NEW Software : Band Show for Windows

[Starcruiser]

Hi,
Here is a new software for you to try out. It's a "Wrapper" application for FreeStyler and are intended for Live Bands where you have to run the light show from stage.
The main addons to Freestyler are:
- A "live band" approach on sequences ans scenes.
- Sequence Loops ALWAYS start from 1:st scene
- Tempo-based triggers and Tap Tempo functionality.
- Possibility to decide nb of loops.
- Use "Songs" and "Set Lists" of songs.
- Use sequences from Freestyler.
- MIDI Implementation and Hot Keys.

It's still in Alpha version...
UPDATE: v0.3.0.4 - Corrected the sequence length calculation.

//Best regards Magnus

[LJ_krede.dk]

looks interesting.
can it do the same as GO Monkey - Theater Cue Stack or can it do (a lot) more?

(maybe i should just try it instead )

[Starcruiser]

Hi,
I havn't ben following th latest development of GO Monkey, but when I checked it, I could not get sequences to start from scene 1 when looped. And also I find the XML part a little bit awkward.

But please check it out and tell me what you think.

BR, Magnus

[LJ_krede.dk]

And also I find the XML part a little bit awkward.

there is a GUI easy XML Creator for GoMonkey,, look at the first post in the GO Monkey topic...

yes,, i will have a look at your program, but can't say when.. got a new job which takes a lot of my time..

[Mattotone]

The manual is very well documented and makes the software quick to pick up.
as for a feature request it would be great if it could get the length of the cues automatically, rather then manual input. I did notice some of the cue lengths changed but not to the correct value. my 7 step 1 second sequences was given a len of 120.

but yeah i like it, its making me want to combine the drag n drop creator into the main program. I do like how creating, playing and editing the sequences in yours are so fast and simple. In mine its two different apps so on the fly changes can be a difficult.

Hi,
I havn't ben following th latest development of GO Monkey, but when I checked it, I could not get sequences to start from scene 1 when looped. And also I find the XML part a little bit awkward.

But please check it out and tell me what you think.

BR, Magnus

Hi,
Go monkey does now feature an easy to use drag and drop user interface.

GoMonkey will allow sequences to restart but as go monkey was designed to allow multiple sequences to play at once, it was decided that if a sequence appeared consecutively in the same slot it would continue seamlessly, If the sequence were not to follow consecutively or loaded in to another slot it would restart.

eg in both cues sequence 1 would continue.
cue 1: Seq1 seq 2 seq 3
cue 2: seq1 seq 4 seq 5

sequence 1 will restart
cue 1: seq 1 seq 2 seq 3
cue 2: seq4 seq1 seq 5

and again seq1 will restart
cue1: seq1
cue2: seq2
cue3: seq1

[Starcruiser]

Hi, and thank you for the feedback.
I will certainly look into "drag-n-drop". I am actually learning C# and dotNet in this project, so the learning curve is a little bit steep. (I am an educated COBOL programmer, that might give you a hint on my age )

as for a feature request it would be great if it could get the length of the cues automatically, rather then manual input. I did notice some of the cue lengths changed but not to the correct value. my 7 step 1 second sequences was given a len of 120.

Well it DOES get the length of the cue automatically - but perhaps presented in a strange format. It is hundreds of seconds - so your 7 step cue is calculated as 1,20 seconds. Could that be right? The documentation I found on the structure of the sequence files (*.chb) was a bit misleading, so I had to use a trial-and-error method.

//BR Magnus

[Mattotone]

i see, im work out 120 as one second and 20 milliseconds.
Iv done some testing in the current beta, it is only getting the length for the first step in the sequence.
multi-step sequences it is ignoring the rest of the step times.

Matt

[Starcruiser]

So you are saying that Bandshow is only recognising the first step in a sequence?
Could you please send me one of your sequences files (*.chb) for investigation? There might be an issue that these files behave differently in different setups.

Magnus

[Mattotone]

Yes it seems band show is only recognising the first step in a sequence, iv attached a test sequence of which the problem occurs. Created in 3.4

[Starcruiser]

Thank you for the file.
It seems that the structure of chb files differs between each installation.
-In your file, each step requires 3288 bytes (1644 words)
-In my file, each step requires 4014 bytes (2007 words)
-In the Wiki - it's stated that it requires 3226 bytes (1618 words).

However - My freestyler version (3.3.9) works with your file - so it's not a FS version issue.

EDIT:
I think I might have found a solution!
After the 512*3 Words in the chb-file there is a Word number. In my case its 18 - in your case it's 4. This is then multiplied with 26 words.

It might be a coinsidence - but I have 18 DMX devices in my Freestyler Setup... Do you have 4?

So the math is like this for the sequence length in words: 2 + 512 * 3 + 1(fixture) + (Fixtures * 26).

Best Regards,
Magnus

[Mattotone]

yeah i had 4 futurescan 1ce in my setup.

If you could update the wiki with your findings it would be great, to fully document the file format.

[Starcruiser]

Could be intersting to know what FS saves in those 52 bytes of "fixture data" Anyway, I'll do an update of the Wiki.

Now I have uploaded a new version which at least on My PC calculates the sequence time correctly.
It's in the original message.

Best Regards,
Magnus

[htaxil]

Hi,

I also have problems with the calculation of the length of the sequences. see below, the calculated length is -800 when in reality it should be 15 000 (3x5 000)


when I start the song, an error window appears, indicating that the value '-8000' is invalid, the interval must be> 0.


I understand that a negative duration may be a problem, however the duration calculated is -800 instead of -8000 ...

If I change the value in the .bs_song file, I have no error when I play the sound, but nothing happens ...

Regards,
Hubert