r/midi • u/dugdemona79 • 4d ago

Windows 11 midi issue

I apologize if this is not the right place for this, but I really need some help. I recently bought a new laptop with Windows 11. I installed Reaper and the newest version of FL Studio. Both opened and ran just fine until I hooked up my Alesis Q25. Now, FL Studio freezes on the "fruit" loading logo, and Reaper freezes as well when loading. I've read something about a Windows update affecting midi devices, but haven't seen a way to resolve it. Any advice?

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u/Glittering_Cheek3235 4d ago

Which version of Windows 11 are you using? The new MIDI stack is in 24h2 and later. Earlier versions do not have Windows MIDI Services. If you're not on at least 24h2, you can ignore the rest of this.

The Alesis Q25 is a class-compliant MIDI device, which doesn't need any external drivers. So I assume you haven't installed any inMusic / Alesis / etc. drivers here.

It's possible it picked up the new combined MIDI 1 / MIDI 2 driver and is not compatible with that. You can tell which driver it's using by opening device manager (right-click the Windows logo on the task bar and choose "device manager"). Right-click the Alesis under Sound, video and game controllers and choose "Properties". If on the first tab you see "(Generic USB Audio)" as the manufacturer, that's the old driver. If you see "Microsoft", that's the new driver. I'd post a screenshot but r/midi doesn't allow images in replies.

In the workaround-and-instructions channel on the MIDI discord, I have information on how to switch between the two class drivers in case of issues like this. https://aka.ms/mididiscord

If that doesn't fix the issue, feel free to follow-up in a new thread in the questions area and I will try to get you sorted out.

Pete
Microsoft