Some findings in Beta 26.Jul

[RichterMC]

Hi Simon,

here are some findings in Beta 26.Jul


- Cyle buttons can´t be moved or copyed from a Page to the Masterpage

- In the settings window General -Tab of a Cycle-Button changing from "switch" to "scene" will split the button in two parts.
Most of the time the Beta crash after that, or if you click on the new buttons. Maybe this options should be disabled for Cyle buttons.

- If you change the name of a button in the settings window General -Tab and hit OK the button will not be renamed.

- In the button editor, Easy time, Coloreffect, the SineWave2 effect won´t run correct in the left direction

- I can´t create a button which opens EasyShow, load a show and play the show


Can you tell us some more about the new DMX-In Feature in the Button-Editor ?
Is this just to patch the DMX-In Values through to the Outputs, or is there more about it ?


Best Gernot

[simonB]

Hi Gernot

Thanks for letting me know about these bugs.

1. This is a feature which has not been implemented yet
2. This is a bug. It should be disabled
3. I see
4. This will be difficult to fix as it is a bug which exists within the fx generator (different development team).
5. There is a bug with this in scene buttons, for now if you use switch buttons it should be fine

We should have all these fixed in the next release except 4.
Regarding the DMX input feature, you can select DMX input channels and drag and drop them onto channels to patch a DMX input to a channel. You can select multiple DMX input channels at once and patch them to any channel. I'll be making a video tutorial on this today.

[RichterMC]

Hi Simon,

thanks for your comments and explanations.

Can you forward the bug in the FX generator to the other development team or should I repost it in a different forum category ?

> 5. There is a bug with this in scene buttons, for now if you use switch buttons it should be fine

Can´t get it to work with a switch, too.
I want the switch to do three things at the same time.
- Open Easy Show
- Load a Show
- Play
I checked all the boxes and tell the button were to find the .ses file.
If I only check "Open Easy Show" and "Play" it works fine, but loading a showfile won´t work.

Got a problem with Easy Show, too.
When I saved a Show with an MP3-Audiofile in it, I can´t load it again.
I get this message:
---------------------------
Microsoft Visual C++ Debug Library
---------------------------
Debug Error!
Program: C:\SunliteSuite2 Beta\EasyShow.exe
R6010 - abort() has been called



Here are some ideas und suggestions for Suite2, if I missed something and it´s already in the Software please let me know.

- An "Undo-Oops Button" in the mainwindow.
I know they´re very good undo functions in the button editor and in Easy Show, but if I delete a button from a page accidentally
it´s gone. I think this is very important, because this kind of "Oops" happen all the time. ;-)

- If a Cycle-Button is aktiv, it should display the current time in the button, also it would be nice the have some small icons on the cycle button
when the MTC IN or OUT is aktiv (like the small Fade-Icons when fade is aktiv for a scene or switch button)

- The "Midi Time Code" standard is Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames
however Sunite2 displays in the Cycle-editor and Easy Show Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Milliseconds,
this is a bit confusing when working with MTC. Would be nice to switch the display from milliseconds to frames back and forth.

- in Suite1 you can flash a button by right clicking it. Suite2 will select a button when right clicking,
what´s fine. It would be nice to have the flash function back on the third mouse button.

- Easy-Show should have a recording function like the new cycle editor in the main software.
I like to trigger my buttons from a midi-controler or keyboard to my musicfile in Easy-Show,
after recording in realtime I like to go back to the timeline and edit or quantize my recordings.
Just like I would do in Cubase or Logic when recording midi-notes.
I could use the cycle editor for this kind of work, but here I haven´t the audiowaveforms and the music won´t be tightly in sync.
By looking for an solution I came up with weird idea, sync Easy Show with the main software Cycle Editor over Midi Time Code.
So I made the settings in both sofware and it works just fine, I just looped back the outgoing MTC from Easy-Show back in Suite2 Cycle Editor.
So far so good, but the workflow in this combination insn´t very good. When your working with multiple Shows and Cycle Buttons it sure gets
confusing. So to cut a long story short, Easy-Time needs a recording function. :-)

- play a button sequenze in reverse.
There are some sequenzes that would be great to play in reverse instandly.
I have some kind of ufo-effect and it would be nice to switch it to reverse play and back again.
The reverse mode sould be midi mapable.

- activate buttons with MTC



Best Gernot

[simonB]

Hi Gernot

The FX generator isn't being developed at the moment, and as it is such a tiny bug it is not currently on the high priorities list, but it will be fixed at some point.

want the switch to do three things at the same time.

I hadn't thought to test this actually, I'll forward it over to the developers. It is most likely that they will remove the ability to send more than one command at once. This is because different sized shows take different times to load on different machines. Also:
1. Easy Show should always be running the the background and should be opened at the beginning of a show
2. Each file also takes time to load, therefore each file should be loaded just before the track is to start
3. The lighting scene & play command shouldn't be triggered until everything else is ready. This allows for best synchronisation

However if you do have the case where you really need to do this at the touch of one button, you could make separate switches and trigger them from a cycle at delayed time intervals appropriate to the size of the show and speed of the machine.

Regarding the mp3 bug, I can't reproduce this, but I have forwarded the error over.

Regarding the undo in the main window, each button is saved in a separate file which is modified when a button is modified, so it is destructive editing, therefore undo is not possible without creating a separate backup file for each button slowing down the whole software. There are confirmation dialogs on most destructive functions such as deleting a button. Accidentally pressing delete is understandable... but also confirming the deletion of a button is not paying attention!

I think the way forward regarding EasyShow is to integrate the Easy Show functions into the cycle editor. This would be much easier than integrating the main software functions into EasyShow. Remember EasyShow is an entirely different piece of software so if we add too many cross features here things get very complicated. There will be no more large features like this added to Suite 2 as the main development has ended and we concentrating on stability, bug fixes and small features.

I think I have had a reverse request before, it is a big job but I will make a note of it and we will consider it for the future.

I have forwarded on all of your suggestions. Our priority for now if to get the software stable for its official release in September. Then we will continue to add small features (such as your cycle ideas). As for the larger features, these will be for a future release of Suite 2 or an entirely new package in the years to come.

Thanks again for your help
Simon

[RichterMC]

Hi Simon,

thanks for your reply.
I agree with most of your comments and stability is the most important point before
the final version of Suite 2 comes out, for sure.

It would be nice to see the cycle editor upgradet that it can handle an audiotrack and a waveform.
That would 100% fit my needs.

Here are some more issues in the recent Beta :


- The flash mode for scene buttons don´t work correct.
It should work like in Suite 1. When you flash a scene it becomes active and when
you release it it becomes inaktive and the last aktiv scene before the flashed one becomes active again.

- The keyboard-triggers for buttons should be deactivated when you use the keyboard for typing, like renaming a button.
As it is now, all buttons and lights go crazy when you rename a button.

-When compressing buttons in to external Windows these buttons will bring up the context menu when right clicking on them,
instead of just selecting them without triggering, like non compressed buttons.
Compressed buttons should behave like non compressed buttons.

- The fadetime for switch buttons should be adjustable from the page tab "fade", too.

- you should be able to assign the audioplayer in Suite 2 to a specific Audiodevice.
I have a RME Hammerfall Soundcard in my PC and I like to use it for playback, without messing
with the windows setting.

- The audio and waveform in the audioplayer are not in sync.

- When triggering the audioplayer from a switch button it would be nice to have an option to release this switch automatically at the end of the audio track.

- there should to be a midi assignable "Go" and "Go back" button in the cycle edit window.
At the moment you have to go to the cycle edit window and hit play again when the cycle has stoped at a "Go" trigger.
Also I would like a Go button on the cycle button when the cycle is waiting for a Go trigger to continue.

- would be nice to have the fadetimes from the scene buttons displayed in the cycle edit window, like in Suite 1.
even better would be the option to edit the fadetimes in cycle edit window list-view and timeline-view.

- can you still trigger buttons from the ports of the DMX interface in Suite 2 ? I haven´t find out yet.

- Will it be possible to adjust the speed of a cycle from the page tab, like you could with scenes and switches ?



Best Gernot

[RichterMC]

Forget my point about the port triggering, it was to obvious... ;-)
Button setting ->Trigger, that´s just to easy... :-)

Here´s an other one:

- When Midi-Clock is send to Suite2 Audio Analysis and setting is "BPM by midi Clock",
the Display won´t show the correct BPM value.
It would also be nice to have the option to display the BPM Value in the ribbon bar like in LumiDesk.

[simonB]

When you flash a scene it becomes active and when
you release it it becomes inaktive and the last aktiv scene before the flashed one becomes active again.

I've given this a test and this is what happens for me in suite2. If you can send me your show, maybe there is a problem with a particular type of channel?

lights go crazy when you rename a button.

true!

Compressed buttons should behave like non compressed buttons.

Maybe, the problem is that a button inside a compression cannot be dragged out due to the special way the button is dealt with.

The fadetime for switch buttons should be adjustable from the page tab "fade", too.

I guess it should yes

you should be able to assign the audioplayer in Suite 2 to a specific Audiodevice.

I guess so, you can currently set both video and midi devices so I don't see a reason why this can't be added

The audio and waveform in the audioplayer are not in sync.

Actually I have just noticed that the track always start from the beginning wherever you press play

When triggering the audioplayer from a switch button it would be nice to have an option to release this switch automatically at the end of the audio track.

Yep could be a good option, for now you could set the "limited time" field in the switch settings to the same time as the track

there should to be a midi assignable "Go" and "Go back" button in the cycle edit window.

There is not a button for this, but it is possible to assign a midi command to this function. Right click a button in the console editor, select the star on the LIVE tab, go down to Cycle, and select the cycle function you want the button to activate. I will suggest adding some more information to a cycle button, such as the cycle time and weather it is paused or not.

would be nice to have the fadetimes from the scene buttons displayed in the cycle edit window, like in Suite 1.

I will see if we can have this added at some point

can you still trigger buttons from the ports of the DMX interface in Suite 2 ?

This can be found underneath the keyboard triggering

Will it be possible to adjust the speed of a cycle from the page tab, like you could with scenes and switches ?

Almost certainly not, but I've asked to see if this could be possible

Thanks for the bugs
Simon

[Astey]

Will it be possible to adjust the speed of a cycle from the page tab, like you could with scenes and switches ?

Almost certainly not, but I've asked to see if this could be possible

I need this too. So, please get an eye on this.

Also Master-cycle should contain other Page-cycles, alternatively by dragging Page-cycles in, all scenes of dragged Page-cycle will be imported to Master-cycle.

->Master-cycle--->Page-cycle--->Page scenes/Page switches

Regards Cedric

[RichterMC]

When you flash a scene it becomes active and when
you release it it becomes inaktive and the last aktiv scene before the flashed one becomes active again.
I've given this a test and this is what happens for me in suite2. If you can send me your show, maybe there is a problem with a particular type of channel?

That´s interesting, I will test again.If I don´t get it to work, I will send you a testfile.

Compressed buttons should behave like non compressed buttons.
Maybe, the problem is that a button inside a compression cannot be dragged out due to the special way the button is dealt with.

I see, but I like to select a button in a compression window without triggering it.
Only possible with Midi at the moment since right clicking won´t work.

there should to be a midi assignable "Go" and "Go back" button in the cycle edit window.
There is not a button for this, but it is possible to assign a midi command to this function. Right click a button in the console editor, select the star on the LIVE tab, go down to Cycle, and select the cycle function you want the button to activate. I will suggest adding some more information to a cycle button, such as the cycle time and weather it is paused or not.

Great hint. Works great with the cycle play button.
But I can´t get "Go to the the next button" and "Go to the previous button" to work.
Is there a trick to this, too ??

When Midi-Clock is send to Suite2 Audio Analysis and setting is "BPM by midi Clock",
the Display won´t show the correct BPM value.
It would also be nice to have the option to display the BPM Value in the ribbon bar like in LumiDesk.

Did you see this one ?

[simonB]

I like to select a button in a compression window without triggering it

I understand, I think this used to be shift+click but now it has been assigned to other functions. I will see if we can have this button selected by right click or from another key

I can´t get "Go to the the next button" and "Go to the previous button" to work

I will test this tomorrow. I'm not sure...

It would also be nice to have the option to display the BPM Value in the ribbon bar like in LumiDesk.

I didn't see this one. Actually, within the next year there will be a whole new audio analysis tool and we plan to add new functions to suite 2 such as the ability to tap the bpm without opening the audio analysis and tap with a keyboard key or midi input. There will be quite a few audio improvements to come! One of the improvements on this list is to have some sort of BPM indication within the main software.

[RichterMC]

I didn't see this one. Actually, within the next year there will be a whole new audio analysis tool and we plan to add new functions to suite 2 such as the ability to tap the bpm without opening the audio analysis and tap with a keyboard key or midi input. There will be quite a few audio improvements to come! One of the improvements on this list is to have some sort of BPM indication within the main software.

That are great news, thanks for sharing it. Looks promising.
If you have something ready for betatesting let me know. :-)

Here´s one more small thing I encountered:
When I adjust the speed of a scene with the speed knob in the page tab,
I can speed it up very much, but can´t slow it down that much.