Troubleshooting MOL with multiple network cards

[alanderian]

I have had MOL for many years, and loved it, but this one aspect has driven me crazy.

I have, I think like most people, two network cards in my Macintosh. I use the internal for MOL and a PCI network card for the internet. My Macintosh is my sequence computer running Digital Performer and I connect it to my sampler PCS with MOL

Please NOTE: I use spectrasonics RMS and Omnisphere, and both those programs for their copy protect require that the network card used for the internet be interface 0 in the Macintosh system prefs in order for the copy protect to work correctly, which is the way I have it setup in my computer.

Here's the problem with MOL. I have spent hours and hours trying to get the card to work sometimes, coaxing and cajoling the system to get it to work, when really what is needed is a simple window in the MOL control panel that shows the user which network cards are connected to the computer, and allows the user to select which one MOL should use.

This has been an issue when setting up a new mac for use with MOL, but recently, I started having problems with MOL and it hasn't been seeing the network, I have to start and restart several times, on and on. What I finally realized What the problem is. Recently, I moved my internet cable modem and router into my studio from where it was outside, and by plugging it in here, it's created a ground loop (remember, the cable ground is connected to every other ground in your neighborhood and beyond) So when I'm recording audio, I've been disconnecting the modem and router, which in turn disconnects the computer from the internet.

What's happening (which I've seen via verbose logging on the Macintosh) is that if I restart the computer while the internet is disconnected, I can see MOL starts up, but then either reports an error of "unknown interface" for both interfaces, or attaches itself to the first interface, which is for the internet, not for MOL. I finally figured out that if I remove the PCI ethernet card from the computer, then MOL only sees the internal card and is forced to use that one.

The point is, that while most of the time MOL is pretty good at finding the correct network card to use, from what I can see, it's latching onto the first available card that is open on startup, which may NOT be what is needed. If I disconnect my internet connection, MOL is using that network which is not what I want it to do.

Perhaps there is another solution to this, but as I see it, my endless hours of trouble shooting would have been solved by a simple box that:

a) shows my what interfaces MOL sees. This would also allow me to see during troubleshooting if the network card is working correctly
b) Allows me to select which network card, (based on the MAC address and the ordering of the network cards as the system sees them) I want MOL to use. That way even if another card is disconnected or not functioning correctly, MOL will not try to use it for its network.

I've talked to Constantine a couple of times about this via email, and most of the time MOL does find the right interface. But it does so ONLY when the first interface is connected properly. At this point, the number of hours I've spent trying to get the program to work in my situation is too much. I may be wrong, but I don't think my situation is that unique.

Please consider adding this feature. Unless that's something else I'm missing?

Thanks

Alan