I suspect DMXControl has an issue with MIDI feedback which floods the controller with useless messages. It replies 3 times with the same values. You can add delays and other tricks to fake it, but DMXControl will still reply with the same information many times over. I've reported this as a bug, but haven't received a reply. The best solution for me at this point is to turn MIDI out OFF and forget about the feedback.
Posts by Rico
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I hope someone here can help me sort this problem out. I have been using DMXControl for some time now and have used the Softdesk feature with great success. I now want to use Open Stage Control to send MIDI to DMXControl. I started with a very simple project in DMXControl 3 (latest version). The project contains only one fixture and nothing else. I use DMXControl to select the MIDI In/Out device and connected to an OSC fader widget. When using the fader very slowly things appear to work correctly. But move the fader quickly and the fader will jump up/down and eventually flood the network with MIDI messages. So I stopped OSC and opened up Protokol to debug incoming MIDI messages sent by DMXControl. Once I open the project in DMXControl, this is the MIDI information it sends:
RECEIVE | ENDPOINT(loopMIDI) TYPE(CONTROLCHANGE) CHANNEL(1) DATA1(13) DATA2(50)
RECEIVE | ENDPOINT(loopMIDI) TYPE(CONTROLCHANGE) CHANNEL(1) DATA1(13) DATA2(50)
RECEIVE | ENDPOINT(loopMIDI) TYPE(CONTROLCHANGE) CHANNEL(1) DATA1(13) DATA2(50)
Why does DMXControl send the same information 3 times? Is this normal? Isn't once enough? It's impossible to use MIDI to control a DMXControl fader. DMXControl will flood the network with MIDI messages and bring everything down.
I must be doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what that is.
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Thanks Stefan. This worked!
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Have things changed? I found a thread here which explains how to automatically start a project at startup:
1. Create a link to Lumos.exe.
2. Right click on the link and select "Properties"
3. The path to Lumos.exe is stored under "Destination". Simply put the path to the project behind it
Example:
Before: Target => C: \ DMXC3 \ Kernel \ Lumos.exe
After: Target => C: \ DMXC3 \ Kernel \ Lumos.exe C: \ Projekte \ DMXC3Projekt.zip
but this doesn't work for me. This is exactly what I have in the shortcut I created in Windows:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\DMXControl3\Kernel\Lumos.exe" D:\Users\Theater\DMXControl\Default.zip
Then I tried this:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\DMXControl3\Kernel\Lumos.exe" -nonetwork D:\Users\Theater\DMXControl\Default.zip
And that doesn't work either. No matter the combinations I use or even where I put the quotes, It will always start a "New Project".
Any help would be appreciated.
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Thanks to the help I have received here, I have created a simple Softdesk which mimics the stage view using toggle buttons to represent the lights. In this Softdesk I have added a slider and one button. When I select the lights in Softdesk and use the slider, the lights change their intensity as expected. When I do not select the lights and move the slider, the intensity of the lights do not change. This is also what I expected. Here's where I need a little help.
What I want to do is set the intensity of the slider BEFORE selecting any lights (like presetting intensity). Then I will select the lights I want to have the new intensity level and finally hit a button to activate the change. I have made it to this point. BUT, when the change is made I want a slow crossfade from where the lights are currently set, to where the lights need to be set as defined by the slider (if slider is greater than zero).
I hope this makes sense. During a live theatrical show I often need to make changes to intensity & color in real-time. What I need is a crossfade of changes rather than an abrupt change like it is by default. I'll be adding a colorbar to do the same thing once I get a better understanding of how this might work.
Any help would be appreciated,
Rico
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Thank you for explaining the Tf flag and how it works in conjunction with tracking.
Here per Default the values are simply rolled back with the same fade value that originally wrote them.
Why over complicates things with another flag? I get why it is there, but why not simply follow the in/out fade times of the cue when tracking is turned off? This way you wouldn't experience the unpredictable behavior I did. Without the Tf flag checked you are at the mercy of the last cue executed making your cue transitions unpredictable in live shows. From my perspective it seems like an unnecessary flag or at least the default should be checked.
I searched everywhere for an explanation of the Tf flag. I eventually found a post you made in 2016, but at that time you didn't understand how the Tf flag worked. The documentation shows a "Re" tag here rather than the "Tf" flag that's there now. I've been trying to research the wiki pages and this forum before requesting help. Hopefully this post will help others understand this better.
I will set the Tf flag to true as a default to insure the cue being executed follows the fade times of the cue.
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Yes you are correct. If you explicitly go to every light in your project and zero out all settings then yes, the lights work, but that's not right. The whole purpose of setting tracking to false is so that the cue is the only information sent. And how do you explain why the cue drops the lights instantly when coming from a zero fade time, but if your last cue has a long fade time, your lights will take that long to go to zero. This is actually overwriting the fade time of the cue. But if you have the "Go To" time set to the cue time, then the cue time is suppose to have priority. At least that's how I understand it. The current behavior does not make sense.
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I have a question regarding the Right-click Go To feature and crossfade timing. In the properties of the cuelist I have changed the following:
Tracking: False
Use Cue Time as GoTo Time: True
I created 3 cues with the following settings:
1. Lights Up Fast [Fade:0ms] - All lights at 70%
2. Lights Up Fade [Fade:8s] - All lights at 70%
3. One Center Light Fast [Fade:0ms] - One light at 100%
1. Use GoTo Cue #1 - All lights jump to 100%.
2. GoTo Cue #3 - Center light 100% fast and all others blackout fast.
3. GoTo Cue #2 - All lights fade 8 seconds to 100%.
4. GoTo Cue #3 - Center light 100% fast and all others 8 seconds to blackout.
Why is the GoTo timing of cue #3 different? I find this to be odd behavior. I thought by setting tracking to false and using cue time as goto time that the fade time of the cue is what should be used regardless.
The same is true if you use the traditional GO button. If you hit GO the last cue will take 8 seconds even though it's fade time is set 0ms. I have a sample project if needed.
Am I missing something?
Rico
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I don't know what a PN is? Anyway, I've attached 2 more images to show what I mean. You'll notice grandmaster is 100%. What the Stage View shows is what is being sent via DMX in edit mode. But when I click the same cue and use "Go to" cue instead, the cue is delivered exactly as it was saved. The Stage View displays correctly, the device view is correct and the DMX going out is of course correct too. I believe there is a bug in 3.2. I only have 7 lights, 12 cues and 1 cuelist so it's not like I'm doing anything crazy.
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No, not the Grandmaster. It's at 100%. I should have stated that this behavior is not consistent. In fact, I right click on a different cue and click "Edit in Programmer" and the stage view is correct, the device view is correct and the dmx going out is also correct for the cue. But..... then I select another cue to edit and the stage view is NOT correct, the DMX going out is NOT correct, BUT (here's the weird thing) when I select a device it shows the correct settings!!!! So how can the device show one thing and yet signal going out and stage view shows something completely different???? See attached
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Hi all. I'm using version 3.2 and I have created several cues. While playing back a cue I noticed I needed to make a change. So I right click on the cue and select "Edit in Programmer". When I do this all the lights go dim at 15% for some odd reason. This is NOT how the cue is recorded and it is NOT how the cue is played back. What is being sent out to DMX is nothing like what is programmed in the actual cue. In fact, when I view a device in the "Device control" window (while in edit mode), it shows the lights at 75% which is exactly how it is programmed. BUT the DMX signal being sent out to the actual lights is at 15% (should be 75%) and the graphical display in the "Stage View" also shows the lights at 15%. But the actual device in "Device control" says 75% which is also very odd. Something is goofy here I believe.
What I expected was the DMX out to be what is programmed in the cue so I can actually edit the cue. Right now it is impossible to edit a cue. I tried editing in Blind and I've tried all kinds of cuelist configurations. The Stage View doesn't help because it displays what I see (which is NOT what is programmed in the cue). I don't know if this is a bug or that I'm missing something. There are a few other goofy things I've noticed, but this is by far the biggest issue. Not being able to edit a cue makes this impossible for me to use at this time.
Any help with this would be appreciated.
Rico
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Thank you Johannes. This appears to do what I need and I will play with it more later. I was trying to use the "SELECT" attribute of the device. This selects the device just like the mouse selects the device in Stage View. It's easy to SELECT it, but I could not figure out how to UNSELECT it. Your method does not show the device as being selected in Stage View which is okay.
Thanks again,
RIco
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Thank you for your reply. However, I do not understand how the "input selector" works. In fact, i do not understand how to use most of the logical operators. The videos are in German and the English translation in threads and tutorials are very difficult to understand.
An example of what I am trying to do. I want to select one or more devices using a toggle button for each device in Softdesk. This should work similar to "Stage View". Once selected I would like to use a slider to adjust the intensity and a colorwheel to change colors of only those devices selected. When the button is un-toggled, it should also de-select that device. Again this is exactly how the Stage View currently works. The only difference is that I want to create a Softdesk interface that would include a slider for intensity and a colorwheel to change colors of those devices. I hope this makes sense. I can upload a simple Softdesk sample if needed.
Thanks in advance,
Rico
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I am using DMXControl 3.2. I have created a toggle button in Softdesk to select a specific device using Input Assignments. This works as expected. My question is how do I de-select devices when I un-toggle the button in Softdesk?
My goal is to create a simple interface for children to use at our children's theater. I have created a Softdesk full of buttons which are assigned to specific cues. Using Softdesk in fullscreen mode makes it very easy for our children to use. I want to add the ability to select a specific device or group of devices or de-select them on un-toggle. This will allow the children to create their own colorful scenes using Softdesk. I believe Softdesk can help me achieve this.