Tried running Montage Connect standalone, and it still remains OFFLINE. Setup screen indicates "no assign", and firmware version remains blank .

Lawrence wrote:

Tried running Montage Connect standalone, and it still remains OFFLINE. Setup screen indicates "no assign", and firmware version remains blank .

Okay good, we can eliminate a ton of causes and have narrowed it down to just the items not working. From here out let's deal with just your computer, Montage Connect, and a direct USB connection between the Montage and the computer (no hubs, please).

On the very top line of the Montage screen you should see a USB icon when the Montage is connected and set to communicate.

I can confirm that Montage connected directly to the computer.

I'm assuming for testing standalone that the Quick Setup: Standalone should be selected.

USB icon is showing:

Maybe you should trash your Cubase Montage template, and create a new one from scratch. Perhaps it's become corrupted, in absence of any other explanation.

Thanks for the suggestion, Tommy, but I've already done that.

And of course doesn't work standalone, either, where Cubase is not involved.

What gets me is the description explains the USB port is half-way working. That Cubase will work to control or receive data from Montage if one port is selected (the MONTAGE-1 port) vs. another (All MIDI Inputs) and yet Montage connect cannot ever seem to recognize Montage's USB device.

It smells of driver or USB port funny business - but the assertion that there is a way to get Montage to be recognized at all is the part I cannot theorize any way for this to be.

As a Mac setup - I cannot really directly help (as mentioned before). But here are some links which try to help get USB back on track for Apple:

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19094?locale=en_US
Above - this one not as helpful maybe
http://osxdaily.com/2015/08/09/mac-usb-ports-not-working-fix/
Maybe more helpful

I'm sure you've already gone down the route of uninstalling the driver and reinstalling.

It is most likely some unmentioned customization in the setup. I'm hoping by eliminating extra things we can get to exactly what is not normal or non-traditional about this particular setup.

We still have not established that the "Yamaha Steinberg USB driver version 1.9.10" is the actual driver installed and selected (it is assumed this is the case because there is some MIDI communication)... I can't explain the partial communication. But surely some customization of the setup is taking place although it has yet to be mentioned. Lawrence?

For example, not that it should impact MIDI communication, but what is your audio interface(s) setup?

Yes, I have uninstalled, re-downloaded (fresh copy) and reinstalled the driver. (Yamaha USB-MIDI Driver V1.3.2.pkg).

I have done the same for the Montage Connect Software.

I have also tried a different USB cable. (Sometimes they do go bad).

I will check out the above links.

(Getting frustrating. I can live with the having to use Montage Port 1, but I really need Montage Connect to be working).

Lawrence wrote:

Yes, I have uninstalled, re-downloaded (fresh copy) and reinstalled the driver. (Yamaha USB-MIDI Driver V1.3.2.pkg).

I have done the same for the Montage Connect Software.

I have also tried a different USB cable. (Sometimes they do go bad).

I will check out the above links.

(Getting frustrating. I can live with the having to use Montage Port 1, but I really need Montage Connect to be working).

WRONG DRIVER!!!!

See my previous post... 3 minutes ago!

Read the links. Two "resets" to try on the Mac, which I will later tonight after rehearsal.

But, it makes me wonder if I should do a reset on of the Montage? (Initialize All Settings, I presume). Perhaps something is corrupted on the Montage end?

You have simply not installed the proper driver for the Montage. Please verify Yamaha Steinberg USB version 1.9.10 for Mac

Ahh, driver funny business seems to be the winner.

An incorrect driver would explain why Cubase - which is more generic in its device support - is OK while Montage Connect - which expects a very specific signature - is not OK. Reinstalling the same incorrect driver would explain why that was not working for you.

The Montage download page:
http://download.yamaha.com/search/product/?site=usa.yamaha.com&language=en&category_id1=16277&category_id2=16381&category_id3=&product_id=2166246

Has only one driver version to download (V1.9.10) for Mac. When I decompress this, there is the following PKG file: "Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver V1.9.10.pkg"

Steinberg also has a download link for V1.9.10: https://www.steinberg.net/en/support/downloads_hardware/yamaha_steinberg_usb_driver.html

Which currently shows v1.9.10 as the latest. Although this link doesn't specifically list "Montage" as a supported device - Steinberg is not in the business of constantly updating their webpage to make sure the list of supported devices is complete.

The best route to take is to always go to download.yamaha.com, key in your product (MONTAGE6 or MONTAGE7 or MONTAGE8), and download files from the returned list of available files. Going somewhere else can lead you to problems.

It is very likely that all anomalies - both the "All MIDI Inputs" vs "Montage-1", Montage Connect, etc. will melt away (no longer be problems) once the correct driver is used. You may have to remove the incorrect driver to avoid conflicts.

The links I sent were for "USB port funny business" - which does not seem to be the issue here as "driver funny business" has been identified as the more likely candidate. Do not follow the two links (support.apple.com or osxdaily.com) and instead install the correct driver per download.yamaha.com page for Montage.

Sorry, Bad Mister.

I had missed your reply.

Yamaha Steinberg USB driver version 1.9.10 is now installed. (No clue why I had the wrong version, but apparently it happened). 🙁

Montage Connect is now working properly.

There are still some frozen knobs when MIDI input set to 'All MIDI inputs', but still working properly when set to 'MONTAGE Port1".

I don't require the functionality of All MIDI inputs with my current setup, so I'm good to go for the time being.

Thanks so for your assistance!

Lawrence