Please advise: CME UF8 + VX8, 88 key midi keyboard controlle

[peakdesign]

Dear Kalamata,

Depending on which DAW you use, using the UF8 in MIDI mode and getting the DAW to recognize the oddball transport control codes is the most rock-solid if your DAW will do it. Mapping the faders and rotaries is a piece of cake either way (MIDI or USB).

I stick with USB, and it works well enough with driver 1.05 and with their templates that come with driver 1.04. The transport controls work nicely. I don't think it's lost the USB connection more than a couple times a week, and I'm not sure it's CME's driver that's at fault. Uninstall the UF Editor and its SIMul driver completely if you go that route, it's one less unknown.

If you must have the transport controls working over MIDI, and the DAW will absolutely not read/map those, you can install the UF Editor to try to map these codes to e.g. the same CC codes that they emit in USB mode. The UF Editor is crude, you must remember to start it before you start the DAW, and the USB direct UF MIDI then stops working, as the data goes through the SIMUL UF of the UF Editor, but I have had that working. Some features like aftertouch curves then work but I didn't check everything.

I'd stick with USB, use a short (6 ft) high quality USB 2.0 cable, it's worked well for me, and if you do lose the connection, disable then re-enable the driver in the Device Manager so you don't have to reboot.

I'm so happy with the keybed's action that I think it's worth a little hassle with the drivers.

As to my defending "small" Chinese companies, I was on the contrary agreeing with your frustration.

[Kalamata Kid]

peakdesign,

As per your recommendation, looks like I will stick with the USB connection using the included USB cable. Thanks for the suggestion to disable and enable the Diver instead of re-booting. This could save me lots of hours.

The "all notes off" doesn't seem to work. I depress Transpose and Octave simultaneously but the stuck note keeps on sounding. Does yours work?

Item two: Cannot seem to get the UF editor to work. I set it
Midi In Device: 00 UF midi In
Midi Out device 01 UF midi out
In Cubase I set it UF Midi In. Midi does not reach the Cubase UF Midi In. Any suggestions?

[Steven T]

I really like my CME uf6 and haven't had any real issues. There are a couple features it's missing that I'd like.

I have a question though. I know someone who wants to trade me their axiom 61 for my UF6. Now I don't really care for the way the keys feel on the axiom and I'm not sure how good the velocity response is but I'm thinking maybe I can get used to the cheap feeling keys. The UF6's keys just feel far superior. The axiom has some features I like though!

What should I do?????????

[Kalamata Kid]

To me the Yamaha P70 keys has a better feel than the UF8 but only slightly so. But I decided on the UF8 because of the features and lower price.

Hope this helps.

[GreyLion]

FWIW -- It looks like CME is preparing to release a firmware update to the UF-series keyboards.

There's a serious language barrier in their description of it, here:

http://www.cme-pro.com/forum/viewthread ... a=page%3D1

But it looks like they're trying to do the right thing for people who are having problems. From what I can tell, they're hoping to release the update sometime in June. I'm sure there will be delays, and it will take some time to make sure that the fix is good and stable.

I hope to be seriously shopping for a new keyboard sometime this fall, so that might work out just fine for me, assuming the fix is all they say it will be.

[bullshark]

Hmm, major undertaking on their part, considering the rom is not flashable so it means sending a new chip to each and every customers...and then you have to completely disassemble the unit, save for the keys, to replace the rom; which not every customers will be able to do on their own... Sincerely hope they can pull that off and not go under in the making.

[Steven T]

lol yah i was reading that post scratching my head for a minute..

[peakdesign]

peakdesign,

As per your recommendation, looks like I will stick with the USB connection using the included USB cable. Thanks for the suggestion to disable and enable the Diver instead of re-booting. This could save me lots of hours.

The "all notes off" doesn't seem to work. I depress Transpose and Octave simultaneously but the stuck note keeps on sounding. Does yours work?

Item two: Cannot seem to get the UF editor to work. I set it
Midi In Device: 00 UF midi In
Midi Out device 01 UF midi out
In Cubase I set it UF Midi In. Midi does not reach the Cubase UF Midi In. Any suggestions?

To get the UF editor to work you have to specify UF Simul as input to Cubase. You thus "chain" the UF8 signal through the Editor. The normal "hardware" UF MIDI is no longer functional when you launch the Editor and open Cubase.

It's one more thing to go wrong, so I don't like to use it. I think it's intrusive and flaky, it places components all over the file system and registry, and to completely uninstall it is no picnic. Because you can't truly remap everything with it, I don't find much use for it. If they ever improve it, as promised in connection with the new ROM, I might reconsider.

The disable/enable restart trick on the UF8 MIDI sometimes works, sometimes unfortunately not, and I haven't studied this in depth for the simple reason that the driver seldom blows up. I have most often seen it stop working if I leave the DAW up overnight and in the morning find the DAW closed, and the UF8 MIDI In inactive if I restart the DAW. But the DAW by then is often also "damaged", maybe left half-running, so I'm not so sure it's the CME driver's fault, and a reboot is in order. Every once in a while, every few hours, many DAWs' audio drivers and routing need to be reset anyway. Most drivers are not well written, memory management and (thus) latency benefit from a periodic reinit, and with that pre-emptive approach I've not seen a lot of trouble with the UF8 driver.

The All Notes Off two button combo on my unit does shut off anything stuck on the UF8, and an all notes off on all 16 channels does get sent out from the UF8 (you can record and check the data), but by default some DAWs filter it out. That's true with Cubase. In your Preferences under MIDI Filter look for CC123 being filtered.

The transport buttons and the 8th rotary in default mode are a different story. I can't readily capture what they send, and I'm glad the templates CME provides at least make the transport buttons work as well as they do in Logic and Steiny.

The 8th rotary in default tier I find useless, but the others seem to do cool unpredictable things with many VSTis, and it's great tweaking the knobs and not knowing what to expect. In the "shifted" tier of course you may as well plan and assign what CCs you want.

Hope you end up liking your UF8 as much as I like mine. A pianist friend said "it's not a piano, but it's very very nice." I think it plays better than most pianos I've used. I have a synth action, a WX7, some drum pads and a GC10 hooked up too, but find myself increasingly using the UF8 for almost everything.

[Kalamata Kid]

Don't know if any one else had any problem in moving around the UF8 on their desk but I did. The black rubber feet are anti-skid so I replaced them with 1-1/2" SlideGlide. Now I can push back the UF8 and bring the computer keyboard up front for editing in Cubase.

peakdesign, I will reply to your detailed comments shortly. I am rearranging my office/studio to make it more efficient, but not ready yet for music.

[Kalamata Kid]

peakdesign,

You were right the CC123 was being filtered. I got the "all notes off" working.
I will go ever the rest of your post later.

Thanks for the help.

[sylva]

Steven T: Could you please elaborate on the features that the CME UF6 doesn't have that the Axiom 61 has? Why would someone want to exchange these two if the CME UF6 were that good?

All: How important (and versatile) are Zones on a controller? I have a digital piano which has 2, however, I don't see how I can play on 4 zones (which the Axiom 61 has) at once.

Thanks, John.

[Kalamata Kid]

Hello,

GreyLion's mid page post reminded to ask if anyone has any news on the CME release of the firmware update to the UF-series keyboards?

[Kalamata Kid]

Update: To prevent the occasional loss of the midi connection to the CME UF8 try this: remove the Midi mapper from the list. This has helped me.

I found this from a post by Lino in the CME forum.
http://www.cme-pro.com/forum/viewthread ... a=page%3D1

[Kalamata Kid]

Apparently not UF8 Motherboard Upgrade
http://www.cme-pro.com/forum/viewthread ... a=page%3D1

My UF8 still has problem with midi messages. Very often stops working and needs a reboot or lengthy procedure to get it work again.

Very disappointed with CME.

[sounddesigner]

I've been considering buying a CME VX8 or UF8 controller in the future and thought their stuff was well made, i see i better really do my homework before purchasing.