Support Forum

Hi all
This is my post #1 here, so first of all: thanks to the authors for this wonderful piece of software, and thank you all in advance for your help (and patience )

I would like to use FreeStyler to drive some moving heads that I've bought this summer. The idea is to organize a "grandparents party", when the Covid stuff will be gone (hope soon). I've built the fixture file, and prepared some "sequences"; then I've used those sequences to realize a cue. I wrote "sequences" because they're really simple: every "sequence" contains just one step, composed by the position (pan/tilt) and the light color.
The cue runs fine, clicking on the "PLAY" icon ("Loop all sequences" checked); and also using the "Manual trigger" button, everything works exactly as expected. BUT... when I use the beat signal (coming from VDJ), the first sequence of the cue (and only that) doesn't work correctly: it takes 2 beats instead of 1, and during the first of these 2 beats the fixture remains "locked" on the previous state (the position/color it has on the previous -the last- sequence of the cue).

I've read all I've found about this matter, but I still can't understand if this is the expected behavior. Anyway: is there anything I can change/set, to have the cue working (constantly) in sync (as it does using the "Manual trigger button"), even when FS is receiving the beat signal from the world outside...?

Again: thank you in advance for your help


Regards

As far as I can see, that is a bug that needs to be addressed

This is difficult for me to replicate since I don't have VirtualDJ,

However I know Virtual DJ uses the same API that my remote app does, and likely uses the "Manual Step" to advance on each beat.

I have tested using my APP and FS responds correctly. Can you try some of these:
Upload your show file and I can test further.
Try using the manual tap in the Freestyler Play app.
Load a different sequence into cue slot one.

Thank you for your attention, Mattotone.

That said... please, be patient: to be honest, I don't know how to export a show file Do you mean .chs and .fcf files...?
Also, I don't know what's the "Freestyler Play" app; but I'm quite sure that the communication link between the two applications (FS and VDJ) is working well. In rough words: the red square moves correctly down the cue steps, following 100% the beats; but when it returns to the first step, it takes two beats to jump to the second step and during the first of these two beats the lamp doesn't take the right parameters, but keeps the previous state. Not a DMX issue, the color of fixture image on the screen does exactly the same.
I can confirm that the "Manual Trigger" button on the cue panel works well (is not affected by the issue), and that also deleting the first & the last scene doesn't fix. Even changing the whole cue, and using just 3 (different) scenes, I can replicate the issue.

By the way: during my "learning time" I had a problem with Freestyler (the cue panel was no more available), and I had to reset using the [ResetAll] flag in freestyler.ini. Maybe I still have something wrong in freestyler's databases, or whatever. So I'm going to install FS on a different PC, to see if things will change. I'll let you know the result, of course.
...surely it will be strange if no one had noticed this behavior before...

Regards

I'm going to install FS on a different PC, to see if things will change. I'll let you know the result

Test done... same result
Probably, I'm doing something wrong; so, here are my doubts.
After installation (and initial setup), FS doesn't react to beat signals coming from the TCP-IP stack. To enable the "beat link" between FS and VDJ, I have to launch (just one time) S2L, in order to open the box where I can select "Jump to the next step (CUE...)" (...I didn't find another way way to open the same box). That box also contains a "Trigger" button, that (I suppose...) let you see what will happen when FS will receive beats from the outside. Well... that button already shows the issue, as you can see in the small video I'm attaching to this post. The "funny" thing is that the equivalent button in S2L (the "Beat" button) is not affected, and works as expected

What am I doing wrong...?

Thank you again for your help

Regards

Having watched your video I can confirm the behaviour is a bug in Freestyler.
Please report on this link for Freestyler to investigate: https://www.freestylersupport.com/bugs/

What I have noticed in your video is that you use separate single step sequences to create your show.

How I would create the show is to create a single sequence with multiple steps.
Each step would be a different colour pan/tilt position etc
you may have up to 45 steps in a sequence.
VirtualDJ will then step through the sequence on the beat in a loop.

You can then have multiple sequences, for different styles and looks that you can switch between during the set.
Make sure you unclick loop all sequences under settings in the cue window.

Thank you, Mattotone. Your suggestions greatly mitigate the issue
...and sorry for the late reply, an hard week...

Regards