Hello-
I am frustrated with my CNTRL:R, but have two seperate problems and only one of them is (fur sure) the CNTRL:R. I LOVE Livid products and have a lot of them. I own the CNTRL:R. attached to a Livid XPC 4K2JS extension box, and a Livid Master Fader. I own a Livid Elements single row rack of modules. I own a Brain Jr. MIDI controller I made myself. And I own a DS1. (I even pre-ordered the Minum but still do not have one.) Every single one of the Livid devices I own works as it should when plugged into my PC by itself. However, I have never been able to use (or even plug in) more than one of them at a time and get anything to work. I use Ableton, but have tried all sorts of MIDI diagnostic tools and the various gear just does not show up on ANY software when more than one is plugged in. If one does happen to pop up, it is intermediate, and sends crazy signals, or no signals, or misbehaves in other strange ways before ultimately disappearing after a matter of seconds. I have tried traditional MIDI cables on the CNTRL:R and Elements while using USB on the rest of them with the same results. I have attempted every single combination of using two, three or all four devices to no avail. Every piece of gear has been treated like gold. No gear has ever been dropped, spilled on, shocked or exposed to dust, dirt,extreme heat, cold, humidity or black magic.. I realize this might be a software issue and I am posting it in the "Hardware" section. So....
Second, the CNTRL:R, my centerpiece for Ableton, and my favorite piece in my entire studio: has a dead fader. The far right one, that I call the 8th fader. Doesn't send any MIDI data. I want to crack open the CNTRL:R and hope that I can diagnose it visually and also hope it is a simple broken solder point or disconnected cable. If that is the case, I can easily fix it myself. If it is not... I don't even know if I can get a replacement. Should I open it up? Should I be sending it to Livid in order to maintain some sort of service agreement I don't know about? If I crack it open, will I be voiding a warranty or something? Where can I get a replacement if there doesn't appear to be any connection issue? And what do I do if I can see an obvious problem not with the fader, but on a more centrally important piece of the CNTRL:R?
I'm open to advice from anyone. People who have more than one Livid device and if they had do cast some spell on their computer, I'd like a copy of the incantations. Other CNTRL:R owners. People who have had any part of a Livid MIDI controller fail on them and what they did. Someone who has ripped their gear open, welded in a Robocop hand, flashed the firmware to incorporate the robotic appendage; then sewed the gear back up before the gig started. Someone from Livid with official answers.
I am 85% done with the studio I just built, and my Livid family of goods is some of the last gear to get up and running.