Hexachord Orb Artist S, anyone get it to work on PC?

[riley4reason]

I have been working with their support since last week and all they can say is install the midi drivers with a .DMG file, which is a MAC file and really don't want to do that.
Does the new verserion work for anyone else on Windows? They say it will host VSTs now and won't need to take up all of your midi resources. Please Let me know if it's working for you and if you had to do anything special. Any help is much appreciated. Riley

[starflakeprj]

I have it working without any problem. But since I just installed it to its default installation path (you aren't really able to choose anything else), I'm afraid I can't give you any advise, unless you at least mention what kind of problems you are running into?

Since the new version works as a VST host, there is no need installing the midi drivers, unless you also would like to send midi from OrbComposer to your DAW of choice.

So, when do you run into trouble?

[riley4reason]

I have it working without any problem. But since I just installed it to its default installation path (you aren't really able to choose anything else), I'm afraid I can't give you any advise, unless you at least mention what kind of problems you are running into?

Since the new version works as a VST host, there is no need installing the midi drivers, unless you also would like to send midi from OrbComposer to your DAW of choice.

So, when do you run into trouble?

It won’t launch, it says it cannot find a midi resources. Then I click OK and it just disappeared. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling several times, but it still does the same thing.

[starflakeprj]

The only thing I can come up with would be that you have another software open which has already already reserved your midi ports. Can you check if you maybe have a DAW or any other application open, and close it before you open OrbComposer.

Sorry, but this is the only thing I can think of.

Or, as you did mention that Hexachord's support asked you to install the midi drivers. I guess it should be installed during the installation already, but the installation file is copied to the path below during installation, maybe you can run it to make sure the drivers are installed?

C:\Program Files\Hexachords\OrbComposerS\Pro\midiPort

[riley4reason]

I figured it out. I noticed Bome midi driver errors in my Device Manager, so I went to the Uninstaller and looked for the Bome Midi app and uninstalled it, Uninstalled Orb S and then reinstalled it, after a reboot, Orb launched and is now scanning VSTs. Might have it solved! Thanks! Riley

[starflakeprj]

Glad to hear it seems you got it working!

What I noticed this weekend was that the default scanning of plugins is done in both the VST2 and VST3 plugin paths, and since I didn't want to have duplicates, I decided to change to my VST2 folder only and re-scan. But a re-scan didn't remove the VST3 plugins from the list, so I hade to delete the pluginlist.xml file from the directory below, and do a re-scan:

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\com.hexachords.OrbComposer

In this directory there is also a file named config.txt, where you can set the default project backup path (for autosave), as well as the maximum of rolling files and how often (in seconds).

[riley4reason]

Glad to hear it seems you got it working!

What I noticed this weekend was that the default scanning of plugins is done in both the VST2 and VST3 plugin paths, and since I didn't want to have duplicates, I decided to change to my VST2 folder only and re-scan. But a re-scan didn't remove the VST3 plugins from the list, so I hade to delete the pluginlist.xml file from the directory below, and do a re-scan:

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\com.hexachords.OrbComposer

In this directory there is also a file named config.txt, where you can set the default project backup path (for autosave), as well as the maximum of rolling files and how often (in seconds).

Thank you for the extra tips! Riley

[riley4reason]

I have another problem with Orb S now. I quit using it because it takes up too many resources. However, now that I have uninstalled it, the virtual midi Orb installed with not go away, they keep showing up in Ableton Live 10 on Windows 10 64. I also looked into the Windows Registry and there's not any Orb midi there, but they keep showing up and taking up resources. I have opened a ticket with Hexachords but if you know how to fix this, that would be great! let me know. Thanks! Riley

[tonedef71]

... the virtual midi Orb installed with not go away, they keep showing up in Ableton Live 10 on Windows 10 64 ... if you know how to fix this, that would be great! let me know. Thanks! Riley

Here is the command line string to invoke the Bome Virtual MIDI uninstaller (assuming the files are still present on your hard disk):

Code: Select all

"C:\ProgramData\Bome Software\Bome Virtual MIDI\apps\portinstall.exe" -rmAllByID OrbComposer

I think it is also worth giving the Korg MIDI Driver Uninstall Utility a shot: