Is there a secret to DMX In AND Out or is this a bug?

[BeigheyMW]

Running 11.10.7

I've backed myself into a corner thinking that SCS could both read incoming DMX and take action as well as output DMX. Monitoring and responding to incoming DMX has been working great for the past two weeks. Today, when I added a DMX IN device (needed for controlling just a single channel dowser via direct DMX cable from SCS to the dowser), poop hit the fan. Outgoing DMX cues to the dowser work fine but cues responding to incoming DMX level changes stop - even though the Test DMX Control window sees the level changes and displays Play DMX Cue whatever. It just doesn't actually play DMX Cue whatever. If I remove the DMX Out device the cues responding to incoming DMX changes start working again.

I've tried setting this up with a single ENTTEC DMX USB Pro MK2 using the DMX 1 IN and DMX 2 OUT as well as the ENTTEC for input and a Ultra DMX Micro DMX USB Pro for output. Neither approach has worked - establishing a DMX Out device works but kills the previously functional DMX In device. I can borrow another ENNTEC DMX USB Pro MK2 if that's the secret.

All I need it to do for output is control a single channel dowser but I also need it to be listening to the lighting console DMX outputs to catch and respond to cues that require tight coupling of audio and lighting. Am I doing something wrong? Expecting a capability that isn't available? Or did I find a bug?

As always - tech week is in just right around the corner (sigh). Help!
TIA Mark

[dee99]

Hi, can you please send a logfile of this to support@showcuesystems.com, logfiles can be found in your "documents\scs logs" folder.
Also Enttec have stopped supporting the MK2 dongle and have totally removed it from their website. I used to have one but it was unreliable and died on me.

[Mike Daniell]

Mark,

I have a Mk2 which I occasionally use. I'm currently away from home nut return late on Thursday. I can run some tests on Friday. Please send a log file as requested by Dee.

[PhilVale]

SO I've never used DMX IN but often use DMX out and an Enttec USB Pro (might be 2). There is a driver you have to install for it to work and I was caught out by this one on a new PC about a month back because I'd forgotten.

If you'ver not done this it's worth checking the SCS help file and searching for enttec then select Lighting - DMX Devices & Fixtures.

Right at the top there is the necessary info and link to the driver.

Hope that helps.

[BeigheyMW]

Log file attached. It's the configuration of MK2 In and USBKing out.

- Triggered successfully some cues from the lighting console via DMX IN
- Triggered successfully the DMX dowser open/close cues from the SCS interface via DMX OUT
- Failed to trigger the same cues from the lighting console via DMX IN
- Successfully triggered the dowser cues from the SCS interface
- Opened the DMX Test window and sent three cues from the lighting console via DMX IN
Test window showed the DMX input as expected but didn't execute them (which I think is normal for the test window, right?)
Surprisingly, executing the cues from the lighting console now worked again.

That's the frustrating part of the problem - things work fine both In and Out, but . . . Out always works but using it seems to "break" In and using the DMX Test window seems to reset something until the next Out cue. Interesting.

[Mike Daniell]

SCS uses an external package from FTDI (Future Technology Devices International) for sending and receiving DMX, and my tests confirm the results you have reported. SCS can respond to incoming DMX to activate cues, but after SCS has played a Lighting Cue to send DMX, no more incoming DMX is passed from the FTDI package to SCS. I will need to contact FTDI about this, but before doing so I will need to create a simple test scenario, as well as ensuring I have their latest software.

The reason opening the DMX Test Window temporarily fixes the problem is that this function closes and re-opens the interface.

[Mike Daniell]

Dee has done some more investigation into this and found this explanation in ENTTEC Tech Support: USB>DMX: Input & Output. So this is a deliberate limitation imposed by the ENTTEC software to prevent 'data degradation and flickering'.