Help updating NTS-1 firmware (Mac)

I just assembled my KORG nu:Tekt NTS-1 and plugged it into my Mac. The power is able to come on and the speakers dingaling with the uncalibrated ribbon keyboard. But I am having trouble getting a basic firmware update to process.

9/10 times, booting with the oscillator button held down results in “F.Err” displayed. This seems to happen most often when the NTS Digital Kit Updater is running at the time of the NTS-1 boot.

Sometimes it shows “S.uPd” for a fraction of a second and then shows “F.Err”.

Other times, especially if I quit the NTS Digital Kit Updater app first, then the NTS-1 displays “S.uPd”. However, when I then launch NTS Digital Kit Updater, that complains it is unable to found any NTS-1’s connected. It advises to relaunch the app, with no change in behavior.

Neither does the NTS-1 digital Librarian app detect the NTS-1 connected.

I’m using a good USB-A to USB-C adapter that works with many other devices, to bridge the cable between the NTS-1 and my 2018 MacBook Pro.

Some apps have had a hard time migrating to Catalina’s new permissions model. I added the NTS Digital Kit Updater app to “Full Disk Access”, but no change in behavior.

In any case, the official mac_compatibilitychart_KORG_en.pdf claims that the NTS-1 supports Catalina.

I’d be pissed if KORG failed to account for Catalina this late in the game, but it could be that is the problem. Any tips?

i dunno if its catalina or what but i had similar experience with 10.11
got “F.Err” a bunch and even when i got it to stay on “S.uPd”
the updater would never detect the device being connected

the updater says to use 10.12 or later
so i used a different computer with 10.12 and updated right away without issue
:man_shrugging:

I had the same problem. The problem was that I had the KORG-MIDI-driver installed on my Mac. This driver isn’t supported by Catalina and Korg advises you to remove it and use the standard-MacOS MIDI driver instead. Removing it (from …Library\Audio\MIDI Drivers) solved the problem for me. I could update the NTS-1 and also connect it to Librarian (which didn’t connect before).