Please help! Can't get windows to recognise usb midi controller

Hi,

I have a new midi synth controller that's plug and play usb but my new dell 9400 laptop doesnt pick it up (my desktop does).

I have not used any other usb devices excep an external hard drive, and i have an audio interface via firewire.

The only thing I can see that could be wrong is under device manager there is a question mark by:

"microsoft winmm wdm audio driver compatibility"

and under properties it says: driver has been disabled - an alternate driver may be providing this functionality (code 32)

I have checked windowsupdate.com - there are no hardware updates available.

Please can anyone advise on how to get this driver and how to make windows recognise my usb synth.

thank you!

 

Is it a MIDI controller or a synth (or a synth with MIDI controller capabilities)? Which specific brand and model?

Have you installed the drivers for it? I know at least some MIDI controllers do require you to install drivers beforehand; i.e. I use an E-MU Xboard 61 and had to install drivers for Windows to recognize it properly.

 

Hi, it's a midi controller - Novation SL61 - the documentation with it says that it is usb class compliant and is a plug and play device. I plugged it into my desktop and it ran straight away but I need it for my laptop.

Windows does not recognise it is there or ask for "install new hardware" so it seems like it's more than a driver problem, but any other usb device i've tried (hard disks, printers) work fine. The controller still powers up when I connect it to USB though.

I tried installing the novation software and it hangs at the point where it asks me to connect the hardware.

Any suggestions?

 

Hrmm, my brother has the same keyboard, and I remember he also had some trouble getting his PC to recognize it at first as well. I don't quite remember what he did to get it to work though. I think he might have actually had to change something in his USB settings or something.

It seems odd that it is hanging up. You might need to contact Novation tech support. If I can find out what my brother did to fix his problems I'll let you know.

 

Just to ask, have you tried rebooting and leaving the Novation not plugged in, and then installing the Novation software and only then connecting it when it asks you to?

 

hey guys,

i fiddled around under control panel, sound and audio devices, midi settings, and have got it to work!

phew!

thanks for the posts

- though my latency seems to have shot up... maybe it's using windows midi stuff and I should get some real MIDI leads and connect it to my audio interface instead...

 

Even with USB MIDI you should still be able to use your audio interface for ASIO, etc. and bring that latency down.

Glad to hear you got things working though, and hope you enjoy it. The Novation SL's are amazing.