dysamoria Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Since around the same time as I allowed Mac OS Ventura to update to 13.6.5, my MIDI studio in Audio MIDI Setup has become totally corrupted and non-functional. The items are not arranged as I left them, all the cables/wires are gone (though the connections claim to be present when rolled over, and I cannot create new connections since they're apparently there), the objects display with black/grey boxes instead of their icons (see attached screenshots), and I cannot remove any of the objects (most of them have the minus button enabled, but it does nothing; one device that I no longer have connected wont even let me click the minus button; the menu choice for "Remove Device" does nothing, and the delete key does nothing). While trying to troubleshoot it, I created a duplicate configuration, which fails to actually load unless I quit and restart it, and then it has the same dysfunction. Trying to change back to the Default setup has the same problem of not loading ("Loading" appears on a blank background and never changes). Whenever I change the view mode from icon to list and back to icon, the arrangement of objects goes back mostly to what I had... until Logic starts or I reopen Audio MIDI Setup. And just a short while ago, it either changed some of my devices into generic "New External Device", or added new ones. I'm really not sure which actually happened. The list view is also corrupt as there are no devices listed and trying to add connections in that mode doesn't work at all. The OS update is the only meaningful change done to the machine between when everything was normal and when everything went to hell. Anyone experiencing this? Any known solutions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
des99 Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 If you switch to a new user account, do you still see the same issue? Have you tried resetting all your AMS preferences/configurations and setting it up again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dysamoria Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 5 minutes ago, des99 said: If you switch to a new user account, do you still see the same issue? Have you tried resetting all your AMS preferences/configurations and setting it up again? I am currently looking for the preferences files to try that. They don't seem to live in the root library, so I've been looking through my user library preferences. I'm not looking forward to creating the whole config again from scratch... In the mean time, I got sidetracked by finding lots of stuff in the Preferences folder that is outdated and removing those too. Sigh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dysamoria Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 19 minutes ago, des99 said: If you switch to a new user account, do you still see the same issue? Have you tried resetting all your AMS preferences/configurations and setting it up again? Removing the com.apple.audio.AudioMIDISetup.plist file just caused the MIDI Studio window to reset its state of being opened (to closed) and window dimensions. It didn't affect the actual configuration. Where is this stuff stored??? I see no other relevant preference files! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
des99 Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 You can start with com.apple.audio.AudioMIDISetup.plist, but I'd check in a new user first, to see whether it's user account related, to save time trawling through your user account to find files and check whether anything happens when you delete them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordi Torres Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 9 hours ago, dysamoria said: While trying to troubleshoot it, I created a duplicate configuration, which fails to actually load unless I quit and restart it, and then it has the same dysfunction. Try creating a brand new configuration instead of a duplicate one. By duplicating, whatever corruption you may have in the problematic configuration is ending up on the duplicate as well. Keep in mind these configurations are just XML, and a single mistake in XML (for example, a missing ">") will render it "malformed" and will most likely make AMS start misbehaving. In case you want to have a look under the hood, these AMS configurations are saved in ~/Library/Audio/MIDI Configurations (extension .mcfg). J. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dysamoria Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 7 hours ago, Jordi Torres said: Try creating a brand new configuration instead of a duplicate one. By duplicating, whatever corruption you may have in the problematic configuration is ending up on the duplicate as well. Keep in mind these configurations are just XML, and a single mistake in XML (for example, a missing ">") will render it "malformed" and will most likely make AMS start misbehaving. In case you want to have a look under the hood, these AMS configurations are saved in ~/Library/Audio/MIDI Configurations (extension .mcfg). J. Thanks for this info. I looked in that folder and didn’t see the file. I’ll look again. I’m curious to see if I can recognize any corruption in the file. I’m not happy to repeat my effort, but creating a new blank setup is so far looking like the solution because behavior is normal on a new config. I started it, and once done, I’ll try to remember to come back here and mark this as the solution. Thanks for everyone’s advice. 👍🏽 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordi Torres Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 10 minutes ago, dysamoria said: Thanks for this info. I looked in that folder and didn’t see the file. I’ll look again. I’m curious to see if I can recognize any corruption in the file. You're welcome. If you did not see it it's because you did not look in the right folder the tilde "~" character indicates that you need to go to you user's Library folder (which is hidden by default), not the main Library folder in Macintosh HD. To get to your user's Library folder, yo can go to the Finder's Go menu and press the Option (Alt) key. J. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordi Torres Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 2 hours ago, dysamoria said: I’m curious to see if I can recognize any corruption in the file. I’m not happy to repeat my effort, but creating a new blank setup is so far looking like the solution because behavior is normal on a new config. If you need help with attempting to fix the corrupted file, I may be able to help. Hopefully it's not in a state that would make it too difficult to fix manually. J. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dysamoria Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 4 hours ago, Jordi Torres said: You're welcome. If you did not see it it's because you did not look in the right folder the tilde "~" character indicates that you need to go to you user's Library folder (which is hidden by default), not the main Library folder in Macintosh HD. To get to your user's Library folder, yo can go to the Finder's Go menu and press the Option (Alt) key. J. I did look there but I was tired and annoyed, so I must’ve missed it somehow. Will look again when I’m able to get back to my computer. 2 hours ago, Jordi Torres said: If you need help with attempting to fix the corrupted file, I may be able to help. Hopefully it's not in a state that would make it too difficult to fix manually. J. Thanks 😊 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dysamoria Posted March 22 Author Share Posted March 22 I realized why I missed that config file: I didn't check the Audio folder. I went straight to the Preferences folder. And wow: I opened Default.mcfg in TextEdit and there's NO WAY I am going to try to parse all of that. It's a very long file. I scrolled through and it didn't turn into chunks of random binary, so whatever corruption there is, it's not screamingly obvious. I'm just going to have to create a new setup manually. I grew up loving computers, but now I hate them. I wish I'd developed into an instrumentalist but my neurology had other plans (such as hands and brain making it hard to progress at learning to play anything and impossible to read notation). I love electronic music but I now hate all software. 48 years on this planet and the tech has gotten more capable but also considerably less predictable and reliable. Even the OS that I moved to in order to escape the nightmare that is Windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordi Torres Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 (edited) You need a code editor with syntax highlighting and linting for XML. It should be relatively easy to figure out like that. If not, share the file and I’ll have a look. J. Edited March 22 by Jordi Torres Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dysamoria Posted March 22 Author Share Posted March 22 4 hours ago, Jordi Torres said: You need a code editor with syntax highlighting and linting for XML. It should be relatively easy to figure out like that. If not, share the file and I’ll have a look. J. Thanks for the offer. Unfortunately I deleted it in the app, which told me the action cannot be undone… which is ridiculous because all the developers had to do was yeet the file into the Trash, but instead they delete it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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