Hi,
I'd say it is not a low battery if you are
not getting a "Battery Low Message". If you watch the bulk dump
to memory messages in the AN1x screen, do you see error
messages. I am suspicious if you cannot get data to the edit
buffer, then it is likely that the memory dump is also failing
even if the AN1x is not telling you so (unusual, but....).
The other thing to check is that the SYSEX Device Number (button
is in the Utility/Setup row) is set to ALL. If you only have one
AN1x on a MIDI port then this is the best setting, and the AN1x
will respond to dumps with any Device Number. Device number is
useful if you have two synths of the same type on a MIDI chain
and you want to update one not the other - you set them to have
different device number, and then you have to have software that
can set the device number for the dump. But having said that,
are you getting "Device Number Error" messages? If not then that
is probably not the problem, but worth ruling out.
I am very skeptical about USB/MIDI cables if that is what
you have as your MIDI Interface. As author of products like
an.factory, now and again I have users who have problems with MIDI
SYSEX transfers, and my first question is are they using a
MIDI/USB cable, and if so then my recommendation is to replace it
with a proper interface (A MIDISport 2x2 or similar is not
expensive). When the answer is "yes, I am using a USB/MIDI cable",
the user swapping to a "proper interface" has always
solved the reported problems.
The problem is that these cables have very small MIDI data
buffers. That is fine for basic MIDI data which is 1-3 bytes in
length but SYSEX messages can be hundreds of bytes in length,
which mean they are prone to buffer overflows, which can corrupt
the data being sent/received. An AN1x voice bulk dump is over 700
bytes long.
Whilst Alesis is usually a reputable make, I'd still treat your
AN1x to a decent MIDI interface. She is worth it! :-)
You can check the data being sent to the AN1x by using something
like MIDIOX (just google that and you will find it). What I would
do to check the interface is to connect ALESIS MIDI OUT to AN1x
MIDI IN and AN1x MIDI THRU to ALESIS MIDI In. That will provide an
external "loopback" that you can use to check your links.
Send a MIDI dump to the AN1x - the MIDI Thru will echo it back to
the PC, so you are checking both transmission and reception paths
of the interface. Look at the SYSEX dump in MIDIOX, Compare it
against the dumps in the data list manual. Does it start wit F0,
does it end in F7 and is it the right length?
My money is on the interface being the issue :-)
HTH
Cheers
Derek
