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Author Topic: Fader-Start & Stray MIDI messages  (Read 4517 times)

May 17, 2010, 01:43:21 PM
Read 4517 times

vnx

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Hi Maarten,

While there are tons of improvements in the recent versions there are still some things that are bugging me for some time now and to that I would like to come back to:

1. The Fader-start-enabled cues still start running on startup of Cuelux, which I consider a major annoyance as I have explained in another thread (http://www.visualproductions.nl/forum/index.php?topic=988.0).

2. I still experience some stray MIDI messages belonging to the feedback machanism that Cuelux sends on startup and while changing the playback button banks. In the the most recent version (b11) the situation has apparently somewhat improved as the playback fader banks are almost not affected anymore.

To explain my setup: I have made a mapping for a Livid Ohm64 controller. This thing has faders with rotary controllers, some buttons that correspond to the faders (e.g. used as flash buttons) and a large 8x8 button matrix. The buttons have LEDs that can be controlled by the Cuelux feedback mechanism which is working great 95% of the time. I use the LEDs to indicate active cues or active fader/playback button pages: e.g. on the top row of the button matrix I can directly select the playback button bank with one of the 8 buttons. The next row controls the cues of the selected playback bank, so a cue can be started by pressing the button and the LED lights up to reflect that this cue is running. When switching through the playback button banks this row always changes LEDs and I can always see at one glance which cues are active. (The third and fourth row work the same, just for the fader banks).
First problem: When starting up Cuelux with no cues running always the same 4 LEDs that reflect active cues are ON. This number of LEDs has dramatically decreased during the last versions of Cuelux. I remember about 3 versions ago this was a full christmas tree, so the general situation has improved a lot but we are still not there. Same goes for the
Second problem, which is in my case the much more serious problem: When switching playback button banks the way as explained above (or directly in the software), Cuelux sends feedback messages for cues (or better cue slots in the banks) that are definitely not running, endling up in LEDs ON when there is no corresponding active cue. This makes it impossible to control cues just with the controller using the playback buttons since the feedback is a total mess and I have no chance to know which cue is actually running and which is not. I tried to identify some kind of systematic pattern which LEDs turn ON without reason for help with debugging but to no avail. The only pattern I could find is that it is always the same LEDs that turn ON when switching banks. One thing I noticed: no problems on banks without any cues set up: all LEDs OFF.

As mentioned above I used to have the exactly same problem with the fader banks but this appear to have vanished in the last b11 version. I do not know if you actively fixed that or if it was a fortunate side effect of something else ;-)

I hope that I could make the problems somewhat clear as my setup may be kind of special/complicated. I am totally involved in finding the perfect interface to Cuelux that fits like a glove that allows me for creating good lighting in a intuitive way. I usually do lighting for live concerts with many bands I don't know every song (or even a single song!), so my interface needs to be quick and intuitive to create the perfect stage for the band and for the audience. That is why I am pretty "nervous" about all the MIDI stuff, since I feel that I am almost there with Cuelux and my controller ;-)

Best,

Ben



Cuelux 1.03b22 on MacBook Pro (MacOSX 10.6.5) / Thinkpad X41t (WinXP) using Livid Ohm64 Controller

May 17, 2010, 04:23:53 PM
Reply #1

Maarten Engels

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hi Ben,

Thanks for your extensive explanation, a quick reply:

1. high on my to do list
2. i am trying to see if i can get my hands on a livid ohm controller to do some debugging. In preparation of this: could you please send your midimap to support /at/ visualproductions /./ nl ?
Maarten Engels
Visual Productions BV

May 17, 2010, 04:53:35 PM
Reply #2

vnx

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Hi Maarten,

1. Very good news!
2. I have just send you my mapping file. I use my Ohm64 controller with the standard settings, so no modifications with the Ohm Editor software. To make sure that my controller is not broken and developed a life of its own, I also monitored the MIDI-Messages coming from Cuelux. My findings were that for every LED that went havoc on my controller there was a corresponding MIDI command sent by Cuelux. If you at some point need my show file, just let me know!

Best,

Ben
Cuelux 1.03b22 on MacBook Pro (MacOSX 10.6.5) / Thinkpad X41t (WinXP) using Livid Ohm64 Controller

May 17, 2010, 05:33:09 PM
Reply #3

vnx

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Hi,

I have just found something not quite clear in my description to the second problem:

"The only pattern I could find is that it is always the same LEDs that turn ON when switching banks."

More precisely: The only pattern I could find is that it is always the same LEDs per bank that turn ON when switching banks.
So it is not the same LEDs through all the banks that light up. That would be too easy ;-)

And some more information to the first problem for starters ;-). Maybe you can already use it for debugging.

These are the parts in my mapping that got triggered on startup (4 LEDs ON without obvious reason):

1. Flash Button

<action>
<trigger type="Unsigned" specifier="Change">Playback Fader 03 ButtonPri</trigger>
<tasks>
<task type="Midi" function ="Control">
<argument type="Midi Address">Channel 1 - Message 9 - Index 66</argument>
</task>
</tasks>
</action>

2. Cuelist on Playback Button

<action>
<trigger type="Unsigned" specifier="Change">Playback Button 02 Active</trigger>
<tasks>
<task type="Midi" function ="Control">
<argument type="Midi Address">Channel 1 - Message 9 - Index 9</argument>
</task>
</tasks>
</action>

3. Playback Button is not assigned to anything!

<action>
<trigger type="Unsigned" specifier="Change">Playback Button 04 Active</trigger>
<tasks>
<task type="Midi" function ="Control">
<argument type="Midi Address">Channel 1 - Message 9 - Index 25</argument>
</task>
</tasks>
</action>

4. Cuelist on Playback Fader

<action>
<trigger type="Unsigned" specifier="Change">Playback Fader 3 Active</trigger>
<tasks>
<task type="Midi" function ="Control">
<argument type="Midi Address">Channel 1 - Message 9 - Index 19</argument>
</task>
</tasks>
</action>

And what I almost forgot (to add some more complexity): In many cases, when I press one of the buttons on the controller to activate a cue, the correct cue starts but the wrong LED lights up on the controller. When deactivating the cue on the controller a totaly different LED turns on. That's kind of weird, isn't it? ;-)

Best,

Ben
Cuelux 1.03b22 on MacBook Pro (MacOSX 10.6.5) / Thinkpad X41t (WinXP) using Livid Ohm64 Controller

May 28, 2010, 02:31:11 PM
Reply #4

Maarten Engels

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Just received my Livid Ohm64  :)
Maarten Engels
Visual Productions BV

May 28, 2010, 08:07:29 PM
Reply #5

vnx

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Hi Maarten,

Good news! Since b13 I have different LEDs ON (compared to b11) when starting up Cuelux. Always fun to see how this evolves from version to version ;-)

Many thanks for fixing the fader start problem!

Best,

Ben



Cuelux 1.03b22 on MacBook Pro (MacOSX 10.6.5) / Thinkpad X41t (WinXP) using Livid Ohm64 Controller

June 01, 2010, 10:02:55 AM
Reply #6

Maarten Engels

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hi Ben,
I found the software bug that was playing with your Ohm's LEDs. I have fixed it and it will be in the next release.

The Ohm64 controller is pretty cool   8)
Maarten Engels
Visual Productions BV

June 01, 2010, 11:54:31 PM
Reply #7

vnx

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Hi Maarten,

HUGE Thanks for fixing!! I was confident that you like the Ohm64 as much as I do, as it perfectly couples with Cuelux (Maybe even better than the MIdicon for my taste ;-)). If only it has motorized faders...which brings me to the MIDI soft-take over I have already suggested in another thread. What do you think, would that be possible for Cuelux?

All the best,

Ben
Cuelux 1.03b22 on MacBook Pro (MacOSX 10.6.5) / Thinkpad X41t (WinXP) using Livid Ohm64 Controller

 

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