Conductor experiences

[RJ]

I saw a few post and got some pm's about the conductors operation this year. As I start the work on it for the coming year I need more solid information on did it work for anyone? Did you have issues?, what were they?

This is not a post for all the things you think need to be added or changed but to discuess the goods and bads you encountered using it as it was designed this last year. Be detailed not "It did not work" Or "It worked ok" This is how I get feedback to make fixes outside the beta.

RJ

[zwiller]

It did not work   

First off let me state there was alot going on around this time so my memory is a bit sketchy.  IE - LSP issues and updates galore, first year SS, oh yeah, we had baby...   

My kit had a bad card dock and reflowed pins.  Went ok.  Later the clock from the coop is doa.  Replaced clock with same date of manufacture (was hoping it wasn't).  Got it working.  Loaded up 3 songs and it worked flawlessly for a week with the exception of some flashing.  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

I decided to add another song later.  (should have known better right  )  At this point not only did the lights lose sync it started messing with my fm transmitter.  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Maybe the flashing was a sign?  I tried quite a few things (formatted card/change mp3 bit rate/change mp3 file name) before I finally gave up.  I cand send the conductor to you to test if you want but I am sure it will work fine for you   .  Honestly, I didn't even plan on using it last year but threw it together to help the folks with the fm transmitter issue so no big deal.  'Twas unbelievable watching that tiny box run my show with 5k channels for the time it did!

[rdebolt]

I got mine to work, but not without issues. I could not use the 8 character labels. For some reason, and I still do not know why, I had to use simple labels for my song names. I just simply used numbers to name my songs and sequences. For example I named "The Grinch" "8" so in my show list I had a sequence named 8 and an mp3 named 8. That was the only way that I could get it to run. As long as I did that my show would start and play.

I did notice one other thing, but I have to be honest that I do not know if this was a conductor issue or something else (I never ran my show with anything but the conductor) but as the show progressed and repeated I would get more and more flicker from my flex strips.

I found the Conductor to be very "picky" (for lack of another word) about what it wanted and if it did not like something at all it would not run. It did run my entire show every night all year and for the most part I loved it.

[Ron]

I found most everything to work well. I did not have any issues with setup, the software or interference with my FM transmitter (EDM).

I did experience the sync issue though. Songs and sequences all formatted with the same 8.3 naming setup. All songs reformatted to the same MP3 settings. It seemed as the show progressed they would get more out of sequence, music and lights just off. I was running through an active hub just using the DMX output, no Smart Strings in the yard this year.

[rrowan]

I didn't have any problems with the conductor itself. I must of gotten a good clock module. Lights and Music stayed in sync each night from 5pm to 9:25pm then it switched over to Lights only from 9:30pm to 11pm. The show ran from Dec 16th to Jan 2nd no matter the weather (i.e.: Rain).


I did have issues with the Conductor Control Panel

• If you run a show with None.mp3 then there is no time sync or anyway to stop the show (button is disabled)
• I couldn't set schedule closer to each other then 5 minutes otherwise it would get ready to run the first show when the time comes it would skip the first show and wait for the second show. Maybe that it is a conductor issue.

If there is a way to modify the schedule grid without reformatting the CF and reload everything but the schedule that would be nice.

Rick R.

[rdebolt]

If there is a way to modify the schedule grid without reformatting the CF and reload everything but the schedule that would be nice.

Rick R.

Thanks interesting Rick, I changed my schedule almost nightly without reformatting. I would simply delete the previous schedule then add another with no issues.

[tng5737]

My Conductor worked very well - after I figured out how to config it!   I did have to run it wired, though as the wireless was very flaky.  I had good signal and it stayed connected but it would not respond to commands consistently.  At any rate, once I went wired I pretty much just left it alone.  The wired connection was only there in case I needed to control the ED - which I did only once (shut the show down early due to bad weather).   The ED/Conductor saved my show since I used LSP which was having some problems with its scheduler.  I simply exported my seqs out to the conductor format - loaded them on the CF card and set my schedule.   Best year ever - got lots of compliments and best of all - everything worked!
Thanks

Hopefully this year we can get the Slave firmware  and kick it up a notch!

[twooly]

Overall I had good luck with the conductor.  It ran solid for the most part for the month of december 6pm - 9pm

I did have 2 issues. I did run into the FM transmitter problem but only one night.  After I moved the cable  it ran the rest of the month with the same transmitter just fine.  What I saw in that case was the lights would still blink at the current speed but the audio was slowed down by 6x or  so, really odd. 

Second issue I'm not sure if its a file conversion problem or conductor.  Basic problem is the lights would come on, pause and then the music would start.  Running the same sequence directly from LSP to the ETD I do not see this pause.  Here is a video showing the pause right at the start.  Its only at the start and I had a couple sequences do this.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

[wbuehler]

I used mine with None.mp3 to scroll Halloween messages.  It started and stopped with no issues for a month.

Bill

[rrowan]

I used mine with None.mp3 to scroll Halloween messages.  It started and stopped with no issues for a month.

Bill

I guess I didn't explain my issue. A schedule show with none.mp3 worked just fine but if you try to manually stop the show the button is disabled or if you are testing a show you can't stop it and have to wait for it to finish.

Rick R.

[RJ]

Rick I have found that bug. It will fix it for you.

Keep the info coming. I have much in the works for it this year but fixing any issues is first and foremost.

I will give a few planned improvements away if it will not hi jack the thread an cause replies to leave what I asked for.

1. Adding the ability to control lights for testing from the control panel and android app (the android app is in the wiki for those that have not found it). This will include some predefined patterns for testing.

2 Improving the control panel to make it check that you are doing things correctly to help prevent bad file names ect. This will fix some issues people thought were hardware but really was bad setup.

3 releasing a user guide to step people from finishing building it to their show running on it.

4. I may have the system automatically convert your mp3 music to a different format which has precise timing marks in the file to allow me to insure their will never be mismatch of lights to music. There are many formats of mp3 and it appears some can create timing mismatch with no way for me to be positive of exactly where we are in the music. If I do this it will hidden from the user so you would not do anything different than you do now.

5 Once the firmware is locked in... Get the slave matched and beta tested then release it... Then and only then edit the stable finished firmware to allow DMV output for those that do not use pixelnet.

Please keep the rest of the posts on track.. I should not posted this here but oh we'll.


RJ

[RJ]

If there is a way to modify the schedule grid without reformatting the CF and reload everything but the schedule that would be nice.

Rick R.

Thanks interesting Rick, I changed my schedule almost nightly without reformatting. I would simply delete the previous schedule then add another with no issues.

Yes the schedule file can be replaced without issue. It is a fixed size for this reason and will not fragment the card.

I might look at adding the ability to have more than one schedule stored on a card and choose the active one. This way you can change it from you computer or andriod phone.

RJ

[RJ]

It did not work   

I decided to add another song later.  (should have known better right  )  At this point not only did the lights lose sync it started messing with my fm transmitter. 
'Twas unbelievable watching that tiny box run my show with 5k channels for the time it did!

I am glad it inpressed you when it was working for you.

Can you post here a short expliantion of the transmitter issue? The point of this post is to get stuff together in one post for me to work from. Include what kind of transmitter and anything you think was a factor.

RJ

[wbuehler]

I used mine with None.mp3 to scroll Halloween messages.  It started and stopped with no issues for a month.

Bill

I guess I didn't explain my issue. A schedule show with none.mp3 worked just fine but if you try to manually stop the show the button is disabled or if you are testing a show you can't stop it and have to wait for it to finish.

Rick R.

Sorry for the confusion.  I was not trying to comment on your specific issue, just stating that the schedule I set using sequences with none.mp3 worked OK.

[mkozik1]

I was not able to use mine because of the solder issues.  I started to correct myself but did not feel comfortable with it.