Bluetooth Midi Trouble (pulling my hair out!)

Hey everyone, I made an account on here just to hopefully figure out what's going on.

I have a Roland FP-30 88-key keyboard. It has bluetooth capability. So over the last year, I've been trying to figure out how to use it as a midi controller over Bluetooth (just to record piano playing, or midi for software instruments on Logic Pro X).

It works just fine when it comes to midi when it's connected by USB cable. But when I connect it to my iMac by Bluetooth, it doesn't. Logic recognizes the keyboard, mind you. When I connect the keyboard to my computer via the Audio MIDI Setup app, Logic Pro X shows me a notification saying "Now 1 input and 1 output are available." But when I press on the keys on my Roland keyboard, there is nothing. The little volume bar on the channel/track doesn't move or anything.

Check out the screenshot I attached of the notification showing that Logic recognizes the midi keyboard.

The weird thing is that I had a cheaper Roland keyboard that had Bluetooth functionality a while back, and that actually worked. It played midi through Bluetooth on Logic Pro X just fine. That keyboard was the Roland GoKEYS, which was really just an amateur toy keyboard. This one shouldn't be any different when it comes to Bluetooth functionality. I'm not doing anything differently this time around, and it's just not working. The one thing that I imagine could be the problem is that the OSX operating system has updated/changed since then. I just have no idea what to do.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

Also... Here's a screenshot of what I see when I try to add a new software instrument track. There's no Roland FP-30 option in the "input" dropdown, but it is there for the "output." I wonder why... Might this have something to do with the issue?

i have an x-key air, i rarely use, but i have to do this:

open the audio/midi app in Utilities, CLICK ON THE BT SYMBOL upper right of the midi window… and connect; then logic sees the controller.

i have an x-key air, i rarely use, but i have to do this:

 

open the audio/midi app in Utilities, CLICK ON THE BT SYMBOL upper right of the midi window… and connect; then logic sees the controller.

That’s exactly what I did, and Logic recognizes the keyboard but it doesn’t work when I try to play anything. Did you see my screenshots?

Please don't use 3rd party image hosting website, instead attach your files here: How to attach files to your post

Thank you!

Please don't use 3rd party image hosting website, instead attach your files here: How to attach files to your post

 

Thank you!

Thanks, I’ll do that ASAP, just on my phone now. I’d love to get some insight from you on my situation in the meantime... I know you’re a pro on here from reading your posts over the years!

When I connect the keyboard to my computer via the Audio MIDI Setup app

I'm not sure what you mean by that, but you can't connect a keyboard to your computer via Audio MIDI Setup. You can connect a keyboard to your computer using a USB cable and a USB to MIDI driver (or if the keyboard is class compliant, Mac OS X's built-in Core USB-MIDI driver). You can draw in the connection in Audio MIDI Setup which can help in some situation, but that doesn't "connect" the keyboard to the Mac. In fact, to use the keyboard in Logic, I recommend you don't do anything at all in Audio MIDI Setup. Don't even open the app. All you need is a USB cable and a USB to MIDI driver.

But when I press on the keys on my Roland keyboard, there is nothing.

First, in Logic, try choosing Logic Pro X > Control Surfaces > Bypass All Control Surfaces and see if the keyboard resumes working.

If not, download Snoize's MIDI Monitor and see if your Mac receives any data when you press the keys on your Roland keyboard. If not, the issue is with the Roland keyboard and its connection to your Mac — not with Logic since it isn't receiving any MIDI events when you press the keys.

all i have to do here is, open the audiomidi app, and choose 'connect' for my bluetooth xkey; when i open logic, it just works, it's seen as a controller. if i skip the audiomidi step, there's no connection. seems easy...

That's pretty much what I did with my keyboard, and Logic shows that it found 1 input and 1 output (as I posted in those photo links in my posts above). But still, there's no response when I play keys on the keyboard.

are you seeing the bt keyboardin logic, preferences>midi>inputs? my main keyboard and the xkey are both listed (and checked) there...

I have attached a screenshot of what I see. Still, when I play notes on the keyboard, nothing happens. It looks like it's connected, doesn't it? Did you see the other screenshots I had uploaded above, and do you think there's anything else I could try? Thanks so much for your continued help!!

got it. go to logic preferences, under 'advanced', check 'show advanced tools'. make sure (at least) midi is then checked (i also have audio, and advanced editing on). but i'll bet turning on midi there will do it.

Check out the second attached screenshot... I've checked everything off and still nothing happens when I play keys on the keyboard.

The weirdest thing is that around a year ago before I got this keyboard, I had a cheaper keyboard that had the same bluetooth functionality (also a Roland), and that one actually played midi notes through bluetooth. Mind you, I'm pretty sure that OSX was at a different OS at that time. I wonder if that had anything to do with it. But then again, apparently bluetooth midi is working just fine for you.

Oh also, I attached a screenshot of what my Audio Midi Setup looks like, to show you that my Roland keyboard is in fact connected through bluetooth. "FP-30" is the name of my keyboard (Roland FP-30). Any other ideas? Thanks so much again!!

i had never seen the screen at the top ("choose a track type")... and only found that when i turned off advanced tools. i think you need to reset that, either deleting logic's preference file (and rebooting), or... try turning that off, close logic, reboot, reopen logic, turn it back on.

again, i only saw your track screen when i turned off advanced tools. once i turned it back on, i see a much-simpler screen... (not at my studio mac, so no pic...)

(screenshot from the web)

the fact that you're seeing the window you're seeing (the default with 'advanced tools' off) must mean something. possibly, you'll need to also delete and re-add your roland keyboard. but try the above things first...

(screenshot from the web)

 

the fact that you're seeing the window you're seeing (the default with 'advanced tools' off) must mean something. possibly, you'll need to also delete and re-add your roland keyboard. but try the above things first...

Yeah I had simple mode turned on because I had just got this new iMac. But I fixed that, so now I see the same screen that you shared. Still no good though.

try removing the keyboard from audiomidi, and logic... and re-connecting. otherwise, time to contact roland...

The thing is that this keyboard isn't advertised as a bluetooth midi keyboard. The bluetooth is actually meant to connect to iPads and mobile devices, to work with beginner piano apps and what not... The thing is that this worked just fine once upon a time, and all of a sudden it doesn't now.

seems it should work, but (for me, anyway) impossible to figure out anything else from here. my xkey works simply enough, seems that should too.

time for a usb cable, perhaps. good luck tho

... download Snoize's MIDI Monitor and see if your Mac receives any data when you press the keys on your Roland keyboard. If not, the issue is with the Roland keyboard and its connection to your Mac — not with Logic since it isn't receiving any MIDI events when you press the keys.

Did you try David's tip ?

... download Snoize's MIDI Monitor and see if your Mac receives any data when you press the keys on your Roland keyboard. If not, the issue is with the Roland keyboard and its connection to your Mac — not with Logic since it isn't receiving any MIDI events when you press the keys.

 

Did you try David's tip ?

Check the attached screenshots, first it says that "MIDI Monitor could not make a connection to its MIDI driver," and then when I press "Continue" I see the blank page on the other screenshot. I'm not sure what this all means. This is all pretty strange because when my Roland keyboard is connected by Bluetooth, Logic has that notification in the top right saying that 1 input and 1 output is now available...

What does it show when you open "Sources"? If MIDI Monitor doesn't display any data then that means your Mac isn't receiving any data so there's no way Logic could possibly receive any data.

Here's a screenshot of everything I see on the screen of MIDI Monitor. Does this offer any useful info?

That means Logic recognizes that one new input and output are available, however when you press keys on the keyboard it does not send any MIDI data via bluetooth, so you'll have to troubleshoot that at the keyboard level.

Here are some screenshots of Audio MIDI Setup when the keyboard is connected... Does any of this mean anything significant? Thanks so much for your help David!!

It doesn't mean anything more than what we already knew.

Alright, and you saw my screenshot showing the "Sources" under MIDI Monitor? So at this point, what might be troubleshooting options be?