User Manual

5.11 Troubleshooting
Here are some suggestions that can potentially solve problems that may pop up while using the
SoftStep.
Firmware Updating Troubles On Windows
Some Windows users may experience problems when trying to update their firmware via the
editors. If this is the case we have provided a separate utility, FirmwareUpdater.exe, that will
automatically take care of it. To use it, do the following:
1. Close all audio/MIDI applications.
2. Connect the Softstep to the computer.
3. In a Windows Explorer window, navigate to either the Basic Editor or Advanced Editor
folder —!it doesn’t matter which one, the updater utility is in both.
4. Double-click the FirmwareUpdater.exe file
5. Wait for the firmware update to complete. This may take a little while, so please be patient.
The updater utility will indicate that it is sending firmware and the SoftStep’s display should
go blank.
6. Once done, close the FirmwareUpdater window.
Once the firmware has been successfully updated, open one of the editors and get to work. The
SoftStep should work fine.
Connectivity Issues
If the SoftStep is failing to connect to a computer, there are a number of things that can potentially
solve the problem:
Check that you’re using the correct USB port on the SoftStep
There are two USB connectors on the SoftStep hardware — the main USB port (the USB B
connector labeled “USB”) and the Expander port (the mini USB connector labeled “Expand”).
When connecting to a computer, always use the main USB port. The Expand port will not work
when connected to a computer, it is exclusively for using with the KMI MIDI Expander.
Try a new USB cable
One of the first (yet most often overlooked) things to try is a different USB cable, preferably one
that is known to work well. When a cable goes bad it can lead to all sorts of odd behavior, or
no behavior at all.
Try plugging into a different USB port
It’s possible that trying a different USB port on the computer may lead to a proper connection.
While extremely rare, we have come across some USB ports that just don’t seem to like the
SoftStep.
Appendix 77