Unable to connect tau to microsoft windows

Hi Mark

Very many thanks for your very comprehensive assistance and screenshot help…

I have got as far as Factory Setup in EigenD…
So hopefully, I should be in business soon.
Totally Fantastic!

a cople of points.

  1. Can you briefly list the files that I should copy to the 8 gig Eigen flashdrive (I shall delete the existing Apple Mac setup on the drive ) so that I can more easily set up the Tau for my win 10 laptop and also another win 7 laptop?

  2. The EigenD plugin scanner finds nothing and is empty, although I have tons of plugins.

again, thanks a zillion trillion for your help.

best regards

richard
bg

so tau is now seen in device manager? and is showing the setup lights?
(i.e not the green flashing one in the bottom?)

what was the issue?

absolutely no idea… actually no idea what’s on there already!
all you need is the stuff that on the Eigenlabs website, latest versions.
(you could use my community release of EigenD https://github.com/TheTechnobear/EigenD/releases)

in the plugin scanner make sure the paths are correct.
(windows is a little inconsistent on what users use, so its possible the defaults are not where you have your plugs)

note: it will only load 32 bit plugins. 64 bit you will need a 32 to 64 bit plugin bridge, or host the plugins in a daw ( or similar) and then use midi. (this was recently discuss here )

honestly, most of us use a DAW or a ‘performance host’ e.g. something like Mainstage, GigPerformer, this actually has performance benefits as it moves VSTs, both synths and effects onto separate cpu cores.
… and most of those can simultaneously host 32 and 64 bit VSTs.
(at least for now, lots of talk about 32bit being dumped… but I think it’ll be a while yet)

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Thanks for all the help.

I am still unable to connect to win 7 correctly.

In Device Manager, (on a fresh win 7 laptop)

  1. I have ; “Egenharp PSU (with Audio Capable firmware)” so that seems fine.

  2. I can see all the red lights and green setup selections when I select them on the neck. (however I cannot edit or change them)

  3. I cannot start the metronome (unless I select it in Stage Drummer.)
    If so, I can start metronome and hear clicker and bongo via soundcard

  4. I cannot browse metronome instruments or voices in Stage.

  5. Given the above, it seems as if the Tau loads no soundfonts, or vst’s.

  6. Plugin scanner flashes once and then disappears, and shows ‘scan failed’ and neither good or failed plugins show. (I could see ‘good plugs’ like CS80 and Synclavier, on the previous laptop (win 7 ) but could not access or play anything)

It seems as if the Tau is not loading anything at all…

Q) What is the ‘drag and drop’ into eigend for?

Q) Is it likely that I have a damaged basestation which won’t load correctly? or alternatively, a damaged instrument?

I shall follow Kai’s setup and try an install on a separate win10 laptop next week if all else fails.
thanks for all the member efforts and help so far.

regds
richard
bg

I guess the good news is that a hardware fault is unlikely at this point. It sounds like the problem is, as you say, that EigenD doesn’t load your vsts, soundfonts, etc. I don’t actually use any vsts, samples or soundfonts inside EigenD myself, so I suspect someone else will do a better job helping you with that. But it sounds like you are nearly there!

In the meantime, just to make sure: have you installed the Resources file from Eigenlabs? A large file that contains the sample loops, soundfonts, etc that EigenD wants to load.

Apologies if the following is obvious information (it is sometimes difficult to know what «tech level» someone is at.) :wink: It has probably been mentioned, but in case you aren’t familiar with the difference between 32bit and 64bit vsts: EigenD is a 32bit application and only works with 32bit vsts. However, these days most plugins are 64bit and thus won’t work in EigenD. If you want to host 64bit plugins inside EigenD you’d want to use a VST bridge, i.e. a 32bit plugin «shell» that then itself hosts the 64 bit plugin. A 32bit to 64bit adapter, if you will.

However, many of us don’t load any samples or plugins in EigenD. Instead we send midi out of EigenD and route that to some other host (for instance GigPerformer or a DAW like, say, Cubase). That way the Tau/EigenD is strictly a midi controller and the plugins actually sending audio to your soundcard is in the other software. I prefer this way myself. If you want help setting something like this up I can explain it in detail.

In any case, if you aren’t up and running soon, feel free to send me a PM if you want me to try and help you via Skype.

yup, that means driver is working, and EigenD is seeing tau

hmm, I thought the metronome was in the resources… :confused:

?thats not how it works…
you need to launch EigenBrowser,
then clicking on Browse in stage will bring the relevant details up in EigenBrowser.
(hmm there must be a video on that somewhere…)

are you sure you did the resources install? its the really big one.
if you didn’t then you won’t have the default vsts, or soundfonts, resonators or anything.
so pretty much the only thing that would work is midi !

(note: you dont ‘need’ these resources, but given your starting out, its the easy way for it to be ‘plug n play’)

does it display your plugins as its scanning?
if not then, have you added your plugins directories? this has to be done…

as I said above, unlike the Mac, Windows has never really standardised on where VSTs should be put on a hard drive, so it cannot be defaulted correctly, as there is no standard!.
basically, if you have the right paths setup, you should see each plugin attempt to be loaded, and then it will end up in either the good or bad column.
if its in the ‘bad’ its very likely its 64 bit, see previous comments on this.

by the way another way to test this, which might be in line with your goals.
is to get the midi rig working

to do this you will need to :
start eigend, load tau setup
select midi rig
launch stage, select midi rig (go to + in corner)
launch eigenbrower ,
in stage select midi output browse, to select your midi output destination

if your using hardware it’ll be listed,
however, if you want to send midi to a daw or similar, then you need to install a virtual midi device , like loopbe or midiyoke (see this post )… as unlike macOS , windows doesn’t have this functionality builtin :frowning:

Hi Mark et al.

Very slowly getting there but I want to start a clean install on another laptop.

Got piano sound to work (but octave up and down not working) and some fuzzy drums and boomy bassy sounds on the perc. keys (with yaw crossfading between voices), and also hi-hat and percusssion with the metronome sound) Am able to vary kit part volumes in Stage, and assign delay FX… But so far nothing else…
Just a quick question:

where do I find dpinst.exe ? Can you post a link pls?

I found it before and installed it on my other laptop, but cannot for the life of me remember where I found it :frowning: Yet another embarassing senior moment.)

Have copied all relevant files to flash drive (except dpinst.exe) to save loads of downloading (we have slow aerial dish and wireless internet here in BG , not cable.

many thanks again for everyone’s help.

best regds

richard
bg

Thanks Kai…
Yes, I may have mixed up 32 and 64 bit files in the Steinberg VST folder and in others, but Cubase and Waveform find the relevant ones , and they don’t crash the plugin search app. but just give a ‘fail to load’ message… . It seems that unfortunately, I can’t even find one plugin that loads… I had some that showed previously, as OK, but not now… Shall persevere. Can I somehow do a search in win with VST ‘attributes’, to separate them out?:

regds

richard
bg

At last…

Ive found dpinst.exe…and shall have a go at fixing the installation on my other laptop.

(or at least getting two machines to partly work)

Upwards and onwards…and little by little…

thanks

ritchie
bg

I now have Eigenbrowser working and showing libraries and I can select kits and then mute and enable voices and patterns in Stage.
Some seriously spiffing grooves there! (and loads of them)
and all very well programmed and sampled…

Previously, I thought the percussion & drum section was a simple and fairly trivial drum machine (big mistake)
The more I get to work, and discover, the more impressed I am with the Tau and the software.
Onwards and upwards!

ritchie
bg

2 Likes

Thanks everyone for all of the help… I’m starting to find my way around the instrument at last…

A couple of questions.

I have to press the selector keys in all of the modes many times to get the relevant select key to change colour. (10, or 20 times (roughly.))
Is this normal?

The Tau freezes and locks up when blowing hard into the breath controller, (using clarinet voice) and I have close everything down via Task Manager and start full installation again from scratch. ( keys do not respond and nothing works)
Has anyone else had this problem?

regards

ritchie
bg

I had this problem with an older computer. EigenD doesn’t cope well in overload scenarios. The philosophy as far as I understood it was that overloads lead to crackles and crackles are the death of any live performance anyways, so the focus was less on gracefully dealing with these scenarios but telling the user to prevent these in the first place under any circumstances.
I know, easier said but done as it either needs to use less demanding synthesis, bigger buffers (and thus higher latency) or even a new computer.
If the machine has plenty of cores (which is likely for a newer machine) it can help to use MIDI/OSC in EigenD only and send that to an external host that has multi-core support and suitable plugins. Doesn’t help you with the EigenD internal clarinet though. So only the buffer size up or faster computer route remain I fear. Or to restart EigenD in the case it happens very rarely and just live with it.
Or it is another thing in your case…

Thanks Ferdinand.

I have win 7 running on an Intel i5 CPU @240 Ghtz. and 4 gig of ram. I should maybe try installing on a faster win 10 laptop.

Is having to press the selector keys many times to get them to change colour normal? I thought that the install was faulty at first and then I found the multiple key presses to work.

thanks

regards

ritchie
bg

Hi everyone,

Quick question: What is dpinst.exe? I don’t have the stick anymore unfortunately. Is it the same as the Windows driver that can be downloaded online?

Background:

I’m trying to follow some of the instructions here to try and set up my Eigenharp Tau on Windows. I previously had it running semi-successfully on Mac (some instruments working).

I have the same problem on two separate Windows 10 machines: After installing drivers, runtime and resource pack, the Eigenharp only shows up as PSU-MM in the device manager, despite reinstalling the driver repeatedly, replugging cables, etc… On one of the two machines it briefly worked (showed up correctly in the device manager as an Eigenharp device, played synth sounds), but then when I plugged it in again later, it showed up as PSU-MM and nothing worked (same USB port, same everything).

Any advice is welcome. Also I’m trying to sell the device, any ideas whether this could be a hardware issue? It looks a lot like a software issue, but now that I have the exact same problem on two separate Windows 10 devices, I’m wondering whether it could be the case that the hardware is broken.

I believe I already covered this very extensively here :

iirc, dpinst.exe is the only thats included in the installer.

I don’t use the Eigenharp that often on Windows,
but my experience is that it can be a bit finicky, but mainly this is the install process. hence my detailed walkthrough above - usually it then works ok.

a caveat to the above, I don’t re-install every time Microsoft do an update, so its always possible they ‘break something’ - but the above post, details a few things to be looking for.

PSU-MM… well its seeing the basestation - sounds to me like you don’t have the driver installed.

I suspect its software, but if I was trying to sell something for sure, I’d want to have it working beforehand… even if that meant borrowing someone’s Mac to test it on.

Appreciate your pointers. Yeah, I’ve read the thread in great detail and I repeatedly went through your very helpful instructions before posting. Since the last time I posted, things have gotten worse. I used to pass the hardware check (light goes green) and had even briefly gotten it to work on one of my windows machines. Now the light stays yellow, even if the instrument plugged in. If I read you correctly, this means that the hardware is most likely busted? Is there a chance that initializing the device via software could turn the light back green if I were able to use the software? Any chance this could be a firmware issue that could be fixed by successfully initializing it from some device?

The software stopped working briefly before the light turned a solid yellow. At this point, no matter how many times I uninstall /reinstall the driver or whatever pattern of restarting I use in between reinstalls, it only ever shows up as PSU-MM on windows.

I can’t get it to work on my mac, since the 64 bit community version of EigenD simply crashes on startup (opens and immediately silently closes, without a window appearing). Maybe you know of a log file somewhere that I could check to help diagnose the error? The 32 bit version used to work, while that was still an option.

Regarding “dpinst.exe”, I’m only aware of a file called “EigenD-Drivers_1.0.10.exe” that can be downloaded online. I don’t have the original USB stick anymore, so I assume that these are likely the same files and “dpinst.exe” is simply the name that the driver installer has on the USB stick?

Regarding the sale, the question at this point is mainly whether I sell it for parts or as a working device.

Ok, so I managed to get EigenD running on Mac (forgot the steps in the releasenotes), but the light remains a resolute yellow, and loading the tau profile in EigenD doesn’t change that. Would be curious as to what’s busted. Any ideas?

  1. Driver doesn’t work on windows.
  2. Light on the base station is perma-yellow.
  3. Light on the Eigenharp is blinking green in “awaiting initialization” mode.
  4. Loading the Tau profile on mac doesn’t do anything.

I have my Tau running on both Win10 and OS X Catalina. I don’t have the technical understanding that the experts in here have. I don’t know what the yeIlow light implies. But if there is something I can help test/check I’ll gladly help out this weekend.

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if the basestation is amber (yellow) then the basestation cannot see the tau.
(it will usually go to green, even without being connected to a computer)

so sounds like a hardware issue…

it could be as simple as a bad cable, or something wrong at the tau or basestation.
(id guess the cable is the most likely to fail)

quite a while back, I had an issue with my Alpha become a bit ‘picky’ about the cable being plugged in.
i’d need to unplug it/wiggle it about a bit…and then it would start working.
Eigenlabs were great, I sent it to them, they fixed and returned it (very quickly), and its been perfect ever since. (“luckily”, in my case, I had a spare instrument cable - so I knew it wasn’t the cable)

if you are confident/electrically minded - I guess you could open the cable, and basestation to check the connections there - but you cannot open the Eigenharp.

IF the Eigenharp is opened (for servicing etc) , the keys needs to be recalibrated with a special rig which only Eigenlabs have - so its not user serviceable.

so if you suspect the Tau is at fault, then you should contact John @ Eigenlabs

Thanks. Really appreciate your input. Tried wiggling / coaxing, but that doesn’t seem to help. I’m not very electrically minded, so that’s not really a great option for me.

Is there by any chance anyone here in the San Francisco Bay Area who may be willing to let me try their cable / base station in order to help isolate the faulty component? May repost this is a top level thread if there are no replies here.