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OK, I've been working with myDMX a lot today. Well, let me re-state that, I've been TRYING, but with a kid or dog having some crisis every 5 minutes or loads of crap calls, I've been up since 8AM and I've yet to really get anything useful done, and here it is 6:30PM. Any wonder why I'm up until 4AM most nights?

Back to my list of grievances.

1: I have been able to confirm that MyDMX only responds to MIDI when MyDMX is in the foreground. This is true even when the 3D visualizer is running. I've programmed my Korg nanoKONTROl to help me program and run shows, and you'd thing I could bring channels up and down and save some time. Nope. Can't do this. I think this issue needs to be addressed. I can totally understand that keyboard strokes can only properly be registered when MyDMX is the active app, but come on, we're talking MIDI triggering, which s coming from a non-local source, and since MyDMX can listen to this, this should be allowed to function.
Not just triggering, but fader/channel control as well.

2: Manual over-ride. For those having an issue with this sort of thing, read up: Set THAT channel to HTP or LTP(doesn't seem to matter which) and those channels will allow you to "override" the scene. This isn't evident. The manual might want to address this a bit better. What is cool is this was my test:

I have a scene using out of phase counter-rotating circles. I then set my spotlight dimmer channels to HTP, and wow, I can bring up my spots WITHOUT otherwise altering or interrupting the scene.

3: MIDI learning. There needs to be a function to FORGET a programmed trigger or assignment. I was making a few mistakes today and had to start over. It's hard to concentrate when a 5 year old insists on making it her objective to continually piss off the almost 3 year old. Isn't parenting grand? But thinking more practical, it may be necessaryfor someone to change their plans and want to redo their learned MIDI responses. This needs to be selectable on a scene by scene AND channel by channel basis, NOT a global. Likewise, it would be great to have a way to check the "learned trigger". Yes, you can argue "well pay attention you idiot" and I can say "you try working in my environment, smart-ass". I tried paying attention but it's damn near impossible. I do the best I can and I save often.

Learn or forget can be implemented via the right mouse button and then select "learn" or "forget".

4: MyDMX will not recognize a USB MIDI device plugged in while MyDMX is running. Be aware of this. This is NOT an issue I think myDMX should address. I plugged in my Korg nanoKONTROL while MyDMX was running and since it was not plugged in before I launched the app, it would not see the device. Quitting and re-launching resolved this isuse. So, be warned and plan ahead, OK?

6: MIDI again. This is really a HUGE time saver for me. I assigned my RED channels on my 8 64 LED Pros and my 2 Color Fusions to the same MIDI fader. Repeat down the line for like/like channels. Oh, this is so awesome! I can quickly just bring up colors! I even did this with my gel'ed Par38's at least for channels. So, all my reds, greens and blues come up on their own respective channel faders.

However, my application is a bit extreme but it does do what I need.

The ability to assign multiple channels to the same MIDI controller is a HUGE time saver. Easily control banks of same fixtures even if they don't use the same channels quickly and easily.

7: Buttons in USER mode. I'd prefer a bit more control over this. I want larger text and larger buttons. I'd also like CONTROL over button colors so I can quickly find by color what I want. BOLD wold help too. I don't want FONT control, but I do want to be able to resize buttons. I'm willing to compromise with a one-size fits all thing, that's fine. I can even live with a limited pallet of colors to choose from because I can use that to mark my groups even if I have to re-use colors.

8: Sorting in EDITOR mode. It sucks. I'd like a few changes if possible:
a: Copy a GROUP of scenes at once. But I don't see this happening. Since I have a core of 16 colors I work with that represent the colors my various color wheel support, it would save time.
b: The moving of scenes really bites. Again, I'd like to drag a group or individuals to where I want them.

9: The 3D Visualizer. Specifically construction mode. Specifically when you select a fixture and go to Settings and Location on the left. What do the X,Y and Z values actually represent? Is this metric? Is this meters? It's not a big deal bit I would prefer to know what scale I' working with so as to make things a bit more realistic.

I've stated I like the software. I do. but when you're having to do lot of programming and are under the gun, you need things to work in a better workflow. of course, it does help if things aren' conspiring to sabotage you every 30 seconds. I didn't post here just to rant. I've pointed out some good things I've discovered.

Anyhow, back to working on my shows. I have movers to program!
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Here's my issue with the 3d visualizer: I'd like to be able to group objects, fixtures, etc. to quickly move them to a location if I have to design a stage. In other words, I usually set up my trees in the same locations relative to our positions on stage, but often the room has different restrictions on space. I'm working on designing every room we play on a regular basis, and have contacted many of them to supply me with their equipment list and channels to facilitate this.

So, is there a way to group other than multiple selection?

Also, I'm noticing a lag time of almost 1 sec. when moving from one scene to another in the user tab. I'd like to use this setup to run live simply by clicking the scenes. I've got a lighting guy (not a tech), but I'm trying to make it "idiot-proof"... yes, I know, as soon as you make it idiot-proof, someone will make a better idiot...

You guys are fantastic support! Keep up the good work.
Oh chris the X Y Z Represent feet or metric depends on what you specified in the stage settings window. so if you click on stage settings, It is the little Red icon just before the 3D square with the protractor on the end of it you will see and option called "Units" and that is where you select meters or feet. Need more explanation? Let me know.

@ Troublemaker: in the objects and fixture tabs you can select multiple objects by holding "ctrl" and then moving them in the proper X Y Z Position. Make sense? Let me know.
Sincerely,
Hmm not sure. Are you sure you have all your times correct? Also could be if you have a sizable rig and low amount of ram say less than 1GB there will be a lag. One other thing to check is in construction mode in the fixture tab turn off all the pan and tilt fade times. If you can't find that I will post a screen shot asap.
Sincerely,
Don't think it's a RAM issue. I'm running an AMD Phenom Quad core with 4GB of ram. Not using any movers or scanners and the only timings are fade times for an interim white scene. I've got 4 LED Par 64's, 4 LED Panels, 8 Par 56, 6 Pin Spots, and 8 Moonbeams. I've noticed several people have posted solutions by adjusting addresses, but it doesn't seem to make a difference here. The majority of the lights are generic profiles, and the 64's and panels are profiles I made, because of discrepancies between brands. The profiles seem to be working well, and I haven't had any other problems since updating drivers.
No way I'm going to Compu Live. For what I need, MyDMX is more than sufficient. I can work around some of the shortcomings.

It just feels like some aspects were not as well thought out. Now that I have a a buttload of scenes, it is essential that I work in a logical groupings and pretty much leave them in place if I want to move a lot.
I haven't tried the 64-bit drivers, since the 32-bit drivers are running everything just fine. Not to mention, I'm using XP Pro and not a 64-bit OS like Vista (the devil).
It's just a small delay, but in changing scenes live, it's kind of inconvenient. Timing is everything with respect to the impact of the lighting. I just thought it might be a shortcoming in the software. I guess no one else has raised this issue?
Once again Chris, some good tips and excellent ideas in your post. Thanks.

I think I have asked this before, but don;t recall getting an answer.

Why can't ADJ make the MyDMX interface usable with other programs (e.g: Freestyler)?

As the MyDMX software is no longer going to be developed, what harm would it do to make the interface available to external developers? If anything, it would make the unit more desirable to a market which currently will not touch the unit due to the lack of facilities in the MyDMX software.

I know that MyDMX is based on DASlite, but it will not work with the (still being developed and expanded) DASlite software.

No doubt it will be a licensing issue or something similar, but I am sure that issues can be worked around.

Your replies will be of interest.

Regards to all.
I'm not an ADJ employee, just a satisfied user.

ADJ has no motivation for making their dongle open-ended. From what I understand, Compu Live has multiple dongles that match that capabilities of the version of the software purchased. No Compu Live? No dongle.

MyDMX is similar in the fact that if you want to use MyDMX, then yo have to purchase the right dongle. Otherwise, they don't make money.

It's not merely a licensing issue.

There are some free DMX apps, and some cheap interfaces you can buy or build. But, you get what you pay for. I'd rather take a more corporate mentality in the fact that I need commercial products that can be supported.
One of my issues with wanting to color buttons and bold test is that when you're running a lot of stuff solo, the last thing I have is the time to muck about with my computer screen to find the right scene.

While the MyDMX product is oriented towards DJ's, even DJ's are going to have similar issues. They have to figure out their next few tracks and while they are doing that, they may technically have the time to look for the scene, but that's no guarantee they have the time.

With a sound company like I do, I have to not only do double duty at the console(FOH and monitors), but also lighting, video monitoring/switching for up to 4 sources and audio/video recording while also having a discrete recording mix to construct and monitor. Having to find scenes makes things difficult. It's overwhelming, and the weak link(MyDMX) gets left as an afterthought because it's not convenient to get to. There's been too many times where it seems like the vocalist is watiing for me to try to find the next lighting scene and then start doing things to cause problems, and then they have to balls to complain about it. "Why aren't you changing the scenes?" Because when I look for the next scene, you decide to cup the mic and feed it back. Bad enough I'm dealing with craptastic source levels in the first place...

The user interface is just lacking in some areas. I don't think the layout is bad, it just needs to be acknowledged that in their R&D environment, it works good. But, you go out on the road and live, it has shortcomings that should be addressed. People who write software are often not the ones going out and gigging with it.

In the case of digital consoles, that is still true. Those writing are not gigging, because they are busy writing. BUT, they are held accountable by those out there using the gear. If people don't like it, they talk and will go kill the product. We don't have time for bad products.

MyDMX is not a bad package, so don't let anything think that it is. It's just that it lacks human interface aspects that a more mature product should have. There are enough issues that need to be addressed that should merit a 1.5 or even a 2.0 release. I don't see the need to add features outside of the MIDI listening when not in foreground.

But I've since learned about who makes the MyDMX product, and I do have issues with how this company was hammering my server trying to get email through to them. I have NEVER asked them to contact me, at least not with marketting stuff. And they are hitting addresses that don't exist on my mail server. But considering they are a French company, they have a well known reputation for being jerk-wads. I guess that's a French thing, and as such I've filtered them from being able to send to me as well as blacklisting their network.

Knowing WHO makes it really helps. Considering their ethnicity and how the world views them, it explains some of the way things work. Just keep in mind who saved your nation TWICE in two major political conflicts!
I with you on this one Chris. The screen colours are a complete FAIL. They are completely unreadable at speed. You need to stop what you are doing, focus to find your place and then select your next option. The screen need the options you have mentioned and quickly.

Unfortunately, I have resigned myself to realising that we have all purchased a dead dog when it comes to development.

I will use MyDMX until the funds allow me to change to something with a future, and it won't be Compulive, just in case that gets canned just after I buy it as well.

I would put it on eBay but no one wants to pay more that $40 for it.
DJ Paul if you want to email me your show file i will take a look at what is causing the delay. My email is posted above.

Compu live will NOT be canned at all. in fact we are due to release 3 new dongle's to the line aswell as completely redone software for almost all three of the new hardware pieces and one or two others that will be coming out aswell as full 64 bit driver support.

I will also say it again my dmx has not been canned. It was the intention from the beginning to not add features to my dmx.
Sincerely,
I had a great post going until one of the features here freaked things out.

No, but the French going substandard for the last 200 years is part of issue.

Excuse me but you have NO idea how angry I was to learn that Lumidesk is behind MyDMX, since the've been spamming my server NON-STOP since July of last year, mainly to non-existant addresses on my mail server.

My thoughts on the Lumidesk? Bottom-feeding spammers. I may have to go destroy my MyDMX hardware and go to a competitors platform as I will NOT support spammers. I had to not only have an attorney deliver a cease and desist letter, but also create filters to stop their spams. That didn't seem to get the message to deliver to them either, so I blacklisted their ISP, which still had no effect, so I basically had to tell my mail server to "drop their packets", and told my web server via .htaccess to block theme, which still wasn't enough. I had to kill them at my router, and even so I see them still trying to get through.

Riddle me this: If i didn't ask for it, why am I getting it? And why should I have to opt-out of a list I didn't sign up for?

Is this honestly they type of people ADJ likes to partner or even outsource to? Sure isn't my choice. This is enough for me to say that I am now strongly considering leaving ADJ and going elsewhere because of this decision. That is how much I dislike spam and spammers. And don't even get me started on how much I dislike the French, and French spammers, ewww.

They still need to address key issues, all pertaining to MIDI. They need to properly implement MIDI, which they've to date failed to do. The lack of background operation response shows this to be true. They need to show the learned trigger as well as let us UNLEARN or forget or erase a trigger. In regards to channel MIDI control, we need to be able to right mouse click and have the options of "learn, show, forget" the MIDI stuff. Once these are done, the product can be considered COMPLETE.

We have to realize that MyDMX is NOT to be a full featured product. For what you pay, you can get a low-end to low-moderate console with a 10th of the featres that MyDMX offers. WE as users/owners of MyDMX need to accept that for the money, MyDMX offers TONS for the buck, it's a great value, period, no two ways about it. But it can not do it all. That is why there is Compu Live.

I'm done for now. I have to decide if I'm gonna put all my ADJ gear in a crusher or not. I'm really really angry about ADJ working with a company that feels it is OK to spam. Spamming is NEVER acceptable behavior. And as a result, I'm going with a total freeze on the purchase of new lights and lighting related stuff.

Oh: and I don't give a crap about "CAN-SPAM". CAN-SPAM compliance is STILL spam and I will treat it as such. Don't agree? Don't spam me and we won't have a problem!

Ban me if you want, but I DO have a serious issue with working with spammers, even indirectly. I'll accept responsibility for my words. But I think it may be time to move to another company for my lighting needs regardless if I get banned or not. I'm sick to my stomach knowing some of my money went to a company that spams.

When a company spams me, I don't do any business with them. EVER. Again. NO exceptions.

Want to question my position on spam?

http:The Deadbeats Hall of Lame
Fighting spam since 1995, with proof. Updated daily. 2009 needs some linking into and my 2005 calendar pages are being generated(oversight on my behalf)
I Can honestly say that American DJ was not aware of Lumidesk or any of its partner company's spamming people's mail servers/account. You have a more than valid reason to be angry with them which I understand. All i can say is I do hope you will remain a American DJ user. Our profits that we receive from lighting and audio products not including my dmx do not go to those companies. I will definitely take this issue up with my superiors.
Sincerely,
I have ethical and integrity issues with those that I do business with.

For example, the Mackie SRM450's, not the newer ones(ugh, don't get me started on those). They started out being made in Italy using RCF drivers. After it was apparent they had a hit on their hands and some business "evolved", they outsourced it to China, stil with RFC drivers, but these new RCF drivers were made in China, as were the amplifiers. These "newer" SRM450's simply DO NOT sound as good.

Allen & Heath moved some of their manufacturing to China. Thank goodness it is on lower end products I have no interest in using. Even though A&H maintains "strict control over quality", I have to believe the Chinese are cutting costs whenever the opportunity presents itself. My ML5000 48B was made in the UK, where good British made products SHOULD be made.(no, I'm not British, but I like British consoles).

I am moving as much of my business away from China and Chinese-made as much as possible. Mainly because I don't have quality control issues to the same degree as domestically produced products. Yes, it costs me more, but I don't have as many problems.

So, you can see, when I am disprescted by spam, I boycott the company entirely. KB Toys spammed me. Where are they? Gone. Michael's spammed me, as did Linens and Things and Aaron Brothers(they sell mainly frames). All are in trouble or going under.

Companies need to be aware of 2 things:
If we want it, we make efforts to get it. If I signed up for something with Lumidesk, I'd not be complaining. But I never heard of them until their spam started flowing in. Go figure. And while this started in July of 2008 to a valid address of mine that could have been shared with them over a report on MIDI functionality, it doesn't explain the hammering other accounts(mostly non-existant accounts) began taking.
2: if I didn't request it, why do I need to request removal? Marketting people aren't the brightest bunch in the world, or at least the ones who resort to spamming are dullards, the rest seem to be for the most part normal.

Case and point: ADJ has my address and could spam me at any time. They DO NOT. And they might take the position of "well, he's ordered from our web site and is active on our forums, so we should be able to send him what we want when we want", but alas, they don't, because they respect their clients.

My future with MyDMX is in question, as is my relationship with ADJ.

And of course Lumidesk isn't going to share their less than ethical tactics. That's a French thing(sorry, but I brought that up again), which may explain why the Vietnamese I am related to(via marriage) behave very similarly. Please, I don't have the fingers to type about that, plus I think I'm having additional issues as I've noticed my typing has slowed and my errors are increasing significantly in the past year.

2008 shows 2 spams, which is 2 more than are acceptbale. 2009 shows 2 spams. The rest have been rejected due to going to invalid addresses, filtering, DNSBL'ing(I maintain a local DNSBL), and levels of packet dropping. I was going to post the direct links, but I think people will find it more amusing to browse the site.

I find those who work with spammers end up having issues crop up as as result. Spam is poison to all it touches. And with any luck, Lumidesk will, like so many other companies before them, spam themselves into oblivion.

Some of the largest ISP's were brought down by spam, companies that were making more in a day than Lumidesk would make in several years. Gone, long gone, and their netblocks re-allocated.

SO, ADJ has been warned. And you can believe Lumidesk will deny it. And unfortunately, my log file has rolled out those entries so I can't post those. I get so much abuse on my mail server that I made the error log 10MB today instead of 1MB. I may research an app that will close off the error log file on a day to day basis for better long term accounting, because this is something I need anyways. I usually only save the log files when I am trying to dig deep to fix something or filter something, then trash the file.
Allen & Heath's big problem is they were bought out by Harman Pro. They we then made to be a cheaper Soundcraft alternative. Personally, I like Allen & Heath way more then Soundcraft, but when they were owned by Harman, they got cheap. Fortunately, they bought themselves back from Harman and their new line is much better. All the pre-amps have been re-done and are all British. I too am I big fan of British sound. Japanese consoles just sound too digital and processed. I was luck enough to goof around with an XL8 once, and man is that thing gorgeous. They did the right thing putting the Heritage's pre-amps in that desk for sure.

Sorry for my little off topic rant.
Unfortunately, Midas basically told me where to stick it since I can't afford one. And anyone who is familiar with the Midas line knows what they get for the money. And yes, IT IS WORTH IT.

At least the XL8 was designed with the guy at the desk in mind. The rest don't seem so oriented. The iLive is laid out in a way that works the way I like to work. Just wish there would be an upgrade path to upgrade the DSP set in say 2-3 years to a 96K/24-bit engine.
Well, like you said before regarding lights in the visualizer not being represented very well isn't a problem, I don't really need the shadows. It's kinda cool to see them, as it gives some depth to the scene, but it's not really going to represent what I actually get on stage. For my purposes, I'm trying to "benchmark this new machine as well as test myDmx. I've been using a live video of the band to design to and for timings. So, as you can imagine, with those resources being utilized as well as myDmx running, anyway... you see why I built this machine. Losing the shadows is the least of my worries, since I know the visualizer won't be running during the show. I have yet to test it on my laptop... which will run the shows.

As a matter of fact, Chris, we discussed using my midi pedal and learning midi notes. Got that part. On this machine it's easy, but on the laptop I'll be using a USB/Midi converter. Have you used one?... or should I build another rack mounted PC with a proper hardware midi port?
The main machine I use MyDMX on is in fact a laptop. It's a 17" MacBook Pro running BootCamp 2.1 and Windows XP Home with the latest SP3 and hotfixes, patches and the works.

My MIDI interface varies. It could be my M-Audio Firewore 410, or it could be my MIDIMAN(now M-Audio) MIDISPORT 2X2, or in the case of my Korg nanoKONTROL, it is a USB MIDI device All have worked fine for me.

Designing a rack-mounted machine is over-kill and over-bulky, so decide what you really need that machine to do. A laptop can handle it just fine. What is nice is that in my experience is that if you move your MyDMX stages and show files to the new machine, you should be able to pick up where you left off.

The only things to watch out for are drivers and then "certifying" your computer for the application. Worse case would be drivers for the MIDI interface. The Korg drivers are not the best, but the FW410 and the 2X2 are rather solid. Yes, all these run on the same computer.

Honestly, MIDI is not a bandwidth hog. Running at 32.2Kbits/second, it's slower than most modems connecting to the internet these days. Even with USB 1.1, unless you're cramming tons of stuff down that USB port, MIDI is not going to bog or slow down anything.

My issue right now is that I have an application coming up where I need more USB ports, so I want to hang MyDMX and 3 nano-controllers(KONTROL, PAD and KEY) off my computer, plus mouse AND use my Firewire 410 as an audio source conduit(route sound through it), as well as use the PAD to trigger an external sampler, while the KONTROL will be dedicated to MyDMX and the KEY will be used for music triggering. But I have months to hammer this out.

As long as your footpedal generates MIDI Note data, you should be fine. Most work off sending program change data, which is more old-school but still applicable. You're going to have to get into your foot pedal and determine if it is suitable for your requirements.

I NEVER run the visualizer during shows. When I was doing an event last year, I did use the visualizer at the event during a break to confirm the accuracy of my tweaks as I was able to see them live. It was good enough. After that, the visualizer was shut down by me. No chances.

The only drawback to your plan is if the band is rushing or dragging. Not a bad method though. Not perfect, but without a click track or other reference track to stay on task, best you can hope for is close, and your rehearsals will keep that in check.

I don't use foot pedals. I am now a technician only, and a sound engineer at that(and a top rated one who won't get the big jobs since I don't want to tour anymore!) So, I put away my musician hat a while ago. But, as I said, I'm fluent in MIDI so I can still address those issues.

Since you're going to have to set the MyDMX dongle anyways, a cheap but durable MIDI interface like the 2X2 would work great. It's an all metal case, a tiny bit smaller than the MyDMX dongle. Thank goodness they went with metal for that as well. But, hey, one more USB cable won't make a difference, so go ahead and dedicate your laptop. Plus, it should be less weight to lug around.

I can put my laptop, Firewire 410, 3 nano controllers(they are small), mouse, USB hub and MyDMX and 2x2 in my laptop bag. It's a tight fit but it can go. Less weight than a rack-case PC and an LCD.
Yep, drummers are nefarious for rushing and dragging. It's something we've discussed ad nauseum. Can you believe our drummer says he doesn't need a metronome!? 30 years of performing on my part, and countless hours of practice and I've never done it without a metronome.

The midi pedal has midi note commands built in, so I'm guessing I just set up the channel to x-mit and then right click the scene and hit the pedal, right? Hope that's right. Do I need several channels or can it all be accomplished thru one only. The biggest hurdle is finding out if the expression pedals will work as faders or for use in changing macros, but I guess that's half the fun. I spent 38 hours straight figuring out that the midi channels on the Elation controller were completely wrong... then 30 minutes getting the show ready with the pedal.

Tonight we marry the new myDmx show with our existing lights and my midi pedal, so I'll probably be on late to rant or rave. I'm keeping everything crossed.
I've worked with drummers who do not need metronomes. I was working with this one drummer and he was just warming up, so we started with a metronome for him and faded it to silent in hs cans(we muted it), and we brought it back a few minutes later and he was not only ON, but DEAD ON. Scary.

I often find that bass players will often rush too, which will often drive the drummer to rush. Not saying guitarists have perfect meter either, but they seem to often just go with the flow. Since the rhythm section is doing the driving, it's up to the rest to ride it out.

OK, onto your issues. HOpe I'm on time for you.

It is pretty much how you assume it to be: Right mouse click the scene in USER mode, tell it to Learn MIDI and it will then throw up a box waiting for your MIDI command. If it vanishes, it heard the trigger and saves it. SAVE now!!!

But, make sure you minimize what's on your MIDI cable during programmed to avoid false triggers and also TEST your triggers and SAVE often!

You can also assign continuous controller data(such as an expression pedal) but these are programmed via the EDIT window. You right mouse click the CHANNEL and have it learn the MIDI, which in the case of a CC instruction, it will assume the entire CC(channel and number). So, if you're using an expression pedal and you assign it to, say a dimmer(that makes more sense to me especially for example purposes), it assumes that CC will control the values for that fader, from ZERO to 255(DMX) via what appears to be a 2:1 ratio of MIDI to DMX. This makes sense since DMX has 256 values, while MIDI only uses 128. For on the fly control, this may be sufficient. I can't find any fault or flaw in your idea to use it for macro control. It shold work equally as well.

MyDMX's MIDI implementation isn't the best but it is rather open. It is listening for sure for CHANNEL and NOTE for trigges. Since MyDMX is more listening than being active on the MIDI bus, it does not concern itself with being a MIDI device per say and having the requirements of needing to be assigned a MIDI channel. If you hit middle C on MIDI channel 15, and then use MIDI channel 12 and the same note, MyDMX will only respond to the one right note on the RIGHT channel. So, if you used the channel 15 example for MyDMX to learn the MIDI trigger, but you're jamming on channel 12, there's no issue on the same cable. I've tested this, and MyDMX doesn't care where the trigger is, it learns the trigger it was told to listen to for learning, regardlss of channel. While not absolutely perfect, it does make things a bit easier.

As far as some of the bad MIDI implementation, I don't see a problem wiht this method of doing things. It would be preferable to have options to edit the trigger as well as FORGET. It would also be nice to implement MANUAL assignment of triggers in case the triggering unit is not available or if you're going software only and not using actual physical devices.

In the case of me, untill recently, it was not convenient for me to use a keyboard for working with MyDMX. This is in part because it's a lot of work and the payoff isn't that great. I have a Korg nanoKEY, which is still new and untouched in the retail packaging, but this and my PAD and KONTROL give me some MIDI input. But, let's say I was using Sonar, it's not as convenient for manually triggering. If I had my old Mac Master Tracks Pro running, I did have direct access to the notes on the MIDI channel so I could have used that feature for MIDI trigger learning. This method would suck for your environment though. I recommend doing things how you are: "I'm planning to program my triggers using the hardware I intend to use". This is really the best way to do this programming as it avoids issues later. Its not necessarily BETTER, but I prefer to do my programming on the hardware I intend to use as it makes things easier, especially in a live environme not.

Not to knock MyDMX(as I have been a lot lately), but I wouldn't even trust ProTools live unless I had done extensive testing and passed my own certification. Case and point, my Firewire 410, it has a shortcoming of how it accepts input. If you want 4 channels, you can bring in 2 analog channels, but the other two MUST be via digital, and you have to have the digital source provide clocking(duh!) So, I routed a signal via a pair of subgroups to my Firewire 410's analog. I ran a second set of subgroups(stereo guitar) to my MINIDisc deck so I could get S/PDIF out, then brought that over to the Firewire 410. Problem is that even though sync and clock was aquired and it was a data rated cable, it would keep having issues and the recording was shot to hell. I had to figure out what in THEORY should have worked, but in application, it failed. But I did not fail. I had back-up of the board mix recorded to both CD and DVD(with video).

Hope your experience is rave instead of rant. Either way, bring it as a new thread so we can "cuss and discuss" and see where the issues might have been IF any showed up.

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