How to remove question mark item in MIDI Inputs (in Preferences)

Hi all,

After sometimes (irregularly) seeing an error "Error initializing Core MIDI" when starting up Logic, I noticed there's a question mark item in my MIDI > Inputs tab in the Preferences:

Any idea how I can get rid of this empty/question mark entry?

PS I don't see anything mysterious in my Audio MIDI Setup app:

Furthermore, I have checked:

• /Library/Audio/MIDI Configurations/ (empty)
• /Library/Audio/MIDI Devices/ => only 'Generic' folder inside, which I believe is default
• /Library/Audio/MIDI Drivers/ (empty)
• /Library/Audio/MIDI Patch Names/ (empty)

And in my home folder:

• ~/Library/Audio/MIDI Configurations/Default.mcfg => containing 4 items for the drivers:
  • com.apple.AppleMIDIRTPDriver
  • com.apple.AppleMIDIIACDriver
  • com.apple.AppleMIDIBluetoothDriver
  • com.apple.AppleMIDIUSBDriver (for my Keystation Mini 32 MK3 USB keyboard)

  [*]~/Library/Audio/MIDI Drivers/ (empty)

Okay, so I trashed the Logic Pro preference files in:

• ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.logic10.plist
• ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.logic.pro.cs

This meant I had to re-adjust my Logic preferences (including any custom keyboard shortcuts), but at least the question mark (and other devices) are now gone from the MIDI > Inputs tab.

If in any case I see the "Error initializing Core MIDI" again, I will post it here.

For now this topic can be marked as solved.

Thanks for giving us a solution.

I just have the same question mark in my MIDI settings.

But I'm a little bit reluctant to trash my preferences, so I keep it for now.

@FLH3,

On 12/28/2023 at 2:35 PM, FLH3 said:

I just have the same question mark in my MIDI settings.

But I'm a little bit reluctant to trash my preferences, so I keep it for now.

The data shown Logic Pro > Settings > MIDI > Inputs is stored in the Logic preferences file (the main one, not the Control Surfaces one). 

That file can be edited manually if you have the proper tools: I use BBEdit (in "free mode") and/or VSCode + an extension for viewing/editing property lists (these two tools will show you the data as XML and save it back as binary). Others prefer dedicated commercial software (for example, PlistEdit Pro) that will show you the data in a more user-friendly GUI. For those that have XCode installed, it also has built-in property list editor, but installing XCode (which is a huge download) is a bit of an overkill just for this. In any case, these tools will most likely help you fix this without having to trash the file.

I have personally never seen this question mark before, but I have manually removed old, grayed-out devices from that list before.

If you upload a copy of your com.apple.logic10.plist file I can have a look.

J. 

Thank you for your help, but I don't understand all the words, "VSCode, xml, Xcode" and so on, it' like Etruscan for me!

I'm a bad DIYer for this and I'm always afraid to open the hood.😁

But well, let's try and I join a copy of my com.apple.logic10.plist , if you can resolve the Mystery Of The Grey Question Mark, let's go!

com.apple.logic10.plist

Wow!

It worked! No more The Mysterious Greyed Question Mark and my prefs remain the same.(as far as I can see now)

I would not talk about magic as this is science and knowledge but for a little guy like me it's quite something to see a Logic Whisperer 👍

A question remains: Why when a virtual MIDI port is no longer available (I realy wonder which MIDI thing I would have used in the past, but well...) it remains in the input MIDI settings?

30 minutes ago, FLH3 said:

A question remains: Why when a virtual MIDI port is no longer available (I realy wonder which MIDI thing I would have used in the past, but well...) it remains in the input MIDI settings?

Normally ports that are no longer available should be cleaned up automatically, no need to even relaunch Logic (closing/reopening the Settings window is enough). I'm not really sure what happened in your case for that port to remain, and with a question mark for a name and a UUID (Universally Unique ID) of 0.

J.