TUTORIAL: AC-7Pro & iPad/iPhone for DP 6.02 through 7.12!!

[cloudsplitter]

James feel free to send that PDF to Colin if you think it may help him.....I do have airport Extreme in my Mac pro...and the I-pad runs DP AND my mackie control surface faders virtually instantainiously.

[James Steele]

James feel free to send that PDF to Colin if you think it may help him.....I do have airport Extreme in my Mac pro...and the I-pad runs DP AND my mackie control surface faders virtually instantainiously.

Excellent... yeah it's good stuff! Which version of DSMidiWiFi are you running? Colin has warned against using version 1.02 and using 1.01 instead, however I just went to this site...

http://dsmi.tobw.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

... and noticed that the DSMidiWiFi author claims that 1.02 fixed "compatibility problems with Snow Leopard." That didn't apply to me when I was on my G5/Leopard system a few days ago, but now it does, and I'm thinking of trying 1.02 out and seeing if things improve and maybe part of my problem was 1.01. I already noticed one compatibility problem that's obvious, and the graphic in the DSMidiWifi app's window is all messed up now, when it looked fine in Leopard.

So, could you tell me what your Mac system specs are? (You might consider putting that in a posting signature.) And also, what version of DSMidiWiFi are you using?

[cloudsplitter]

James I used 1.01 as per your instructions...here's my specs

2x3 Ghz Quad Core 12 gigs of DDR2 FB DIMM Ram

I willl go download that 1.02 right now ...!!

[cloudsplitter]

Ok...downloaded 1.02 but wifeys got the I-pad and she isn't giving it up for love nor money..so I am going to have to wait till she goes to bed to check 1.02 out...I will give it a thorough going over tomarrow...unless the sun is out..then I'm going quad riding..

[James Steele]

James I used 1.01 as per your instructions...here's my specs

2x3 Ghz Quad Core 12 gigs of DDR2 FB DIMM Ram

I willl go download that 1.02 right now ...!!

Hmmm... let me know what you find out. Preliminarily, it seems to have improved things for me. I feel like there's a very slight delay... for example at least when watching the counter on the AC-7 Pro, it seems like the beat counter is changing just a VERY SMALL bit late... it's not right on the beat. Of course, I'm working on something that has a 175bpm so it's likely that I didn't notice it working at 120bpm.

Other things to look out for: for Kelly's bridge app to automatically launch DSMidiWifi it must be named exactly that. Meaning that you can rename the old version "DSMidiWifi 1.01" in the finder, but if you also rename the newer version to append "1.02"... DP-AC7-DSMidiWifi-Bridge won't let you select that copy of DSMidiWifi in it's "Browse" window for automatic launch.

Also, don't be thrown off, but when DSMidiWifi 1.02 to launches it does not keep a window on screen to let you know it's running, but you will see its icon appear in the dock. You can click it and the Window will open, but it hides the window on launch.

So far for me it is better. At least on my computer, with 1.01, track names were not updating properly when I changed banks, and now they do although they seem to update just a tiny bit slower, but nothing of significance.

[James Steele]

Ok...downloaded 1.02 but wifeys got the I-pad and she isn't giving it up for love nor money..so I am going to have to wait till she goes to bed to check 1.02 out...I will give it a thorough going over tomarrow...unless the sun is out..then I'm going quad riding..

You have an iPhone? Remember that there's also an iPhone version too.

[cloudsplitter]

yes, I have an I-phone...but I'm old...and my eyes aren't as good as they use to be...I NEED the I pad....I need bright colors and large icons......lol

[jduber]

Quick question: Is it possible to use this AC-7Pro iPad app to control input levels while recording with DP (v. 7.12)? Can it control CueMix trim levels? That sure would rock my world.

Thanks,
Jim

[James Steele]

Quick question: Is it possible to use this AC-7Pro iPad app to control input levels while recording with DP (v. 7.12)? Can it control CueMix trim levels? That sure would rock my world.

Not at this time. But would be cool.

[jduber]

Quick question: Is it possible to use this AC-7Pro iPad app to control input levels while recording with DP (v. 7.12)? Can it control CueMix trim levels? That sure would rock my world.

Not at this time. But would be cool.

OK, thanks for the info.

[schmargle]

What do you see as the advantages of using this app as opposed to a remote desktop app, which would let you directly manipulate DP (or CueMix for that matter)?

[James Steele]

What do you see as the advantages of using this app as opposed to a remote desktop app, which would let you directly manipulate DP (or CueMix for that matter)?

Responsiveness? Multitouch? Any other reason you'd use a mackie Control I guess. Using this vs. VnC has been touched on. I'm not here to try and convince you or anyone else why you should or shouldn't use it. I don't care if you do or don't. If someone wants help using it, then you have my PDF, etc..

[schmargle]

Fair enough. And we appreciate your work!

...I'm just starting the research on these apps. If and when I start using AC-7, I'm sure I'll be using all of your materials.

[Gerk]

Thanks for the tutorial James, great stuff. I'm blown away to have a $10 control surface that works as well as it does!! I don't have direct wireless on my mac pro but connect over the network, that said I don't have any big latency problems at all. But (there's always a but) I do see some odd behaviour and not sure if it's something on my setup or an issue with the AC-7 Pro app.

When I change banks it selects/deselects the actual tracks in my on-screen control windows (tracks, sequence, mixer, etc). It turns off the ones that are not part of that bank of 8 ... is this a known issue? Its super annoying, especially when working with large projects.

I've been in touch with Colin already, but wanted to make sure it wasn't something on my end before I submit a bug report for him as he admittedly doesn't know DP that well. I'm using 6.03 if that makes a difference. I couldn't find anything in the big book that seemed to match up with this behaviour (although I admit I didn't re-read the whole manual or anything LOL!) I've also not used mackie controllers before so not sure if this is the "norm" or not, the only other control surface setup I've used with DP is my Frontier Designs Tranzport.

Any advice on DP settings I need to change to make this behaviour go away, or should I file this report with Colin?

[James Steele]

Thanks for the tutorial James, great stuff. I'm blown away to have a $10 control surface that works as well as it does!! I don't have direct wireless on my mac pro but connect over the network, that said I don't have any big latency problems at all.

The Apple Store in Fashion Valley mall in San Diego sold me an AirPort Extreme card for $50 and installed it free. If you can get a similar deal near you... I'd recommend it.

When I change banks it selects/deselects the actual tracks in my on-screen control windows (tracks, sequence, mixer, etc). It turns off the ones that are not part of that bank of 8 ... is this a known issue? Its super annoying, especially when working with large projects.

You mean in the Mixing Board window, when you hit the Bank button it only shows 8 tracks at a time? AFAIK that's a DP thing-- perhaps it's because there's no way to highlight tracks in the mixing board to show you which are being controlled? I'd write to MOTU about that one.