Hi,

I have an 01x that for all it's limitations I have held onto when I have got rid of many other greater pieces of gear. Don't ask me why - maybe it just fits on the desk nicely. I like the mixer/control surface/interface all in one box. Now that I have justified my insanity I can ask for help with my problem.

I have always found the mlan driver to be flakey - I have attempted to eliminate every other possibility that could make the computer throw a wobbly nine times that I use the 01x out of ten, but i have a real problem with the driver that has recently developed. You have to activate the driver either at windows start up or manually from the system tray. Usually it takes a few seconds and it is ready to go however all of a sudden it is taking a very long time for the driver to initialise. The tray notification says 'starting mlan driver' for about five to ten minutes before finally activating. I have changed my wireless keyboard recently but otherwise the hardware and software is the same as ever. I have tried reverting to the old keyboard but it still has the same problem - the keyboard being responsible was a desperate stab in the dark anyway.

Can anyone suggest a possible reason for this strange change in computer behaviour, or has the last human being with any knowledge of mlan long since become extinct?

The second part of my query is asking for an opinion. I like my 01x but I realise I am clinging onto dead technology. Should I admit defeat and move on?

If so, what should I choose? I had a Steinberg CC121 but it only has a single fader. Are there ANY pieces of equipment now that combine interface and control surface? I can't afford a Nucleus unfortunately though.

Any opinions would be gratefully received.

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www.slowworm.net

I don't know about the Steinberg device, but don't be put off by the single fader approach per se. I use a Frontier Alphatrack that also has only one fader, but it's extremely clever and gets a lot more use than any multi-fader surface I've ever owned or used, including my old O2R.

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Hi there - fellow occassionally baffled 01X user here.

First off I'd ask if you have reformatted & reinstalled the driver etc, & apologies if you've covered that in your "attempted to eliminate every other possibility" declaration.

Apart from that I'd say that I did have a problem 3 years ago where the firewire connection suddenly did not work at all. After several phone calls/emails to Yamaha (who were very helpful btw here in the UK) I decided to have it fixed. It cost more than I would get for it second hand now, but, I was happy - it does more than I would ever need of it, & having gone through the pain of "learning" (I use the term loosely ) I was not, at the time of a mind to change.

If you've aleady tried the above I'd get in touch with there tech dept & see what they say.
If it is somehow broken though, only you could say if you should now move on. For what it's worth if mine went again I would probably go with what The Elf says, one fader is enough really, what with automation & all the other things that you can accomplish in software. Not to mention the extra space.
However, right now it's perfectly useable, &, like you I have the insanity.

At the risk of stating the obvious, have you tried just replacing the interface cable between PC and 01X? I had a Firewire camcorder that did exactly the same thing, sometimes taking 10 minutes to appear in Sony Vegas... cable was to blame, it's worked faultlessly ever since.

Quote Magic Matt:

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At the risk of stating the obvious, have you tried just replacing the interface cable between PC and 01X? I had a Firewire camcorder that did exactly the same thing, sometimes taking 10 minutes to appear in Sony Vegas... cable was to blame, it's worked faultlessly ever since.

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I've had this with both video camera and O1X.

+1 for the Alpha Track btw.

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Andi, www.thedustbowl.net Mixing, Mastering, Audio Editing at The Dustbowl Audio

Quote Rich C:

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The second part of my query is asking for an opinion. I like my 01x but I realise I am clinging onto dead technology. Should I admit defeat and move on?

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Don't know what happened to my last post, it seemed to have vanished, will try again.

I still have an 01x shoved under the bench. It worked great under XP, I upgraded to Win7/32 on the same Core 2 Duo computer, still worked fine. Then I upgraded the computer, and although using the same Firewire card/drivers etc, I simply could not get the 01x to work.

But I get your point, I too bought into the 'future proof' idea and bought the box on the basis of that (I still have the original literature). As far as Yamaha is concerned, the 'future' is only a few years. It is such a shame because it was a great concept Audio/MIDI interface, control surface, effects, mixer all in one box, I cannot understand why it was dropped, and there seems no similar product around. To make things more difficult, that really useful 01x user website vanished, I believe the man that ran it popped his clogs, so I think we can forgive him that.


I am saving up for the Behringer X32, not the same thing but it would surprise me if it could not be configured as a control surface. I would have bought the Yamaha N12, but I don't like Yamaha anymore, they left me at the altar of music technology, forlorn and wanting

Right, that's it... after severe testing and unhappy words directed at the unrepentant machine I have decided to let it stew in its own juice in a cupboard. I will NOT be talking to it for quite some time... you just served me up your last blue-screen-of-death for quite some time Sunny Jim.

The problem with the driver I don't think was to do with the cable, as you are able to initialise the driver without actually having the machine switched on or attached to the computer: so I was guessing, maybe completely wrongly, that it was something solely to do with software. I have, just to be on the safe side, changed cables, Firewire bus and port, but with no effect. Uninstalling and reinstalling drivers did not work and restoring the computer to a point a week, then a month and then a year ago had no effect either.

I have decided that having a stable system is much more valuable than struggling on with a piece of gear no matter how much I like it. I have championed the much-maligned mLan and 01X for a long time. I have always been happy with the short faders, for example, as I felt that I didn't really need extreme resolution in any case. Making adjustments in 0.4 of a decibel at a time near unity gain always seemed enough for me.

I still like to have eight faders in front of me showing the rough levels I have channels set, but I think with a single-fader controller you just have to get used to working with Cubase and the control more in tandem, as if the controller is an extension of the mouse and screen, rather than a replacement for it. As much as I would like a Mackie COntrol to take the place of the control surface aspect of the 01X, I am not prepared to spend nearly £1000 right now.

I don't think there is a comparable product to the 01X available any more, is there? Control surface, digital mixer, DSP effects, all in one box. I always wanted Yamaha to bring out an 01X mark 2, with long faders, all metal construction - like an 01X in an 01V96 case.

I do agree with The Elf, that maybe simplicity is better than having a surface bristling with faders. Whenever I have cut extraneous equipment out of my setup my ratio of good work to rubbish goes up. I will miss the navigation buttons and the F keys and so maybe I will in the end spring for a Mackie Control.

I also remember contacting Yamaha about an 01V96 and finding them very helpful and knowledgeable. Unfortunately after tonight's frustrations I might well have resolved not to touch the thing again.

The thoughts people have posted on this thread have been very helpful - as I am by no means a technical wizard - and tend to overlook the blindingly obvious. It has made me reassess what I am using - and stick to things that WORK. If I am honest, as much as I like the 01X, it has NEVER really worked. I have always had intermittent crashes. In fact, recently I was having a blue-screen moment at least once a session which is not a good average. I don't know if it was all the poor 01X's fault, but he was easy to blame...

I am now seriously considering what I will replace the old devil with.

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www.slowworm.net

I now have somewhere to put my Maschine and the 01X is banished to my domestic equivalent of siberia. The desk looks very empty though...

The next question I'm going to post now is what to use to get proper control of my soft synths. One change leads to another.

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www.slowworm.net

Though discontinued, it appears these can still be had for around the £600-£800 mark

http://tascam.com/product/fw-1082/overview/

Seems to be about the nearest equivalent "all-in-one" device.

Have you considered the i variant of the o1v96? It doesn't have a transport, I guess. Is that a deal breaker?

Maybe you need to reset your mlan hardware. I don't remember the procedure by heart but it saved me once.
I have been using 01x + i88x + mlan16e (s90es) + ada8000 perfectly in win xp 32 from 2006 up to now.

The closest thing is the behringer x32.

There's a forum where you can get more help: http://mlan.dailyforum.net

You can even learn how to create a standalone mlan system interact via adat and an i88x with newer OSs (since you'd be using other devices drivers).

You can check my 01x made music here if you wish www.estudiodrummond.com.br

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www.estudiodrummond.com.br

Quote Johnsy:

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Though discontinued, it appears these can still be had for around the £600-£800 mark

http://tascam.com/product/fw-1082/overview/

Seems to be about the nearest equivalent "all-in-one" device.

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Surely he would be going from one defunct setup to another? And TASCAM aren't exactly exhalted for their customer support?

I bought eh Zoom R24, which works as interface/recorder/mixer though I haven't hooked it up yet as I have a digital mixer in the setiup, the Zoom is sort of a standby for if/when the mixer goes pop - I wished I had stayed with my analogue setup now, but too late for that.

As an alternative to the Alphatrack, which I didn't buy as Frontier Design have been known to drop products and leave people stranded, I bought a remote for a PC. In Cubase I programmed the buttons to carry out all the common functions and it works a treat. Th eonly thing I don't have control over is faders, but thinking about it, seeing as the remote has mouse control on a little pad, I reckon with a bit of experimenting that could be made to work too. Although I have the mixer, I record vocals some distance form the PC, and so use the remote then. All functions are there, record/playback, monitor on/off, return to 0/left locator, undo, FF/FRW, in addition to some of the more common commands I use like opening wave editor and using silence or gain, and it cost me about £15!

My 01X was stable and solid once I got it all up-and running; I was just never quite sure how I achieved that in the first place. It was a very satisfying bit of kit to get running but I eventually moved-away from it because I found that I was as happy working with numbers in boxes in my DAW as I was with faders, and it got a big lump of stuff off the desk in my listening area. What I would say is that when I got my RME Fireface it was a different world, everything JUST worked easily and simply and the sound quality took a definite step-up at the same time. I did find that if I didn't use the O1X for a week or more I'd almost have to re-learn it because I'd make silly mistakes. I still have it on a side desk and it's still connected-up just in case I need a few additional pres but I can't see taking the time to use it anger again.

Shame - pretty box.

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Andi, www.thedustbowl.net Mixing, Mastering, Audio Editing at The Dustbowl Audio

Quote Andi:

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My 01X was stable and solid once I got it all up-and running; I was just never quite sure how I achieved that in the first place.

I did find that if I didn't use the O1X for a week or more I'd almost have to re-learn it because I'd make silly mistakes.

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I can so relate to those two thoughts Andi, countless hours reading & re-reading that bl**dy manual. Frankly I often wish I'd just bought a standalone recorder but it's RME for me too next time it goes belly up, or I have a fair amount of spare cash - whichever comes first.

Thanks for all the thoughts on this. I too can relate to frustrations with the 01X. I so wanted it to be the perfect all in one solution. I thought mLan was the protocol of the future. Serves me right for not waiting a good long while (I mean years...) to see if it embedded.

I have now got a CC121 on the desk and an old Presonus Firebox interface, which is reporting total latency of 14ms. The 01X said 2ms in and 2ms out, but I have no idea what the 'real world' latency would have been.

The main thing (touch wood) is that since I have given up on the 01X I have not suffered a single crash, or wait for drivers to be ready or any of the other problems I endured with the 01X. I am beginning to think that maybe life is too short and I should go with a system that actually works rather than dig my heels in and try and make something work which is inherently wobbly. I think also I might have to realise that, especially where computers are concerned, it is just a fact that equipment will get made obsolete and you just have to be prepared to upgrade and change when necessary.

I have studied some cheaper and not so cheap options over the last few days and discounted the Alesis Master Control, for the reason given above for the Tascam FW unit: seems they are all doomed. What I would like if I can raise the money would be an Avid Artist Mix and Transport. This seems to be a well-made, good quality option, using a protocol that is well embedded. I don't understand why this has only eight faders, rather than nine and a master fader. Do people not tend to use a master fader much? I always felt I 'needed' one, but maybe it is not as important as I think it is.

I have definitely made peace with the 01X over this. Time to move on... it was good while it lasted... :-)

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www.slowworm.net