, when old friendships die or fade away, become redundant even. The trick is to find new ones and that is where I have failed. All my friends and associations have been music related, whereas I should have more variety I suppose; hmmm...any advice on this?!

The first time I was made redundant I managed to get a crappy job in Comet the following week. The really weird thing is that I made myself literally ill with worry for months, knowing I was to lose my job and yet I only did two or three days at Comet and handed my notice in, much to the immense surprise of the whole staff. The reason was that another job I had put the feelers out for earlier, suddenly rang me up and offered me the job in a pro music store. Sadly the store manager wrongly assumed that if I was a friend of the guy who recommended me, that I must be as good as my friend. My friend is Mr Fantastic Inc. and has his own successful pro audio business supplying the shop I worked at, plus he is generally bloody amazing and charismatic and so on, so the store manager was rubbing his hands thinking he had got a Mr Amazing as well, to run his Hi-tech Dept. This job did not last long and I was out of work for five years, although this meant I could finally begin to recover from a long term illness, which later returned partially due to terrible neighbours which I still have...

The second time I was made redundant was working for Mr Fantastic Inc., although I did much better in this job and it was a major share holder that wanted to save money, streamline etc and this meant the closure of the office I worked at. This time I was out of work for 2½ years until I got the part-time checkout job I have now; it only pays about six grand a year. Not sure what my next move will be, but I would like to try and supplement my income in more independent ways.

Thanks for looking for a suitable cable. How do you update the SMP24 firmware? Is it with a SysExc file or does a chip need replacing?

NCGM

mal7921 · Post by **mal7921** » Sat May 14, 2011 9:15 pm

The crazy thing for me is that I've set in motion a career change anyhow, and am attempting to get into teaching. I'm waiting for the entrance interview and aptitude test, but in the meantime I still need to be getting some form of income in, if only to pay the rent and maintenance.

Still, could be worse, at least I'm leaving and getting paid for it.

Last time I was made redundant I was unemployed for 3 1/2 months, that was bad enough as I like to be involved in things and have things to work out. While it was all pretty good at first, I soon began to resent not having the routine.

Worst part though is my employment termination is not for another 2 weeks, so I can't esquire about anything, can't sign on and have no idea when it's going to end.

Still, at least I've 5 jobs applied for since Thursday, I'll also be putting the feelers out for a few other bits and pieces. Considering the experience I've had with this site and re-doing my own, web design could well be something to go into.

Options, options, but first I need to get the immediate stuff out of the way...

I could also write that other article I've been thinking of...

NCGM · Post by **NCGM** » Sun May 15, 2011 12:42 am

Teacher eh? Which subject? Glad you have something to keep you going and sane! Oh and web design........mmm, yes it seemed everyone and their cat was dreaming of a good earner from that during the dot com boom; even myself had entertained this fanciful flight of fancy!

Anyway you are quite right to consider this, going by what you have done with this site. Bravo!

Regards being unemployed it affects everyone to different degrees; in my case I occupied myself for a couple of years with a project and also going to college. My best friend was also out of work during the same period but he was in floods of tears after just six months, and this is a guy who is NOT prone to outward emotion. It took me four to five years before I began to become depressed etc, but then I found some work which was due to another friend giving up his little job due to the burden of commuting from South Yorkshire up to West Yorkshire. However my time out of work did not involve signing on, which is a very different regime. My second period out of work did involve this and after six months, I suddenly felt very depressed but not because of having no job, but at having to go somewhere dirty full of filthy yobs; for me being anywhere near dirty unrefined animals is seriously bad for my mental health, and I CANNOT stress this aspect enough!

I have never had a job that made me feel worth anything or happy or fulfilled, so apart from the worry of loss of income, being out of work is actually better for my physical and mental health; being at work has always made me ill but if I could actually find work that I enjoyed and did well at, it would be a different story...

NCGM

mal7921 · Post by **mal7921** » Mon May 16, 2011 6:34 pm

Well the world gets weirder...

Teaching wise as my experience is in IT with a little experience on the media side, I'll wind up teaching IT, though I am looking to work in adult education.

As for weird stuff, remember I had the idea a while back for a video on YouTube? Well on Wednesday morning I pitch an idea to a TV producer to see if a full blown TV program could be developed.

Also may have some leads on a couple of job vacancies too...

Such a strange day.

NCGM · Post by **NCGM** » Tue May 17, 2011 11:20 pm

It is indeed a funny old world!

My friend's father works as a well known sports commentator on TV, and even on a FIFA World Cup or two. My friend has not followed in his father's footsteps though, instead choosing to forge a business in the pro audio sector. He did have a band in the mid to late 1980s called Gypsy that appeared on TV and battle of the bands type events.

Oh and today a centronics printer cable arrived from CPC.co.uk, and it looks much better made and thicker than my other cable, so I will try this out tomorrow. I did not go for the cheapest cable from CPC and this cost approx £4.

NCGM

mal7921 · Post by **mal7921** » Fri May 20, 2011 12:20 am

Any news? Did the cable work? Do tell...

NCGM · Post by **NCGM** » Sun May 22, 2011 4:03 pm

Finally managed to get some sleep after more than a week, and I have setup my main STE with the nearest copy of Pro 24 to hand which was the cracked v2.1 by MW. Before this I tried the new cable with Cubase as described in my other posts, but got the same error message. I then fired up Pro 24 and for a while got nothing, until I realised I had my MIDI cables totally wrong, something I do not think I have done in over 20 years. Anyway after a few mins I had recorded a quick drum beat from the pads of my Yamaha RY30, and I set Pro 24 to output on MIDI Output 4 and this worked fine. Also after selecting 'Sync: Ext.' in Pro 24, all of the front panel controls of the SMP 24 controlled the transport controls of Pro 24; start, stop, play, record, tempo, cue and review etc; I could not work out how to get out of sync mode though, but I assume you need to tell the SMP 24 to give up being the master.

It's tough to remember the button press combinations without a user manual to hand, as there are bloody tons of them! Do you have the SMP 24 user manual that you could scan and upload for me? Anyway at least I know the SMP 24 is working along with the cable. So it seems I just need to get to know the SMP 24 better, so I can then use it with Cubase.

NCGM

mal7921 · Post by **mal7921** » Mon May 23, 2011 5:43 pm

sadly I don't have anything SMP 24 related, however this user does as he has a faulty unit and possibly a manual.

May well be worth comparing notes?

The only other thing I can suggest is contacting Waldorf as it was designed and built by them, they may be able to give some help with this unit.

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