(Follow-up to previous thread)
 
Just bought a new keyboard. Yamaha 105-b. It uses USB-MIDI interface. My old keyboard used an external Midisport box. I still need that box for my other hardware synth, but not for the new Yamaha. I have been trying for a few weeks now to get this working. Cakewalk tech support was as helpful as they could be, but did not resolve it. I have gone to the Yamaha website and downloaded and installed the USB-MIDI driver, though it did not change anything. I returned the first keyboard I bought because of this same issue, so it is not a hardware problem with the keyboard.
 
I need some patient help. Here are the repro steps. Note that Local Control is turned OFF on the keyboard.
 
1. Create a new default project. This has a single Midi track in it. The Input is Midi Omni, the output is the digital piano.
2. Record something. This is successful. Playback is also successful.
3. Open an existing project which was created before the keyboard was purchased.
4. In this existing project, change the Midi track output from the old Midisport to the new digital piano device. There is now no playback. Recording to the track actually works, in that a clip is created with notes in it, but the keyboard does not make any sound.
5. Double check the output is correctly listed as Digital Piano. No sound.
6. Focus back on the project created in step one. Now there is no playback on that project either. In fact, no matter what, now I cannot make sound come out of the keyboard.
7. Turn keyboard off and back on.
8. Sonar complains that it can't find the midi device. The Digital Piano device is no longer present in Midi Devices in Preferences.
9. Close and re-open Sonar. Return to step 1, repeat.
 
Important: NOT ALL EXISTING PROJECTS OPENED IN STEP 3 CAUSE THIS PROBLEM. Some projects that I open in step 3 work fine. Sometimes an existing project opened in step 3 will cause the above problem. There appears to be no difference in Midi track input and output between existing projects that cause this problem and those that do not.
 
In all cases, creating a soft synth track where my keyboard is the Midi controller works fine.
 
Any questions or clarifications? What's going on here?

Just an idea to check: using "Event list" check that MIDI clips in old project have MIDI events on expected MIDI channel and there is no SysEx inside.
 
I can imagine that some SysEx can put Yamaha into strange/locked state. Normal messages on wrong channel can also produce "side effects".
 
SONAR sends bank/patch changes for MIDI tracks (when specified). Check that the settings are correct for your keyboard (MIDI/Instruments Preferences).

Try disabling Zero Controllers When Play Stops in Preferences > Project > MIDI.
 
Keyboard's monitored by input echo on an audio track? does the keyboard have a MIDI IN activity indicator that would help confirm the port is continuing to work?

Input Echo is on Auto, but I'm not entirely clear on what that's for. I have never touched it in the 26 the years I've been using Sonar/Cakewalk.
 
I turned off the Zero Controllers thing, no change.
All events are Midi channel 1, which is correct. I don't see any other events that look suspicious, just note and pedal events.
 
More hopefully useful information:
After I have opened the old project and the keyboard no longer plays, I close out of Sonar entirely. I turn the keyboard off and back on. Now, even though Local Control is OFF on the keyboard, and Sonar is closed, the keyboard plays, and not to its own speaker, but through the Audio out to my mixer! WTF!!!??!? That is, until I re-open Sonar. Then sometimes I get a message that there is a new Midi device and do I want to connect to it? I say yes. Often I don't get that message. Sometimes when I open the project, the Digital Piano is missing entirely from the MIDI devices list. Sometimes it's there. It seems the act of rebooting the keyboard causes Sonar to sometimes forget it was ever there, even if it's turned on when I open Sonar. 
 
I took one of my old projects that won't play, removed all tracks but the single piano track, changed its output to the digital piano, and saved it. Closed everything, re-opened, it still won't play. If I copy the clips in that track to a new project, close and re-open everything, it will play in the new project. But it will not play in the old project.
 
Important constant: Once I open a project in which the keyboard will not play, then no matter what I do, the keyboard will no longer play at all, in or out of Sonar, until I turn it off and back on. Then once I do that, Sonar sometimes forgets it was ever there and sees it as a new Midi device it needs to add. And sometimes it remembers.
 
Honestly, I just want to pay someone to come over here and make the f***er work. I don't really care what the solution is anymore. 

Seems like something is flaky with the USB-MIDI port driver. Kind of too much going on to diagnose remotely, but if you connect the Yamaha via the MidiSport and everything is normal, I'd say there's definitely something up with its USB MIDI

jkoseattle
Honestly, I just want to pay someone to come over here and make the f***er work. I don't really care what the solution is anymore.

You have not specified your location, but I doubt I am in the near in any case
 
If the difference is in old/new project only, there must be something inside the project which trigger the problem.
You have not mentioned either you have checked either you have some difference in Bank/Patch settings and the Instrument Map for the track in question.
 

azslow3
You have not specified your location, but I doubt I am in the near in any case
 
If the difference is in old/new project only, there must be something inside the project which trigger the problem.
You have not mentioned either you have checked either you have some difference in Bank/Patch settings and the Instrument Map for the track in question.
 

You can probably guess my location from my user name (Go Hawks!) but from your English I'm agreeing we are probably very far away. :-)
 
I agree there's something in those old projects which is triggering the problem. 
 
Since the track in question uses the single Midi Channel 1 in/out for the piano, I haven't done anything with instrument bank/patch settings. But wait... that gives me an idea...
 
SUCCESS! (Sort of) Thank you aszlow3! On the piano tracks in question, though the input and output are set correctly, there is channel, bank and patch information attached to the track. I set those all to None for every piano track in the project. I then had to save, close Sonar and reboot the keyboard. When I re-opened Sonar and this project, it again did not remember the keyboard existed, and it found it again anew, but then it played!
 
So.... the channel/bank/patch info was confusing the keyboard. Touchdown, but the game isn't over yet.
 
The keyboard will often be turned off. Why does Sonar forget that it is a Midi Device and have to connect to it anew every time I do that? I am turning the device off and back on only while Sonar is closed for now, but in my normal work I will be doing so at any time. Why does Sonar forget the device if it's turned off, and how can I get it to remain in Midi Devices all the time?

Additional finding: There is a setting on the keyboard to turn off "Program Change" and "Control Change", and I turned both of those off. Now I don't have to set channel/bank/patches settings to None at all in my projects. I wonder what that means long-term with this keyboard though.
 

jkoseattle
You can probably guess my location from my user name (Go Hawks!) but from your English I'm agreeing we are probably very far away. :-)

I am glad I still could help a bit from that distance, using a language which "natives" are not going to call "English"
 
About MIDI devices. SONAR recognize them by internal IDs, not by names. In case it "thinks" the device is changed, you are asked to configure it as a "new" device. The IDs are assigned by Windows, so the problem is not SONAR related.
 
There can be several reasons why Windows can assign new id. Far from complete list is:
* you attach device to different USB port
* you switch off device, but driver is not releasing everything successfully. So once it is switched on again, the "slot" is somehow occupied and new ID is assigned. There can be other driver related reasons.
 
In general, if you (always) switch USB device before starting Windows, Windows never sleep and the device is never switched off till computer is off, everything should work as expected. All other combinations are using "Plug&Play" (also known as "Plug&Pray") technology and so the source of troubles.

azslow3
* you attach device to different USB port

I think this is the one that unexpectedly screws with Joe Average the most. You think why? But yes, different USB ports are considered different setups. Just try to make sure you always use the same port.
 
Personally not sure if Windows will configure multiple ports for a single device, or just reconfigure the most recent port that device used?