Losing DMX signal using midi controller(s) [fixed]

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Losing DMX signal using midi controller(s) [fixed]

Postby Bonifacedj » 02 November 2016, 09:35

Am using version 8.1.29.

Last gig all my lights went suddenly down. Happened when i touched a button on my Akai midi controller, but it happend again two day's later during testing in the club within an hour when touching nothing.

It's not a crash, the software still responds when using the mouse, but there is no communication with my midi controllers anymore. Quitting sweetlight and restarting didn't solve it. Neither did unplugging the usb and back in.
Then i rebooted the Mac and it worked again.

What i noticed in my lightshow folder in the folder 'Live' was a new file called "live.ini.OLD".

I hope somebody can see something suspicious in my lightshow > https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/561 ... facedj.zip
thx in advance.
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Re: Sweetlight shuts down my lights

Postby Bonifacedj » 02 November 2016, 12:23

i've been thinking about the file 'live.ini.OLD' and searched the forum on it.
Found a topic > Software ‹ Live - Buttons / V7.1.63 Buggy and Crashy... where i read about a corrupt "live.ini" file, which can be cleaned if not too long it seems.
I wonder how an error looks like and if mine can be repaired.
Bonifacedj
 
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Re: Sweetlight shuts down my lights

Postby Bonifacedj » 08 November 2016, 14:43

@Support: did you find the time to have a look at my show?
Did you notice anything that i could correct?

thanks in advance.
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Re: Sweetlight shuts down my lights

Postby support » 08 November 2016, 15:48

Presently, our opinion is: if it still does not work after repluging our interface and restarting our software, it looks the problem comes from somewhere else.

Impressive pages&buttons setting !
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Re: Sweetlight shuts down my lights

Postby Bonifacedj » 09 November 2016, 01:13

support wrote:Presently, our opinion is: if it still does not work after repluging our interface and restarting our software, it looks the problem comes from somewhere else.

Ok, thanks. What i've learned from your opinion is that there is no need to reboot my laptop when sweetlight suddenly behaves strange / crashes / stops communicating with the midi-controllers during a gig, when, obviously, i wasn't doing anything else with that macbook that evening and night.
Repluging the DMX interface and restarting your software must be enough.

So you didn't see anything irregular or supicious things in the 'live.ini' file.
Just curieus then: what could be a reason a new one was made? Otherwise there wouldn't be added a 'live.ini.OLD' file.

support wrote:Impressive pages&buttons setting !

For sure you can imagine how much time i spent creating that. :D
But it's fun. I'm a professional DJ for more then 30 years, and this gave a boost of creativity besides my music.
I became a real music and Light DJ in one now. :-)
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Re: Losing communication with midi controllers

Postby support » 09 November 2016, 08:15

With a bug of our software, restarting our software is enough (sometimes restarting the interface is necessary to).

We did not check all lines of your 'live.ini" file. If it is corrupted, you will see it when pressing the corresponding button.

"live.ini.old" is created, just is case of. You do not have to care of it.
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Re: Losing communication with midi controllers

Postby Bonifacedj » 11 November 2016, 13:45

Last night-gig, after 5 ours of using sweetlight, again lights gone. :?
Kept a better eye on it, since in didn't change the light-show which i put in dropbox for you, and expected it to happen again. It did.
It's when i pushed the 3 or 4th macro dedicated button on my 1ste APCmidi controller that suddenly al lights went out.
I'm not sure if it's the third of 4th round button, since i'm DJ'ing meanwhile.

But i'm sure it's around that area of buttons on my 1st APC mini where my fingers were. It happens every weekend-gig. Frustrating.
Like before, the application didn't crash, i was able to normally stop it, en started it again. Light worked immediately again.
I took a look in the folder, and saw a 'livi.ini.old' was created again.

I had to DJ two more hours before the party was finished. No problems again with the software during those two last hours.
Then, when the club was empty, i started pushing al the buttons in that area in every way i could think of. Light touch, hard touch, intentional two buttons at the same time, on the side of the button, fast touch, long touch... I 'abused' the buttons in the most dummy way i could think of, but couldn't reproduce it.
So there is nothing wrong with the APC mini i would think.
Damn, damn, damn, so frustrating.

Now at home, i started to have a look at all the scenes that are triggered by macro 3 and 4.
I noticed some of them are still .sce extensions instead of the new .scex .Could that have something to do with it?

support wrote:With a bug of our software, restarting our software is enough (sometimes restarting the interface is necessary to).

Ok, thanks.

support wrote:We did not check all lines of your 'live.ini" file. If it is corrupted, you will see it when pressing the corresponding button.

It's the third or fourth macro button. Tomorrow i have another gig. I will try to have a more accurate look which is difficult because i'm DJ'ing at the same time and want to have my light's asap running again after such a blackout.
But i'm 90% sure it's the third macro. which i used several times in the first ours, and as i said, 'abused' afterwards.
Sot let's assume it's the third macro, what to do now?
support wrote:"live.ini.old" is created, just is case of. You do not have to care of it.

ok.

I could go back to the date of 23 oktober when i wrote this:
Bonifacedj wrote:Just used V8.1.29 for more than 10 hours. Conclusion: STABLE! :)
thx.

I took a back up of my light-show after that gig. So i can go back.
But is that the solution?
Since then, i only made two more button boards preparing for my two new ADJ Vizi Beam RXONE which a received yesterday and tested this morning in the empty club. Still experimenting where the best position is relative to my mirror ball, but they are amazing and i'm already thinking of buying two more, See picture.

But what to do with this trouble with my lightshow software now. I'm stuck. Don't know what to do :(
Looking forward to your answer.
Thanks already for all your support.

[image]
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Re: Losing communication with midi controllers

Postby support » 11 November 2016, 16:34

Not easy to find the cause of a problem which needs some hours to come.
There can be various hardware reasons ("ground loop", usb power, ...).

Please make the following test: run the software, with the midi devices and the dmx interface, but with nothing connected to the dmx output of the dmx interface, during some hours, and tell us the result

If the problem still happen, please make the same test without the midi devices (not connected), during some hours, and tell us the result.
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Re: Losing communication with midi controllers

Postby Bonifacedj » 11 November 2016, 17:36

support wrote:Not easy to find the cause of a problem which needs some hours to come.
There can be various hardware reasons ("ground loop", usb power, ...)

Ok, gives me some hope again. I'll present the issue to my technician who sold me the sweetlight system. He can check, maybe measure those things out.

Weird thing is that i'm alway's arriving early in the club / restaurant for setting up my discobar and powering up and checking everything thoroughly.
So everything is ready at 5 pm and i'm letting the light-show running till 7:30pm for checking until the guest come in for diner. Even during diner yesterday i checked every thirty 30 minutes without anyone noticing if my light-show was still in the air by using my ADJ 5P HEX spots in maximum dimmed warm white. Around 11:30pm the first dance happens and i start dance music. Several ours later, can be two, three ours, less or more, which is unpredictable, pouff, sweet light controlled lights out, club dark, emergency spots on (four PLANO SPOT 7TC controlled by LEDCON-02 Mk2 controller) until i restarted the software and unplugged, replugged your DMX 512 interface.
Such a burden on the for the rest perfect setup.

support wrote:Please make the following test: run the software, with the midi devices and the dmx interface, but with nothing connected to the dmx output of the dmx interface, during some hours, and tell us the result

If the problem still happen, please make the same test without the midi devices (not connected), during some hours, and tell us the result.

Ok, i'll do that during the week in the club. I have to wait for a day free in the club / restaurant, when there is nothing to do in the club.
But will be so difficult to detect, because, as you read in my info, it's connect and tested for many ours before an during the dinner, and the poef, as if an overload of power and action shuts the light down...

I feel like searching for the needle in a haystack now.

thx for your support.
Bonifacedj
 
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Re: Losing communication with midi controllers

Postby Bonifacedj » 11 November 2016, 21:00

I'm not sure if losing communication with midi controllers actually describes the issue accurate.
I saw this 11 day's ago in the Chauvet ShowXpress Training groep on Facebook, which is similar to what happens in my case:


----------------------------
"Nikos Rakis
31 oktober at 19:58u

This last weekend my show xpress kept shutting down on me, my 512 box kept disconnecting.
I use a Mac, I believe I heard it may be something to do with a setting on my computer?
Before I open the box and see if there are any loose wires that need to be saudered is there anything else you suggest to trouble shoot?
"

source link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/6195438 ... 0179451666
Bonifacedj
 
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