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EDIT: CONTROLLER HAS BEEN RULED OUT PROBLEM MUST LIE WITH WINDOWS 7 X 64 OR FREESTYLER

Hey everyone I've posted about this in the External Controls forum a couple of times and no one has commented so I'm posting here because it's completely killed my ability to use Freestyler during our shows. I'm using Freestyler 3.5.5 (had same problems with 3.5.4) with a DMXKing adapter and an Akai MPD-18 control pad. I use the pad to toggle sequences or activate Overrides.

For months now I've kept losing control via the pad in the middle of a show. One moment it's fine then we get to the end of a song and nothing, I can't stop the current sequence or change speed or anything. I have to shut Freestyler down, disconnect/reconnect the USB cable and after a try or two I get control again. I've completely wiped my laptop, tried different ports and cables, completely recreated all my chases and nothing changes the situation.

At the request of Akai Support I started running MIDI-OX to diagnose the pad. I left the pad running with MIDI-OX for a couple days. Every time I tested it the commands were coming through fine. Then I started running Freestyler for a couple days and every time I hit a pad it would start/stop properly. Then I tried leaving a sequence running and after a few minutes or an hour I would come back and test it. Eventually it did exactly what it's been doing, it stopped responding. At this point I tried opening MIDI-OX but it gave an error that there wasn't enough memory to open the MIDI device. I have 8gb RAM and Task Manager only shows 20% in use so I figured it's an error from trying to have 2 programs access the device. Shut down Freestyler and opened MIDI-OX and got the raw data and nothing. No output from the pad at all. Did the disconnect/reconnect a couple times and it finally came back.

I don't lose control via the program. I can still walk over to the laptop and control the lights so the DMXKing is still online, only the pad stops. I've verified that no power save functions are active and the USB ports are not allowed to go to sleep, and the lights are still on and flashing on the pad, it just either isn't sending data or Freestyler or the computer is ignoring it

UPDATE 6/15: I have tested the system with a QX-25 MIDI Keyboard and gotten the same results. I can't find any log entry or system error that supports why this is happening but at some random point it stops responding to the controller. Wondering if this is a problem specific to Windows 7 x64 ?

I feel a little silly updating this because no one has responded with any ideas or even shown interest in the problem. I'm starting to wonder if anyone is even using this forum anymore, because I used to get responses on any posts right away and I've posted this in 2 different forums 3 different times and not even one reply. That said here's the update:

It looks like I've had a confusing series of failures. 1st being the use of 2 cables (extension + regular cable) and the connection in the middle was coming loose causing the issue. 2nd was when I started using this repeater cable because the repeater chip is nothing more than a USB Hub and it's probably not stable with this configuration. 3rd was a show where I used a short cable but I was changing midi pads around so I probably messed up the configuration and confused that with the connection issue. 4th I have been testing this at home on 2 different computers but with the repeater cable thinking I had already eliminated that.

What finally made a difference was making sure Note On/Note Off was set in the MIDI configuration AND changing the USB cable back to the single short cable. I had the failure with the new laptop so I switched USB cables just to verify. Then I thought I had lost control but realized that the slider was still working (never would before with the repeater cable) and then switched Note On / Note Off enabled in the setup. I've had 24 hours of successful testing on the Windows 8 x64 laptop with the latest 3.5.6 BETA and switched back to the Windows 7 x64 laptop with the same working cables and started a new test run to verify.

If that proves the laptop/program/cable are all working and the repeater cable can't be used I have to figure out how long/ what style cable I can use to keep the laptop backstage away from the crowd

Just remember that we do have lives outside of freestyler which is why you probably don't have replies.

I've experienced a few crashes and stuff like that, but nothing major that I couldn't really deal with at the time. I'd recommend making sure you're submitting BUG reports and double checking things for issues, but my issues could be slightly different from yours. But I don't know if you know, but there has been issues with MIDI in the last couple of releases, which is probably why you might be experiencing a few problems with things. I do believe this is getting sorted for the next release, but be sure to submit a BUG report as your problems might be different from others.

Keep us updated and let us know if you're having anymore issues

thanks a million for the reply. I wouldn't have worried but it's been over a month since my first question about these issues and over a week on others. At least I know someone is still out there

At this point it really looks like it's just the USB cable, but I'm worried I can't get a long enough cable to work and I can't have a laptop out at the front of the stage in the path of destruction from drunk idiots LOL. I'm wondering if the answer is going to be some other remote device like a tablet. Iphone would be too small I'm afraid. I have a small tablet I can experiment with but it's an Ematic piece-o-junk from Amazon (not google play). Looking at some apps from Amazon now. Suggestions appreciated

No worries

I had trouble with the USB cable for a while, but I swapped it for a decent BELKIN cable and it has been alright ever since.

Many of us read everyday but if I cannot offer a solution then I usually do not chime in.

Rusty

If your USB is over 3 Meters long it will start to give you issues. I had a 5 meter cable and it doesn't recognise the device properly. it will sometimes pick it up then is will drop out. Highly likely due to the USB device being powered by the cable. USB is only reliable 'I use loosely' over cables less than 3.5 I think it was.

You should try touch OSC if you want an remote alternative. Then you can create your own button interface and put the PC outback.

I run FSDMX on Widows 7 64Bit machines all the time and don't really have any issues. Had, midi issues before but not anymore.

That out of memory error is a midi-ox thing when the port your trying to access is already in use. So that isn't really a problem at all with your laptop. It should just say port in use, but instead give some stupid memory error.......lame.

Inside the midi area of freestyler there is a midi monitor, when it messes up, do you see the midi messages coming through there? If you see it moving around when you hit a pad there, that means your midi channel is fine and points to a freestyler error. If you DON'T see midi messages in there, then that means its at the computer or OS level.

Midi-ox is great only for diagnostics for the device, it does/cannot help with the setup your trying to use. Does the piece offer a firmware update? That might be a place to start just to see regardless of if it has "run for days" or not. Sometimes firmware updates will fix issues that are quietly solved.

Chris

Chris that's a good tip. I wasn't aware Freestyler had the MIDI monitor and I'll try that too, but I do believe it's just the USB cable. Buttza I really want to look into Touch OSC that sounds like the real fix to my problem. I need to find a good doc or tutorial on it and figure out a small tablet I can run it on.

viewtopic.php?f=87&t=5732

The link above is for MAC but the fundamentals are the same for PC. It also has the software required for it. I will need to update the midi file for freestyler which I will do this week.