FORNET operation ================ Treatment of fiber-optical equipment: - Don't bend the cables sharply or make knots. - Avoid strong tensile force to the connectors. - If not in use, put the protective caps onto the cables and the transmitter/receiver to protect them against getting dirty. Setting up a FORNET-System Each FORNET-device uses a set of consecutive FORNET-addresses. For proper operation, it is essential that none of the addresses is assigned to more than one device. Before using FORNET for the first time, the address range of each device must be defined by choosing it's base-address. This is done by calling the "FBA"-function of the configuration-menu. The address-range of each device is: PMM-88E from baseaddress to baseaddress+7 MP-88 from baseaddress to baseaddress+63 MT-16X(no MP) from baseaddress to baseaddress+15 MT-16X(MP) from baseaddress to baseaddress+71 In addition, it is recommended to assign a "device-id" to each device. This letter appears as a prefix to the port-number and helps to distinguish the MIDI-ports of different devices. Within the same function ("ID"-function of config.-menu), it is possible to edit the device-name. This name appears when holding the IN- or OUT-select key down while a port is selectable. All devices must be connected in a ring, i.e. the connections must form a closed loop: From FORNET-output of the first device to input of the second device, from output of the second device to input of the next device and so on, from output of the last device back to input of the first device. The physical order of devices need not to correspond with the order of their FORNET base-addresses. Turning on all devices of a FORNET system at the same time (e.g. by a central power switch) may lead to initialization problems with misleading error messages. Therefore it is recommended to turn on one of the devices a few seconds after all others. What the LED shows: After power-up, a device tries to initialize FORNET. At that moment the FORNET-LED goes on and off for a short time. If initialization is successful, the LED keeps lighting continously, showing that FORNET is working. If LED is off after initialization, no FORNET connection was de- tected (i.e. no data were received since initialization). If LED is flashing (0.3 sec on/0.3 sec off), FORNET is also not working, but any data have come into the receiver - so the connection to the physically previous device of the ring seems to be ok. If LED is flashing (1 sec on/0.3 sec off) it shows that there is an address conflict. In addition, an error-message is displayed. In this case, multiple devices are using the same FORNET-addresses. The "EXT" (enable external FORNET) function As the MT-16X consists of two 8x8 boards, it knows two modes of operation: - stand alone: the two boards are connected internally, - external FORNET: internal connection is cut so that the FORNET-ring must be closed by an external connection. To switch to external connection, the "EXT"-function of the device configuration menu must be called. Once in "external" mode, the MT-16 waits after power up until FORNET is working. If there is no external connection, you may switch back to stand alone operation by pressing any key on MT-16's remote controller. On PMM-88 or MP-88, you may use the "EXT"-function to initiate a FORNET initialization if FORNET is not yet working. Organization of Program-memory: Programs are organized in banks. Each bank may contain up to 128 programs. All programs of a bank are stored in the same device, but different banks may be stored in different devices. Each device keeps information, which banks are stored in it's memory. A program may contain data for the whole FORNET-system, so it doesn't matter in which device's memory this program resides. Although it is possible to do so, it is strongly recommended not to use the same program-bank in multiple devices. This would result in selection of more than one program by just one bank/program-number and may therefore cause confusion about which program will be modi- fied by editing operations. This is specially true for the first program-bank, since this bank is automatically generated in each device during factory-initiali- zation. When you are installing your system, you should remove this program-bank from the memory of all devices except one. To examine which banks are stored in a specific device, run this device stand-alone (FORNET not running - with active FORNET you would see all banks of the whole system!). Double-click the "Cursor / Bank select"-button to enter the bank-selection. The upper line of display shows the bank-numbers, while the lower line shows a bankname under each bank which resides in this device. Turn the wheel to go through all possible bank-numbers. To add a new bank to the device's memory, simply select the unused bank by pushing one of the buttons (1..8) under the desired new bank-number. To remove a bank from the device's memory, select that bank by pushing one of the buttons (1..8). If the bank doesn't contain any program, you will be asked if you want to remove it - choose "YES". If there are programs in that bank, you have to delete this programs first - just empty banks may be removed.