Bluetooth MIDI highly dodgy on Mac/Live 10

Technical Support
1

Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone else is experiencing what can only be termed “highly unstable”
Morph performance via Bluetooth MIDI on Mac OS (Sierra) with Live 10.
Basically, super laggy, dropped/hung notes, etc. Also, there are actual Bluetooth connection
issues when connecting the Morph to the Mac to begin with, e.g. the Morph will sometimes disconnect by itself, though this comes and goes (sometimes it connects fine on a reboot of the Mac.)
This is on a Mac Pro trashcan that’s about 5’ away from the Morph. There are a Logitech MX Master 2S mouse and Apple bluetooth keyboard connected at the same time, if that has any relevance. I’ve reverted to the wired USB connection to the Morph for the moment, because of this. Any insight would be muchly appreciated.

1 Like
2

  1. While it may sound odd, have you tried multiple overlays to see if they all exhibit the same behavior? I ask because I found that using an MPE overlay with 14-bit CC enabled caused the Morph to choke up over only Bluetooth (not USB) and only report key releases and nothing else.

  2. Do you have an external Bluetooth adapter you could test in place of the system’s internal adapter? As you mentioned the device is 5’ away. It’s possible that the Mac Pro doesn’t have great Bluetooth reception from inside its “can”. Using an external Bluetooth adapter could boost the sensitivity of the computer to drop less packets.

3

Thanks for the reply.

  1. I only have the Thunder overlay at this point, so can’t compare to the others just yet.
  2. I don’t have an external Bluetooth adapter but may look into this - thanks for the suggestion.

-Peter

4

I am also having issues with connecting bluetooth to both my 2018 Mac mini and iPhoneXR. Connecting with bluetooth is inconsistent, and when it is connected, MIDI is dropped too many times to be useful. While plugged directly into the USB, I do not have any of these problems.

5

I’m having a similar problem with my iPad where chords are not recognized about 90% of the time. I’m using bluetooth and did not have this problem before a month or two ago. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the next firmware update will fix the problem (it better!). Chords are recognized if I disable pitch bend, but that’s no fun.
My Morph works fine with my PC which is connected with a USB cable. For whatever reason I’m not able to connect to my iPad with a USB/Lightning cable - I thought that could before. Any way good luck getting your problem solved.

6

Thanks for alerting us, here. We’re currently working on an update to the SenselApp that will remedy the Bluetooth MIDI issues described here. Thanks for your patience and stay tuned!

@rgately: If you need MPE at this time with the iPad, it is also possible to use the powered lightning USB3 adapter. https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MK0W2AM/A/lightning-to-usb-3-camera-adapter

7

Will an update to the PC/Mac app fix issues with iOS?

If so, does that mean there’s currently an issue with the overlay configurations that get sent that is causing Bluetooth issues? or will the actual fix be firmware update(s)?

8

Hey Galen! It’s not an issue with the overlay configurations, so we fully expect the firmware update will fix the issues with iOS, as well as the PC/Mac app

1 Like
9

Cool. Do you know if the firmware update addresses the other MCU-Bluetooth issue where it chokes on 14-bit CC MPE configurations?

10

Yes, it will address this issue as well!

1 Like
11

That is awesome! Will there be an announcement somewhere when the firmware update(s) are released? or will people just need to keep checking the app for the update?

12

We’ll let you know here in the forum and through a newsletter update! You can sign up here if you haven’t already.

13

Didn’t end up seeing the update posted to the forum. Did I miss it?

14

Hey Galen! You haven’t missed it, we’re still working on the update. Stay tuned and thank you for your patience.

15

Okeydoke. Thanks for confirmation. It’ll be nice when I can actually use the 14-bit CC option over the Bluetooth connection (currently not possible)

16

How far did you get? The bluetooth problem is a show stopper! I would not mind an intermediate update. I would not mind to beta test it either…
And of course I need the 13 range for an octave in MPE to be in tune again, but the bluetooth needs to get the highest priority…

17

If we’re talking about firmware updates from Sensel, their update between now and then did nothing to fix the Bluetooth issue I referenced. From what I saw “their next update” will include the fix… I’m not holding my breath at this point :cry: I’ll probably just have to build my own Bluetooth interface to bypass their broken one.

18

Appreciate everyone’s patience as we work to improve the Bluetooth experience. It’s not off our radar - we’re looking into options that will help us expedite the process, and will of course keep you posted when we have a firm estimate.

19

Well glad I’m not the only one here with this issue. I can not get my sensel to work via Bluetooth with my MacBook Pro / Ableton 10

It will connect for a few seconds and then just disconnect. Super frustrating. One of the big selling points is the wireless operation but unfortunately it’s pretty much non existent for me

20

I’m not so glad that the latest message on this issue was almost a year ago. It’s a lot of money for a device that never worked properly and still doesn’t till this day.