Hermod not reproducing "midi in" notes

[An_Bol]

Hi guys,

I have an issue with my hermod not reproducing what I send to the midi input. I’m trying to sequence things via VCV rack, through a focusrite scarlett.
Basically my setup is:
VCV rack Seq3 => CV to Midi VCV module (Windows Midi, Ch. 2) => Usb to scarlet => midi out cable to Hermod’s “midi in” => track 1 to some voice (say plaits, A-111-2, whatever).

While my vcv sequencer pattern does not change, hermod sometimes randomly changes the notes, and the worst is that it keeps repeating the wrong pattern. Also it sometimes drops a gate, which used to happen when I did not have my scarlett yet. Of course I triple checked that I did not have a midi effect on hermod. Everything is clean.
I upgraded firmware to latest version, 1.72, same result.

For the sake of completeness, I also tried the following setup to make sure the scarlett was not in fault here:
VCV rack Seq3 => CV to Midi VCV module (Windows Midi, Ch. 2) => direct usb to Hermod usb device port => track 1 to some voice
It gives the same result.

Am I doing something wrong or the Hermod is totally bugged here ?

Thanks,
An Bol

[thetechnobear]

hmm, never had Hermod ‘change the data’, but given details hard to say what might be wrong…

try a fresh project on hermod… in case something quirky is happening with old config changes, that might be lingering around (unseen in the UI).
(make sure it does NOT load a template project when you do this)

try recording the data in Hermod, so you can see if the issue is with INPUT to the hermod, or OUTPUT (cv/gate) to the modules.

try programming notes in the hermod directly, to test the output stage.

if you have a midi controller, plug it directly into the hermod to see if you get issues with that.

then I would test with a daw setting specific patterns.
this will check that vcvrack is not having quirks.
Ive experienced some midi issues with vcvrack in the past (generally, not hermod related),
(in fairness, this was a while ago… so dont know if these have been resolved)
also its easy to get into situations with vcv where the patch is not working exactly as you expect it to.

those would be my first set of tests, before consider hardware issues.
(hardware issues are less likely than software/user issues)

also if you re-used the usb cable in both tests, try with a new one… usb cables can fail.

as an aside, on the modular front, Id be making sure theres not an issue with gate/voct timing… its unlikelyesp. since your using Plaits, but it might be worthwhile understanding a bit more about the phrase
‘randomly changes notes’ … a completely different voltage sounds very unlikely a software issue.
(unless it was sent the wrong data)

certainly, the Hermod is not ‘totally bugged’, mine works fine, and has for years… its my only midi->cv interface for my modular)

of course, not dismissing that you could have a hardware issue …
as I said above, generally, Ive found most of the time its not hardware failure…
but of course, it might be…
e.g. if you find that input notes on hermod, does not output correct cv… then it could possibly be an issue with the hardware.

but important to eliminate other source of issues first.

anyway, if you suspect you have a hardware issue, then your should contact Squarp via the contact form which is where official support is handled, including dealing with hardware issues (e.g. under warranty if required)