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Topic: midi mapper wont open (Read 4336 times) previous topic - next topic

midi mapper wont open

There is no playback; the red notes proceed as usual but there is no sound. I get a message that the MIDI mapper has not opened properly. In the past, playback problems were always caused by grumpiness and rebooted solved them. This time it does no good. Evidently the MIDI mapper needs a shot of graphite. What should I do? (I have Windows ME and Office 2000 Pro). Can I reinstall this critter, and if so how?

Stephen

Re: midi mapper wont open

Reply #1 –
Stephen,

With the information available, about all that can be said for sure is that "it's broken." Sometimes reinstalling Windows can help in such situations, but I'd only recommend that as a last resort. It's unlikely that Office would have anything to do with it, unless perhaps you happen to have a Word document with embedded midi open at the same time as you try to run NWC.

I'd suggest first poking around in Control Panel -> Multimedia -> Midi tab. It should normally be set for "single instrument", with an available playback device selected (highlighted).

If this doesn't help, more information about your hardware and software setup would be helpful. Can you play midis using Media Player or other midi player? Does your wav device work normally? (i.e. can you play mp3's or wav's?)

Good luck,
Fred

Re: midi mapper wont open

Reply #2 –
Stephen,

It may not be necessary. Your symptoms sound very much like something that happened to me last night. I happened to be playing a MIDI quietly in the background using Media Player, when I tried to start playback in NWC (I have the MIDI Port Usage option set to "While Playing"). I got the message about the device failing to open, and from then on was unable to play back from NWC, even after a reboot. It wasn't until later that I thought to check the volume control applet. Somehow the MIDI volume had been set all the way down to zero, and changing it back to its usual value fixed the problem.

Re: midi mapper wont open

Reply #3 –
Thanks, Fred. Where should I look for the volume control applet in question?

The current state of affairs: I did look in Settings > Control Panel > Multimedia etc., and removed and reinstalled the relevant stuff. The result: the same message, but now referring not to MIDI Mapper but to SB16 MIDI Out (330). So I went back to Settings and looked again at everything. This time I noticed that while I had been operating with SB16 MIDI Out (330) for playback, I had another opption: Creative Music Synth 220. Well, thought I, let's try it. It did make some difference: with this creative thing, I still get the message that it's not opening properly, but if I go through the drill of checking to see which component is not opening, as far as the message that this must be corrected before proceeding, and then hit 'Cancel', I go back to my NW file--and it goes ahead and plays! It's a nuisance to have to go through this rigmarole each time, but now I can hear the files again. I do not understand this at all, but I'm pleased to be able to put my ears to work again.

The Sound and Multimedia file also tells me that I have no driver for Wave Device for Voice Modem, and it cannot find one anywhere. I don't know if that can have anything to do with this problem

Stephen

Re: midi mapper wont open

Reply #4 –
Hi Stephen,

Sounds like you have one pretty confused system. There /could/ be a bearing with the missing modem wav device, glad you mentioned that. We had a similar kersnuffle on the machine at work (Win98SE - close enough to ME for the parallel to be interesting). The way we finally solved it was as follows:

1: Control Panel -> System -> Device manager. Remove everything under Sound, Video and Game Controllers.

2: Restart, and let it go through the process of finding everything again. In our case we didn't need the original driver disks, but it would be a good idea for you to have them available in case it asks you for "updated drivers" or whatever.
What's interesting is that the numbers after your midi devices apparently refer to the IO address; interesting, in that 220 is usually used for the legacy SB16 sound, and 330 for MPU-401 or other synth (e.g. your Creative Music Synth). [As an aside, you'll probably find your sound quality is considerably better using the CMS (once you get it working right), since the SB16 "FM synth" is normally only interesting for legacy (read "old") games that require this compatibility.]

If it still doesn't work after removing/refinding all the hardware devices, try it again from Safe Mode (hold F8 while rebooting, then choose the Safe Mode option). On several occasions I've found redundant device drivers in Safe mode that don't show up in normal mode, but still manage to gum up the works.

If all else fails, check the Creative site for updated drivers for your sound card specific to ME.

Good luck!
Fred
PS - the Volume Control applet normally lives in your system tray as a little speaker icon. If not, you can launch it manually by double-clicking on sndvol32.exe in the Windows directory.

Re: midi mapper wont open

Reply #5 –
Part of your Reply 3 message makes me think you might be selecting multiple devices for play back in NWC. Make sure you are only selecting one device for play back in NWC, especially when you are using the MIDI mapper (selecting multiple devices should only be done if you are sure that you have multiple devices to use, and then there is not any real reason to use the MIDI mapper).

Re: midi mapper wont open

Reply #6 –
Stephen, I understand WindowsME does not include midimapper, so it's no sense hunting around for it.

I fooled around with NWC's reply no. 5, and that fixed my playback problem. The Control Panel icon in ME is named Sounds and Multimedia, and you'll want the second tab, which is AUDIO. I've toggled off the "use only preferred devices," and everything seems to be working.

Re: midi mapper wont open

Reply #7 –
This started in Windows 95. Internally, NWC still works with something called the MIDI Mapper device. Externally, though, users think of it as a Multimedia area of the control panel.
 

Re: midi mapper wont open

Reply #8 –
This problem is solved. I followed all the good advice offered in this thread, and something clicked--what I'm not sure, but the playback is fine again.

Stephen