Triaxis no longer responds to Ground Control Pro

[hmansion]

I've had the same setup for years and have not changed anything. Today my Ground Control Pro just stopped working with my Triaxis. It's a very simple setup - I have the Triaxis and GCP on MIDI channel 1. MIDI out from GCP to MIDI in on Triaxis. The GCP is powered via phantom power from the Triaxis over a 7-pin MIDI cable, and I am using the original GCP power supply. This has worked flawlessly for a decade - until today. The Triaxis simply stopped recognizing MIDI patch change messages from my GCP.

I've verified the Triaxis is still set to MIDI channel 1, as is the GCP.

The GCP powers up and behaves normally. So does the Triaxis.

I connected the GCP MIDI out to my PC's MIDI in and have confirmed that the GCP is sending the proper MIDI patch change commands.

I then connected my PC's MIDI out to the Triaxis and have confirmed that the Triaxis responds correctly to patch change commands sent by my PC.

Lastly, I connected my GCP to various other MIDI devices (G-Force fx processor, Line 6 amp), which all responded correctly to patch change commands.

So, to summarize:

GCP won't switch Triaxis.
GCP will switch PC MIDI utility & other MIDI devices.
PC MIDI utility will switch Triaxis.

For the record, I repeated all of the above tests with 3 different MIDI cables, with the same results.

I suspect it's a problem with the voltage coming out of the GCP MIDI out. Perhaps it's dropped slightly below MIDI spec and the Triaxis is particularly sensitive, whereas the G-Force and my PC seem to be more tolerant? Really baffled by this...

 

[ando]

The Ground Control Pro has been known to become corrupted from time to time. I think you can do a factory reset on it. I would try that. My Ground Control (non Pro) went haywire one time - after the reset, everything worked fine. Only happened once. It's a major pain when it happens right before a gig though - which it did in my case! The worst part is having to reprogram all your patches and recalibrate your expression pedals. This stuff is not foolproof. I suspect power surges are the culprit.

 

[hmansion]

@ando

Thanks for your reply - I have tried the GCP factory reset, which unfortunately didn't work. And I believe you are correct about power surges possibly being to blame - I live in central Florida and we have had major electrical storms lately, with many homes being directly struck in our neighborhood.

I do have one update - I have a G-Force fx processor. If I put it between the GCP and Triaxis, the Triaxis responds! GCP->G-Force->Triaxis works! So clearly the repeated MIDI command passed thru by G-Force is a "better" signal than what's coming directly out of the GCP. GCP->Triaxis direct still does not work.

I'm glad to have found a workaround, but it appears my GCP needs to be serviced. I really doubt it's the Triaxis at this point, though I do think it odd that of all my MIDI devices, only the Triaxis is failing to communicate with the GCP...

 

[hmansion]

It's now been two years since my problem started and I renewed my interest this week in trying to diagnose what's going on. As I originally posted, my Triaxis will not respond to a program change directly from the Ground Control Pro. Yet *any* other MIDI device I own will change the Triaxis and my Ground Control Pro will change *any* other MIDI device that I have. My workaround of:

GroundControlPro[MIDI out]->[MIDI in]G-Force[MIDI thru]->[MIDI in]Triaxis

still works. The only reason I'm unhappy about this workaround is that I can't take advantage of the Triaxis' phantom power feature to power the GCP.

Unfortunately, I've still not found an answer.

Spending this morning with MIDI-OX (a free MIDI utility) on my PC, I have confirmed that:

A) GCP[MIDI out]->MIDI-OX

and

B) GCP[MIDI out]->[MIDI in]G-Force[MIDI thru]->MIDI-OX

generate exactly the same program change MIDI message. And still, simply moving the cable from MIDI-OX to the Triaxis yields the same result - scenario A) doesn't work, scenario B) does.

Lastly, MIDI-OX->[MIDI in]Triaxis works. And it, too, sends the exact same MIDI program change message as scenarios A) and B).

I've purchased new 5-pin and 7-pin MIDI cables to test with. I've factory-reset the GCP numerous times. I've factory-reset the Triaxis (actually opened it up and shorted the two Factory Load leads together). Absolutely, positively confirmed the GCP and Triaxis are set to the same channel, and I've even tried different MIDI channels. Nada. Zilch. Goose egg. Zip...

I've contacted MESA Boogie who referred my problem to their Triaxis chief tech, and they, too, are stumped. They've advised me that only by having both the GCP and Triaxis there will they be able to investigate. I'm not a working musician, so I can't justify the shipping expense, diagnostic expense (starts at $175) and probability of damage in transit.

While I've once again given up for the moment, I will surely update this topic if and when I finally get it solved!

 

[hmansion]

I am happy to report the problem has been fixed!

I sucked it up and shipped the Triaxis and the Ground Control Pro to Voodoo Lab.

Per my service receipt (Grand Total $0.00!) IC11 and IC14 on the GCP were replaced, as was the MIDI Out jack.

As explained to me, a chip that handles MIDI Out functions (among other things) was acting erratically. This was the root cause of the trouble I was having between the Triaxis and GCP. In their experience with both the Ground Control and the Ground Control Pro, they had never seen this malfunction before. Whether this was caused by static discharge, random part failure, etc. is anyone's guess. A very rare occurrence, fortunately!