Bad Midi crashing SCS

[Nick]

Hi Mike,

This is not an issue caused by SCS, and is not new to us, either, but I thought I'd mention it as you may be able to protect against it.

The Software we use to control the older models of our CADAC Theatre mixing consoles is Matt McKenzie's "G-Type" windows software. This was created as a third-party alternative to the console manufacturers own DOS based software (their newer consoles use their own windows-based software - SAM - which does not exhibit this problem).

In larger Musicals, we use this type of software to control the Console snapshot recall, and also to send MIDI notes that fire SCS sound effect cues - all from the NEXT button on the console.

"G-Type" has a known issue in that when you shut it down, the MIDI interface it is addressing outputs some form of junk that is ignored by most MIDI devices, but severely offends some bits of software it may be connected to. In the case of SCS, one gets an error message (the text of which I don't have at hand right now) and SCS immediately shuts down.

We have made attempts in the past to log the midi output (using Midi-Ox for instance) to see what junk is being sent, but none of our midi analyzers register anything recognisable to display.

While it is not your software at fault (and the author of the other software is unable to correct the issue), it would be nice if you could add some sort of 'junk filter' to SCS's Midi Input code that may protect from this. It seems possible that other midi-based show control devices that people may interface with SCS could be similarly ill-behaved and cause SCS to terminate unexpectedly.

Cheers,
nick

[Mike Daniell]

Difficult to know what could be causing a crash without tracing the data received - I've emailed you separately, Nick.