MCX8000 w/ MacBook Air 2020 (M1) -- unable to establish MIDI connection

I just recently bought a Mac M1 and would like to try using it with my MCX8000 controller.

As far as I understand, Mac M1s are not yet officially supported by any Denon hardware at the time of this writing. The new OS (Big Sur) IS supported for the MCX8000 but running Big Sur on an M1 machine is NOT. This is what I gathered after reading through Denon’s big article on Big Sur Compatibility .

However, according to this forum post user Danallinson123 was able to connect and get most functionality working. I would be thrilled if someone could help me reach this point as well.

When I start Serato and turn the MCX8000 on, I get the usual orange-yellow message banner saying “MCX8000 hardware connecting, this may take a moment”. Yet unfortunately after a couple of seconds this message goes away and then immediately comes back again with the same banner and message. Repeat, repeat, repeat. It seems as if Serato is continually trying to connect to the MCX8000, isn’t able to do so, and then restarts from the beginning again.

I have also taken a look at what MIDI studio is showing in the Mac Program “Audio MIDI Setup”. The MCX8000 hardware does not appear as any of the recognized devices. I think this is the root of the problem – if the Mac would recognize the MCX8000 as a MIDI device then probably everything would work.

I have tried two different Thunderbolt breakout boxes as well as two different USB cables, so I do not think the problem is related to any of the physical hardware connections. I have also updated the Firmware on the MCX8000 to the latest version (v. 2.5) as well as ensured that the most recent Mac MIDI driver (v. 1.0.3) is installed on the M1 machine. All to no avail.

The same version of Serato (2.5.6) + driver setup above works on my 2012 Macbook Pro, Serato has no trouble connecting.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Denon gear works on the m1 macs. Theoretically your controller should work also. Check your activity monitor while you turn your unit on/off to see if anything is happening.

That is a handy place to check the compatibility: https://inmusicbrands.force.com/denondj/s/article/macOS-11-Big-Sur-Compatibility#M1

If you read my post, you would see that I already linked this as a reference.

Ok, on my phone it didn’t work today, showing this part of text as a link…

Hi…On the off chance that you erase a MIDI interface and, choose you need to keep utilizing it, you need to rescan the MIDI association with see the gadget in Audio MIDI Setup. On the off chance that you erase a MIDI gadget that is associated with the MIDI interface, you should set up the MIDI gadget once more.

Hello,

I am having this same issue. I have a new MacBook with the M1 chip. I have the latest version of Serato DJ Pro, installed the latest version (v2.5) of firmware on my MCX8000, and I get the message that the device “failed to connect.” The banner flashes orange for a minute as it tries to connect, so Serato is seeing the mixer, but fails to connect to it. I agree that it seems like an issue with Big Sur and the MCX8000. I don’t see my mixer under my computer’s sound inputs/outputs.I hear other DJs have been able to work their MCX8000s with the new M1 chip but I’m getting worried I won’t be able to make it work.

hey guys, just to let you know - i solved the problem after trying out tweaks for 3 days.

You definitely need to uninstall the MCX Driver via the Uninstaller pack on M1 Macs and Mac Os Monterey

  1. Download the uninstaller here - http://cdn.inmusicbrands.com/denondj/MCX8000/DENON_DJ_MCX8000_1.0.3.zip

  2. Uninstall the driver

  3. Start to be happy again and connect your controller :slight_smile:

best greetings from your boy DJ Olde aka Mr. MCX :smiley:

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