8 HOURS OF SOUNDSWITCH MISERY

To many ads? Support ODJT and see no ads!

TJS

GetSomeJuJu
Nov 8, 2018
350
372
58
Ankeny, IA
www.jujulab.rocks
I have a wedding gig tomorrow. A while back I had worked with Mydmxgo for a long time, using every troubleshooting avenue available (the FB forum, here, videos...). Finally punted it and started using Soundswitch. I was really encouraged though it took a while to program autoloops and the scripted songs for the main dances (father-daughter, first dance etc). The issue started with the fact that Soundswitch just "recently" added the concept of Static Looks. This would allow you to set your room during the dinner and not have lights blinking everywhere during dinner music BUT they programmed this feature to only be able to have one color (huh????) Not sure why you'd want the entire room to be blue or whatever during dinner. Seems logical to have the freedom to have static color control for each light. Also, there's no fade feature on these. So if you're in static mode and the First Dance will begin, you can't fade smoothly out of static and then start your scripted song. Nor can you do the reverse...After your scripted First Dance song, for example, you can't fade back into your static look. They're all snaps! Horrible look. I've been trying to bust my brain thinking of work arounds but to no avail. You're also supposed to be able to use a midi device to start light cues. I figured I could use a Launchpad Mk2. I'm new to the Launchpad but I mapped it and the software seemed to read which cue button went to which Launchpad button. Fast forward to 7pm last night.
Plugged in my Launchpad to test it out with lights...Nothing worked. No problem. I figured I'd just not use that idea for now. I didn't know if there was a setting in the launchpad that needed tweaked and I don't have time to research all of that. Figured I'd just run my autoloops and scripted songs w/o midi commands. That's when all hell broke loose. Edit mode is where you program light cues for autoloops and scripted songs. Performance mode is the mode you have to be in to get everything working together. After disconnecting the Launchpad, the lights were doing more strobing than anything (even though I didn't program strobes). It was as if midi totally messed everything up. Then eventually I couldn't make any lights or autoloops work in performance mode at all. They'd work only in Edit mode... but you can't play songs and operate your lights in Edit mode. You have to be in Performance mode for the gig. I can do all the testing of autoloops and scripted songs I want in Edit mode and things work fine. Performance mode is an absolute disaster. I was up until 3:15 this morning trying to troubleshoot.... 8 freaking hours! After Mydmxgo research and troubleshooting and now this, I'm exhausted. There's no explanation for why this is all happening. I've emailed support and they're useless. I have spent countless hours prepping the lighting for this wedding and learning the software and now I'm 24 hrs away and can't control crap. And not to mention that I'm dealing with a huge unknown, unreliable and unpredictable product and software in a gig....the very thing I was trying to avoid by taking the risk of using Mydmxgo at a gig and all of its known issues. Completely wiped out and pissed off.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Ausumm
Yep, I told her about the potentials of the overall look. She had gotten in on a special that I ran way back where my lighting was included in the pricing. I did that to be able to work with this whole concept but didn't feel I had it dialed in to actually charge for the amenity yet. I started this whole process probably 6+ months ago beginning with the Mydmxgo. I've been working with Soundswitch for about 4-6 weeks now and Soundswitch seemed actually pretty straightforward.
 
They have this thing called "sound active" .. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ausumm
If you were close enough I'd let you borrow my Aeon Raven Blackbird PFX .. best device I have for uplights .. Set a default static color and then hit a switch to make them sound active (direct drive off a booth output). Not good for dance floor, but I haven't had much issue with myDMX Go.
 
Yep, I told her about the potentials of the overall look. She had gotten in on a special that I ran way back where my lighting was included in the pricing. I did that to be able to work with this whole concept but didn't feel I had it dialed in to actually charge for the amenity yet. I started this whole process probably 6+ months ago beginning with the Mydmxgo. I've been working with Soundswitch for about 4-6 weeks now and Soundswitch seemed actually pretty straightforward.

Ouch, that complicates matters. Whatever you do, do NOT mention anything about lighting to her, ever again. Just put them in sound active (assuming you don't get it figured out today), do the gig, then rave to her about how perfect everything was (and pray she doesn't ask about the lighting).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ausumm
If you were close enough I'd let you borrow my Aeon Raven Blackbird PFX .. best device I have for uplights .. Set a default static color and then hit a switch to make them sound active (direct drive off a booth output). Not good for dance floor, but I haven't had much issue with myDMX Go.


Thanks for the thoughtfulness. Appreciate it! I'll have to look into it!
 
Ouch, that complicates matters. Whatever you do, do NOT mention anything about lighting to her, ever again. Just put them in sound active (assuming you don't get it figured out today), do the gig, then rave to her about how perfect everything was (and pray she doesn't ask about the lighting).


Yeah, the exact words I used with her was that I could "program the lighting so everything is in time with the music, including the perimeter of the room" so I can probably bend that to mean "sound activated" if I have to.
 
Sorry to hear of the frustrations. I've been a vocal SoundSwitch fan and proponent, but some of the things you pointed out are still real limitations.

The way I deal with uplights before dancing is by setting the color(s) with my Chauvet Flarecon App. I don't use SoundSwitch for that part. I would just leave SoundSwitch blacked out, for example so the moving heads stay dark, and my uplights are set to whatever I want.

Then when I get to dancing, I release the blackout on the moving heads and they snap into action. And I can switch the uplights from WiFi input to DMX and SoundSwitch takes over.

It's not perfect, but that has worked for me and provides a good guest experience.

The only thing I can think of for your fade issue is you could map a fader to the master light output fader so you could manually fade in and out. But on the launchpad it's all buttons so I'm not sure how that would work. But if you have an extra fader on your controller/mixer you could map that.

For example, on an SX2 or something... you could map channel 4 to your light intensity and just mix music on 2&3.
 
Sorry to hear of the frustrations. I've been a vocal SoundSwitch fan and proponent, but some of the things you pointed out are still real limitations.

The way I deal with uplights before dancing is by setting the color(s) with my Chauvet Flarecon App. I don't use SoundSwitch for that part. I would just leave SoundSwitch blacked out, for example so the moving heads stay dark, and my uplights are set to whatever I want.

Then when I get to dancing, I release the blackout on the moving heads and they snap into action. And I can switch the uplights from WiFi input to DMX and SoundSwitch takes over.

It's not perfect, but that has worked for me and provides a good guest experience.

The only thing I can think of for your fade issue is you could map a fader to the master light output fader so you could manually fade in and out. But on the launchpad it's all buttons so I'm not sure how that would work. But if you have an extra fader on your controller/mixer you could map that.

For example, on an SX2 or something... you could map channel 4 to your light intensity and just mix music on 2&3.


Hey Ross,
Thanks for the input. And don't get me wrong. I really do like SS if I can overcome all this wonky stuff going on. They have things to address and fix for sure but no system is perfect.
Your set up makes sense. I wish I had all of the same up lights like the Freedoms. For up lighting, I have a mixture of Chauvet Slimpars and Freedom Pars. As you know, the Slimpars aren't automatically wireless dmx ( and I haven't worked enough with the Donner Dongles to dial that in and Chauvet's proprietary usb thingies are expensive for just 4). I tried the Flarecon app to at least do wireless for the Freedom Pars (and do wired connections to the Slims) but I have issues with that as well due to some app weirdness. In setting the color on 2 of the Freedom Pars, if I choose blue, for example, they'll turn red or green. That happens on only 2. It's really funky. I've always had Flarecon app issues for some reason. Spent an hour with Chauvet support when I originally got the Flarecon and even the tech dude was challenged but eventually got it fixed (for 1 gig).

What's a bit weird is that I have SS set to Blend Mode for my crossfader on my dj controller and I don't have anything set for my upfaders to control anything BUT I noticed last night that the upfaders were indeed fading lights up and down if I messed with them. Odd, because I don't know anymore what is an issue that is just buggy or something I'm not doing correctly. But it's weird that I can't get my auto loops to work at all in Performance mode. Gonna be an interesting day tomorrow. I should probably have the fridge stocked with beer for when I come home :-/ :laugh:
 
What's a bit weird is that I have SS set to Blend Mode for my crossfader on my dj controller and I don't have anything set for my upfaders to control anything BUT I noticed last night that the upfaders were indeed fading lights up and down if I messed with them.

The upfaders for your active track will always affect light intensity. The Blend mode versus cut mode, versus scratch mode is only in reference to what the cross fader will do in your set up. But the up faders will increase and dim your lights:

 
Hey Ross,
Thanks for the input. And don't get me wrong. I really do like SS if I can overcome all this wonky stuff going on. They have things to address and fix for sure but no system is perfect.
Your set up makes sense. I wish I had all of the same up lights like the Freedoms. For up lighting, I have a mixture of Chauvet Slimpars and Freedom Pars. As you know, the Slimpars aren't automatically wireless dmx ( and I haven't worked enough with the Donner Dongles to dial that in and Chauvet's proprietary usb thingies are expensive for just 4). I tried the Flarecon app to at least do wireless for the Freedom Pars (and do wired connections to the Slims) but I have issues with that as well due to some app weirdness. In setting the color on 2 of the Freedom Pars, if I choose blue, for example, they'll turn red or green. That happens on only 2. It's really funky. I've always had Flarecon app issues for some reason. Spent an hour with Chauvet support when I originally got the Flarecon and even the tech dude was challenged but eventually got it fixed (for 1 gig).

What's a bit weird is that I have SS set to Blend Mode for my crossfader on my dj controller and I don't have anything set for my upfaders to control anything BUT I noticed last night that the upfaders were indeed fading lights up and down if I messed with them. Odd, because I don't know anymore what is an issue that is just buggy or something I'm not doing correctly. But it's weird that I can't get my auto loops to work at all in Performance mode. Gonna be an interesting day tomorrow. I should probably have the fridge stocked with beer for when I come home :-/ :laugh:

Don't even think about the Chauvet wireless DMX units.................the Donners are drop-dead simple and they just work. They'll also fit neatly under the slimpars (up on yokes).
 
  • Like
Reactions: SEDJ
Do the Chauvet Freedom Pars work with a Donner Transmitter? I tried using Soundswitch with the Flarecon this weekend at a wedding and my Freedom Pars were at the back of the room (about 75-95 feet away from me). I had the Flarecon sitting on my table and my Freedoms were not getting any Soundswitch signal at all like they used to when I was practicing (and they were within 10 feet). So this was a new problem. I didn't know if I had to have the flarecon up higher in the air....but then again the Sound Switch chord running from the usb to the flarecon is pretty short. I didn't know if you can connect the Sound Switch chord to another dmx cable to extend it and put it up on a lighting tree. I've never tried that before. I ended up having to set them on a static blue and, of course, had to give up all control of them for Sound Switch, which was disappointing.
 
...and maybe there is a distance factor but I didn't think the room was going to present that much of a problem. I didn't see any tech specs on Sweetwater regarding distance limitations.
 
Do the Chauvet Freedom Pars work with a Donner Transmitter? I tried using Soundswitch with the Flarecon this weekend at a wedding and my Freedom Pars were at the back of the room (about 75-95 feet away from me). I had the Flarecon sitting on my table and my Freedoms were not getting any Soundswitch signal at all like they used to when I was practicing (and they were within 10 feet). So this was a new problem. I didn't know if I had to have the flarecon up higher in the air....but then again the Sound Switch chord running from the usb to the flarecon is pretty short. I didn't know if you can connect the Sound Switch chord to another dmx cable to extend it and put it up on a lighting tree. I've never tried that before. I ended up having to set them on a static blue and, of course, had to give up all control of them for Sound Switch, which was disappointing.
Not sure, but they should. I only have one old-style Freedom Par (it was an experiment) and tried it once with the D-Fi transmitter I also had. Other ADJ and Blizzard lights I've tried work fine with the Lixada (same guts as Donner).

I've only used the Flarecon Air a couple of times, but it sits in a box as it doesn't really work well with non Freedom stuff.

I run 2 Lixada transmitters to 6 receivers (2 different groups, so I can run dance floor stuff separately from room lighting.