need help w/import, multi-out v.i.'s

[dave007]

greetings!

i had the opportunity this past weekend to test-drive dp8 for windows, and ran into some head-scratchers (in some cases, head-bangers ), i was hoping someone could point the way.

1. VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS
i was trying to set up an orchestral score using kontakt 5. i set up separate outs from kontakt for, e.g., violins, violas, cello and bass (so 4 stereo pairs coming out of kontakt). for some reason, i wasn't able to hear any of the outputs except output 1-2, the violins. also, for some reason, only outputs 3-n appear in the bundles window, the first output pair doesn't, even though it was correctly created within kontakt. does this also happen for macintosh? (i.e., is this by design, or is this a bug in the windows version?) so i was trying to figure out how to hear the outputs for the rest of the strings and also send the violins someplace other than the main monitor outputs so i could work with them. first, i tried assigning kontakt's outputs to audio track inputs, but even enabling input monitoring and record mode on the audio tracks gave me no results. i eventually found a sort of a work-around, but it's clumsy. i assigned the outputs of all but the first output pair to aux tracks, but had to create a bus for output 1/2 first, then assign the bus to an aux track, because i couldn't assign what dp apparently designates as a 'global' instrument output directly to an aux track. this seems like an awful lot of dancing around to accomplish something relatively simple, i know i must be making this needlessly complicated. what's the accepted method?

2. IMPORTING VIDEO
i imported a video using the 'set movie' option of the pull-down menu in the 'movie' window. this worked fine, w/the exception that the import window took about 15 seconds to pop up. my problem then was, importing the video using this method, i couldn't figure out how to get the movie's audio. i pressed 'play' right after importing the movie and got nothing but silence; the image displayed correctly in the movie frame, but there was no sound. there was no soundtrack on any audio track in the project, and selecting 'import movie audio' did nothing. the movie track displays correctly in the sequence editor. i verified that the movie's audio output was set to my device's output, and verified that the output was working correctly from within dp by putting an audio file on an audio track whose output was set to the same hardware out as the movie's. i made sure that the volume was turned up on the movie control bar. how do i get the movie's audio?

the user's manual says i can import an avi file's audio into the soundbites window, but i get this error:

digital performer has encountered an error.
os error: internal error: parameter error (-50)

i used the 'import audio' option of the pull-down menu available in the soundbites window, selecting *.avi from the file type selection criteria pull-down while selecting the file. i've been able to import this exact same avi file into sonar before and both audio and video import w/no issues, and it also plays in windows media player w/o issue, so it's not a problem w/the file.

i tried again, this time with an mpg movie. i get the following error:

digital performer has encountered an error.

one final issue. i saved and closed my little test project and went to grab some food, and when i came back and re-opened the project, i got an error 'unable to locate movie file' and was asked if i'd like to replace the movie i'd imported. this was strange since the movie file was still in the exact same place i'd left it, and when i answered 'yes' to the pop-up, it navigated immediately to the correct location, where i saw the avi and was able to import it again. i was puzzled by this, so immediately saved the project again, closed it, and reopened it. same results. 'show movie in explorer' goes right to where the movie is. is there something else i'd need to do besides 'set movie' in order to make sure a movie stays put?


i guess i have one final question. am i encountering these problems because i'm doing something wrong, or because these are bugs in the program?

thanks
dave

[bayswater]

Error -50 on the Mac usually means DP is not permitted to make the disk write by the OS. In OS X that is usually fixed by repairing permissions. I don't know the corresponding Windows operation, but it looks like DP is trying to write these files to a location that Windows is not allowing DP to use. I assume you're using an Admin account, otherwise you probably will never be able to do all with disk operations required.

For multiple outputs from a VI, on a Mac you go into the Bundles window and set up the busses you intend to use to capture the VI output, and route to DP Audio or Aux channels. Setting up bundles defines all the internal signal routing, and physical I/O, and defines useful names for all these busses,so you should be dealing with that early in a project.

Can say anything about video, I never do it.

[dave007]

thanks for the info, bayswater. interesting stuff re- the v.i.'s.

re- the 'error -50' -- i checked w/the owner of the machine, and he says his login has admin privileges. i might be able to use it again this weekend, so i can check then to make absolutely sure, but i don't see any reason to doubt him.

[bayswater]

thanks for the info, bayswater. interesting stuff re- the v.i.'s.

re- the 'error -50' -- i checked w/the owner of the machine, and he says his login has admin privileges. i might be able to use it again this weekend, so i can check then to make absolutely sure, but i don't see any reason to doubt him.

Yes, I have Admin on my Mac too, but even so, I get occasional permission snafus, and have to set access for specific folders or files. Maybe that doesn't happen on Windows.

[dave007]

ah, ok. well, what it looked like was happening is dp was actually creating a new folder for the entire project and storing files in there. do you happen to know whether dp puts imported videos in some location other than this project folder? if so, i could check permissions next time i'm able to get on the machine.

[bayswater]

Sorry, I have no idea how DP handles video. My guess is it would not attempt to make a copy of the original in the project folder. There are lots of people here who work with video.

[frankf]

DP can reference compatible video files on any volume available on your computer. I'm not sure about networked drive however. I run video from a RAM Disk most of the time. DP does not copy video files to the project folder. You can do that yourself with the risk of a performance hit. Best to put video on an independent HD.

[dave007]

well i had another chance to play with it this past weekend. overall, it was a really disappointing experience... this software has so many issues. i really get the impression these problems are limited to the windows version, though; both the user's guide and other people i know [who run macs] say things should be happening differently.

anyway, yes, he's got all his projects on a separate disk, the disk actually grants all rights to 'everyone', and the little test project i created is also readable and writable by everybody. so really there's no reason i can see that the video should just 'disappear' like that, there's still no way to import the audio, and the cryptic error messages will remain... cryptic.

there were many other problems too. i'm debating whether or not to write them up on a list and send them to motu. i'd really like to see this product succeed [i'd really like to get away from sonar...] and if it actually can perform as described in the user's guide, then i'll be a big fan. but what i read about in the guide and what i experienced in real life have little to do with one-another.

[bayswater]

Is it mostly about multiple outs on a VI, or a whole lot of other things?

[dave007]

no, as far as i'm concerned, the multiple outs thing isn't really a bug, it's a design choice -- one i found a little confusing, but maybe that's just me. the other issues were actual bugs. i'll write to them when i get a few moments. thanks much for your input!

[bayswater]

OK. Hope it works out.