Custom Console Wierdness. . .

[zuul-studios]

Hello -

Yesterday, I discovered DP9's Custom Console (or whatever it's called). So, I decided to put it to use. I'm assigning faders and turn-nobs to basically control two things: 1) Volume settings and 2) wet/dry settings to MIR (via VEPro). It works, and hopefully will prove helpful!

But. . . there's some crazy graphic stuff that I can't seem to fix. Turn-nobs and faders disappear. I can recall it all back if I click out of Custom Console and click back into it. It doesn't seem that functionality is lost when the "lost graphics" re-appear. Also, it doesn't happen all of the time. (It's just plain wonky!)

I remember reading here how Custom Console has some wackiness to it.

Is this a known issue? If so, are there plans in correcting it? In the meanwhile, is there anything that I could be doing with Custom Console so that it's a bit more stable/usable without the having to experience disappearing graphics?

Thank you for any insight shared. . .

Ted

[zuul-studios]

Maybe I'm the only one who is experiencing issues with DP9's Console? Yes? No?

I'm still experiencing this "weirdness". This seems to happen haphazardly. When the icons do NOT disappear, all works just fine. But when they start disappearing, all functionality is lost. For what it's worth, since finding (and hopefully) using DP9's Console function, it will be quite helpful with the way I sequence & mix things, especially as I use VEPro & MIR.

I am working on a two-monitor system. One monitor has VEPro/MIR up. The second and main monitor has DP 9. The video card is noted in my signature. Could a two-monitor set-up and/or video care be part of the problem?

Here are some other information which might prove helpful in problem-solving this issue:

* For the current and only templet using Console, there are roughly 40 VIs "housed" within VEPro/MIR.

* The VIs are split between two networked computers in the usual "Master/Slave" configuration.

* Most of the VIs are "housed" in my MacPro ("Master") computer which is also running DP9.

* I'm using VIs powered by VSL, Kontakt 5, and Aria (GPO/JABB).

* I've created four Console "instances" which, all together, are managing all of the VIs in this templet.

* With the exception of the wackiness with Console, this set-up is otherwise quite stable with no computer crashes, unwanted CPU spikes, or any kind of audio unhappiness. In other words, it's a great set-up for my modest usage.

Attached is a photo that hopefully will help explain what's going on.

Please. . . Any insight to this issue will be most helpful. Thank you. . .

[Shooshie]

Full disclosure: I have not tried Custom Consoles in DP9 It could be working better now. The following is based on my most recent experiences with Custom Consoles, which were in DP8.x. I've used them in all versions of DP up to and including DP8, but not in DP9. (yet) Now... on with my original reply:

I don't have any answers you'll like, but it happens to me, too. The more you use Custom Consoles, the more wonkiness you experience, but also the more you learn to work around it. Once you get them set up, they typically work well. I have old files from the early 1990s that have custom consoles which, when opened, still work just as they did when I left them all those years ago.

But setting up Custom Consoles has always been the one area that would give me crashes. I learned to save after each move until the console was done and saved.

Custom Consoles has unfulfilled potential to do amazing things. It needs reworking. It needs more stability and consistency such as controls that always work the way you intended, and which don't disappear or forget their settings as you continue to set up the console. It also needs a few more options in the source and target menus. I think the conductor track should be in those options, and there are others I can't remember off-hand.

With MOTU using Custom Consoles for setting up MIDI Learn, I thought maybe they would revamp the whole feature-set. Apparently they did not do that. Now that more people are discovering them, maybe MOTU will feel the pressure to make it work properly. I've always been blown away by what MIGHT be possible with Custom Consoles. I've actually set up some complicated consoles with dozens of controls, which actually worked and worked well. My biggest problem was that they are not portable. They are set up very specifically for a particular file. You can import them to another file or chunk, but you'll have to reassign them to the existing tracks in that chunk. I don't see an easy way around that, but I'm sure the guys at MOTU could put their heads together and come up with one.

My other biggest problem (besides the instability during setup) was in the things that were missing, as mentioned above. It also had trouble with Velocities, and didn't originally do Velocities. When added, the source and target tracks had to have notes exactly in the same locations for Velocity to work. Seems like a better solution could be found for that. (Velocity could be chased, for instance, back to the last note played, like continuous controllers)

Oh, another problem in Custom Consoles was in SysEx messages. The manual has extensive instructions on using SysEx in consoles, but I have not been able to get them to work as advertised. I think I've managed to get it to do something on an occasion or two, but not since then. I no longer have need for it, so it's not an issue with me anymore, but in the 1990s it was. I made some a few years ago and tested them with MIDI Monitor, and they still did not work, but most people really do not use SysEx for much these days.

Anyway, Custom Consoles is the greatest unfinished feature in DP. I hope I live to see it completed!

Shooshie

[zuul-studios]

Shooshie -

First, thank you for taking the time in sharing a very thoughtful and informative post regarding this feature.

I so want it to work, too! Certainly, there are other ways to get the same results as i hope to achieve through the DP9's Console feature. For good or for bad, I use the computer's mouse quite frequently when adjusting CC parameters. If/when configured correctly, and when functioning as intended, the Console feature gives a nice graphic representation while doing this. (I also use my controlling keyboard's faders and control-knobs, too. But my work-habit of doing things involves heavy use of the computer mouse.)

At some point, I'm going to re-configure my "Rock/Orchestral Templet" and its use of the Console feature. I wonder if using LESS graphics per instance, and use more instances, might help???

In the meanwhile. . . I'm currently on a nice (and yearly) 2-week vacation. Actually, it's a "stay-cation" where my wife and I are making a lot of day trips to enjoy the fall season. I've been using the evening & late night time to explore DP 9 more deeply. As I become more familiar with DP9, I've grown to really LOVE this program. It's Custom Console feature would be like "Icing on the Delicious Cake" if/when it should function reliably. BUT, its "wonkiness" certainly does not take away all of the other positives and benefits that DP9 has to offer.

Peace. . . and Happy Music Making!

[stubbsonic]

I do hope you get a response from MOTU on this.

Though I haven't used them much in the past, I'm in the process of a revamp that is going to include an external surface controller and the Custom Console is going to be a critical piece of getting this all to play nice.

I'd rather make this all play well with Custom Consoles than some hodge-podge of other stuff.

[JSmith1234567]

Bumping this very old thread but...

Trying to set up a Custom Console today.

EVERY time I add a button it crashes. Consistently. Time after time.

This could be a terrific feature if Motu would;

Redesign it, including features (add things like meters, other normal features, etc).

and

GRAPHICS! It looks like an Atari program from the (70s? 80s? My history sense is vague?)

and

STABILITY !!! STABILITY !!! STABILITY !!!