App can’t find hardware?

Avery

Hi new user here. Got the 006 unit and can send midi through it okay. Wanting to configure a start/stop trigger on out port 1, I have not been able to get the app to recognize the 006. Tried the web app on chrome, both on Mac laptop and iPad. Installed app on iPad (iOS 17). Each attempt fails to connect, only “Searching RK-006…” at bottom of screen. What could the issue be? My cables are good, is there anything obvious I’m missing here?!

Thank you!

grit

Not sure, I better check what's going on on iOS 17 then, the app build is a few iOSses older and we had no problems there but since OSX had some quirks with enumerating asymmetrical MIDI I/O, perhaps their bug has leaked onto the new iOS

EDIT: no problem here on iphone / ios 17.6.1 Chrome iOS does not have webMIDI support by the way: Apple does not want to support that on any iOS browser, hence our app. Do you use an original apple usb / lightning adapter cable? I remember there was an issue with certain CCK clone cables (and even originals) a while back.

Avery

grit word, thanks for responding. Usb-c > usb-a is a white colored Apple product, usb-a > usb-b works but idr where I got it from. I’ll try to connect to the app with a few other cables, try my phone etc. and write back.

piotr

Hi, I have the same problem with my new 006, only with an Android device.
A webmidi test website states that my browser supports webmidi and when I press the 006 button it correctly recognizes the clock signal. The config page for 006 keeps searching for the device, though. Using a Lenovo P11 Tab on Android 11.
Any ideas on what seems to be the issue?

Dr. Kunz

piotr what browser/version are you using? It seems neither Firefox 131.xx nor Chrome 120.xx support web serial on Android 14. Any hint appreciated!

Avery

I suspect it may be tablet related. I can’t get the app to recognize my 006 with a new-ish iPad. Currently hunting down the cable configuration to get from apple lighting > usb micro to try connecting to 006 from my phone. If it works I’ll post!

Avery

piotr

Dr. Kunz a quick search on "web serial" directed me to a sandbox test website which greeted me with a "Your browser does not support Web Serial API" prompt (Chrome 130 here). I understand that this is some critical solution/library that the 006 config page uses to communicate with the 006 over USB.

That's a little disappointing given that if the 006 config page had prompted the same message prior to my purchase I'd probably reconsider buying it in the first place. On top of that
https://chromestatus.com/feature/6577673212002304
only provides a "guarantee" that Web Serial is supported for desktop browsers (Chrome >=89), Android ones have a "No information provided yet" status. All this makes me think that the Retrokits team has overlooked having used a third-party solution whose status is currently "as is" on Android, but still decided to market the 006 as something that will work on Android devices (webMIDI being the only requirement).

grit

The RK006 is a webmidi device, support for that is pretty good in edge, Firefox, chrome, etc (just not safari) I do think some android devices do not have the ability to host usb devices

albert

for RK006 : webserial is not needed, it only needs webmidi.

https://caniuse.com/?search=webmidi

the problem is that Android seems to fail at handling the asymetric / multiport RK006 MIDI port layout. You can try to select RK006's preset #10 before connecting to Android (in preset #10 the RK006 will connect as a single MIDI IN/OUT device to a USB host)

edit: just tested it with a Samsung S10e Android phone: works fine with Google Chrome

edit2: just tested on Samsung S9FE tablet (Android 14), and here it works fine even when not set to preset #10

piotr

albert ok, if web serial isn't necessary I retract what I wrote about it.

The preset #10 solution does not work on my device though. Any further ideas on how to troubleshoot what's going on?
I assume I set the preset correctly, but just in case this os what I did: long pressed the 006 button, clicked through the presets so that LED #10 was lit up (the one closest to the USB port), long pressed the button again.
On my device I then connected the 006 to the USB port, set "Use USB port to send MIDI" in system settings and opened the 006 config website - again keeps searching for the device.
One thing noticed though - a sandbox website
https://studiocode.dev/check-webmidi/
asked me for permission to access MIDI devices, however the 006 config website did not (and I cannot seem to be able to set this manually).

Dr. Kunz

Thanks for the contribution, I assumed the management of RK-006 has the same requirements of the RK-008 but I'd guess it isn't so. On the Samsung A-52 phone (Android 14) Firefox and Chrome don't support web serial and the RK-008 isn't recognized, even if the phone can host various USB devices using an OTG adapter.
Apologize if I messed things up.

Avery

Got a lighting > usb port and the app does not recognize unit on iPhone either. All web instances fail to connect midi I/0, app still just stuck on searching. Pretty sad if I can’t manage to spec out the ports of this thing.

grit

Well you can still do port settings on webmidi, but do you have some midi 2.0 developer options activated on the iOS device? Or other things connected to it via BLE or something? You don’t see the RK006 on apps either? You are using the usb-a to micro usb cable only? Not the OTG splitter in between? Note that the iPad can only be a usb host, it’s not a usbmidi device so don’t use the OTG in this connection scenario.

albert

@avery: there must be some issue with your specific setup. The best way to find out what is wrong, is trying out the parts individually, starting with checking the basic operation of the RK006. Connect the RK006 with a direct USBA<->microUSB cable (and nothing else!) to a computer running Google Chrome, or M$ edge and try it with that. (note: on MacOS, the safari browser is incapable of many things, including webmidi; so that browser will fail big time)
When it doesn't work with a decent browser, alternatively you can double check if the RK006 appears as a MIDI device at all using a DAW or any other MIDI capable software.

Avery

Hey folks! Not sure what happened with the app or me or whatever but I took another crack at connecting and the app works now! Could have been a funny cable could have been a firmware update idk but issue seems resolved. Excited to work on me setup now.. Thank you everyone for your support.

grit

Ok glad it resolved itself. Just a more general note on this: The webmidi settings url can sometimes fail, even when you have permissions set, a browser restart or checking if other apps are blocking the rk006 midi ports can also do wonders.