My quest to get MIDI working on the Avid S3L

During large productions, my team uses QLab to play various sound effects, and to trigger snapshots changes on our Avid D-Show mixing console. I’d like to make use of the same triggers on the Avid S3L we use for our video mix, but unlike the D-Show it doesn’t have built-in MIDI.

According to the Avid Knowledge Base, the Roland UM-One MK 2 is officially supported, but that other class-compliant USB MIDI interfaces should also work. I don’t have the Roland, so over time I’ll try out various interfaces that I come across to see what I can get working.

If you know of a MIDI interface that works with the S3L-X, leave a comment and I’ll add it to the list.

Device Works? Tested Notes
MOTU 828mk3 No 2018-11-18
MOTU Stage-B16 No 2018-11-18
MOTU UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid No 2018-11-18 USB mode requires external power.

McDSP VENUE 6.4.0.15+ plug-ins don’t work on Avid S3L-X

I tried installing the latest versions of the McDSP VENUE plug-ins on my Avid S3L-X today, but they don’t work. The announcement says they are for the S6L, but all past versions have also worked on the S3L, so I’d hoped they would continue working. Alas, they don’t. Stick with the older 6.3.0.11 release.

The specific behaviour I see is that the plug-ins install successfully, as I’d expect, but when I open a show file using one of the plug-ins, they appear with the yellow/red triangle and are listed as “not available”. Plug-ins that I don’t have loaded in the current show file don’t even appear in the tree of available plug-ins, although they are listed on the plug-ins install page.

To get back to working plugins, I downgraded all plug-ins to the previously working versions in the VENUE 6.3.0.11 bundle installer.

[Update: 2020-12-19] I updated the VENUE link with one provided to me by McDSP when I upgraded individual plug-ins to the Everything Pack v6.4 HD.

[Update: 2019-03-03] McDSP released a new VENUE S6L Installer v6.5.0.12. I tried it, and it doesn’t work. They continue not listing support for the S3L, so I’m saddened, but not surprised.

[Update: 2018-10-16] I fixed the link to the VENUE 6.3.0.11 bundle installer. I had incorrectly pointed to a nonexistent 6.4.0.11 version.

[Update: 2018-09-06] McDSP released a new 6.5.0.3 plug-in version for Windows that supports iLok Cloud. I tried this version (via manual install), and it also does not work.

[Update: 2018-09-04] I noticed today that the term “S3L” was removed from the VENUE installer on the McDSP Downloads page, and only the S6L is listed as supported for the 6.4.0.15 release. I’m guessing they have unofficially dropped support for the S3L, although I can’t find any other confirmation to that effect.

[Update: 2018-09-01] I tried manually downloading and installing the 6.4.0.14 version of the EC300 and NR800 plug-ins on a separate Windows machine, copied the installed plug-ins to a USB stick, and installed them on my S3L-X. This also did not work. (I’ve successfully used this method in the past to install the SA-2 Dialog Processor before it was included in the VENUE bundle installer, so I know it works.)

My Audioquest DragonFly Red works on macOS High Sierra again!

I don’t know what Apple is doing with audio timing in macOS High Sierra, but they have serious quality control issues in this area. See my post on Avid S3L-X, AVB, and macOS High Sierra for other troubles I’m having.

When Apple released 10.13.2, my Audioquest DragonFly Red started having strange issues. Similar to the clicking issue with AVB, I was having strange timing issues that sounded like phasing, almost like the individual waveform samples were being triggered at a different clock rate than the audio device. It wasn’t constant, but frequent and annoying enough that I gave up using the device. I wasn’t the only one having the issue.

In any case, 10.13.4 fixed my Dragonfly issues, so I’m again happy.

Avid S3L-X, AVB, and the Netgear GS724Tv4 network switch

I’m part of the audio team at ICF, and learned that we had an unused Netgear GS724Tv4  network switch lying around. The switch was originally purchased to connect multiple AVB devices together, similar to the MOTU AVB Switch, but with more ports, and because the MOTU doesn’t work with the Avid S3L. Unfortunately, nobody had ever gotten it to work with AVB, so I took a stab and wrote up the instructions below.

Using a Netgear GS724Tv4 network switch to pass AVB between a Mac Pro and the Avid S3L-X

I can confirm that the switch works (firmware version 6.3.1.19 tested).

Starting with factory default settings, here are the step-by-step instructions. These instructions came from Updating Netgear GS724Tv4 config for Tesira AVnu certification with one small modification.

  1. Click on the Switching tab, then click on the Auto-VoIP sub-page. In the “Protocol Based Port Settings” table, click the checkbox in the top-left corner to select all ports and enable Auto VoIP Mode for all ports. Then, click Apply in the bottom-right corner.
  2. Click on the 802.1AS sub-page. Set the 802.1AS Status to Enable. Then, click Apply in the bottom-right corner. There will be an EAV advisory note which pops up after you hit Apply, which you can ignore.
  3. While still on the 802.1AS sub-page click on the Advanced > 802.1AS Port Settings. In the purple header row at the top of the list select the check box to select all ports. (Consider to uncheck ports g25 and g26 to prevent AVB traffic flowing into the backbone network.) Enter a value of 5000 for the Pdelay Threshold. Then, click Apply in the bottom-right corner.
  4. Click on the MRP sub-page. Set the MSRP Mode to Enable. Ensure that all other options are disabled. Also, set MSRP Max Fan In Ports to 26. Then, click Apply in the bottom-right corner. There will be an EAV advisory note which pops up after you hit Apply, which you can ignore.
  5. While still on the MRP sub-page click on the Advanced > MRP Port Settings. In the purple header row at the top of the list click the checkbox to select all ports and then select Enable for MVRP Mode and MSRP Mode and enter values of 20 for the Join Time, 120 for the Leave Timer, and 2500 for the Leave All Timer. Then, click Apply in the bottom-right corner.
  6. Click on the VLAN sub-page. Under the Advanced settings choose Voice VLAN Configuration. Enable the Voice VLAN Global Admin Mode at the top of the page. Then, click Apply in the bottom-right corner.
  7. While still on the VLAN sub-page, under the Advanced settings choose VLAN Membership. In the VLAN ID dropdown choose VLAN ID 2, in the Group Operation dropdown choose Tag All. Click the T for ports 25 and 26 to untag these. Finally, click Apply in the bottom-right corner.
  8. Click on the Switching > LAG sub-page. In the purple header row at the top of the LAG Configuration list select the check box to select all ports, uncheck ch25 and ch26, and select Disable for Admin Mode, STP Mode, and Link Trap.  Then, click Apply in the bottom-right corner.
  9. Power cycle the switch.

The one small modification to the instructions was in step 4, where I removed references to MVRP. In my experience, enabling MVRP will cause the E3 to lose connection to its internal network switch, and the only way to fix this is to cleanly shutdown the E3, then remove the power plug and wait for the green power light to go out. I did not test enabling it for everything except the E3. (Apparently this is a known issue — search for VSW-10570 in the “What’s New in VENUE 4.6.1” document that comes with the VENUE 4.6.1 release.)

If you want to use Dante and AVB together, I suggest reading the Using Dante and AVB protocols together on the Netgear GS724Tv4 switch document. As of 2018-01-22 I haven’t tested those instructions.

Avid VENUE S3L-X, AVB, and macOS High Sierra

Long story short, if you need use an Avid S3L-X with macOS and playback via AVB, do not install macOS High Sierra. macOS Mojave works fine, as does the older macOS Sierra, but High Sierra has clocking issues that manifest as constant clicking during playback, rendering the audio unusable.

If all you need to do is record via AVB, macOS High Sierra works without issue.

References

Note, all versions of macOS High Sierra through 10.13.6 are affected.

[Update 2019-03-03] I continue to have no problems with macOS Mojave (currently 10.14.3).
[Update 2018-09-29] Preliminary testing with macOS Mojave (10.14.0) and 64-channel recording and playback indicates that the AVB problems have been fixed.
[Update 2018-07-28] Increased affected versions to 10.13.6.
[Update 2018-06-05] Increased affected versions to 10.13.5.
[Update 2018-03-31] Increased affected versions to 10.13.4.

Booting an Avid S3L-X remotely with Wake-on-LAN

E3 Engine

The E3 engine can be remotely powered on and started using the Wake-on-LAN protocol.

To remotely wake the E3 engine, you need three things:

  1. A computer that is connected to the same Ethernet network as the E3 engine.
  2. The MAC address of the engine. You can get the MAC address by going to the Options > Devices tab and right-clicking on the E3 engine image.
  3. The IP subnet address of the network. (Optional, depending on the software used.)

To shut the E3 engine down, use the VENUE Options > System > Shutdown button.

Software to wake the E3 engine

There are several software packages available to send the special Wake-on-LAN Magic Packet.

Mac

  • Wake On Lan by Depicus (Mac App Store, $1.99)
  • Remote Desktop (Apple, $79.99) – Also useful for controlling the S3L-X remotely.

Windows

  • MagicPacket by DecaTec (Microsoft Store, Free)
  • Wake On Lan by Sepiro Ltd (Microsoft Store, Free)

Command-line

For those comfortable with the command-line, a short Python script will also do the job. Save this script somewhere as wakeonlan.py and make it executable with chmod +x.

#!/usr/bin/env python
# https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/95246/wake-other-computers-from-mac-osx

import socket
import sys

if len(sys.argv) < 3:
 print "Usage: wakeonlan.py <ADR> <MAC> (example: 192.168.1.255 00:11:22:33:44:55)"
 sys.exit(1)

mac = sys.argv[2]
data = ''.join(['FF' * 6, mac.replace(':', '') * 16])
sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
sock.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_BROADCAST, 1)
sock.sendto(data.decode("hex"), (sys.argv[1], 9))

Myself, I keep a copy of the script in my ~/usr/bin directory. To wake my system, I call the command like this, where 172.16.0.255 is the subnet of my network, and 00:90:fb:4a:13:9e the MAC address of my E3 engine.

$ ~/usr/bin/wakeonlan.py 172.16.0.255 00:90:fb:4a:13:9e

Stage 16 Box

The Stage 16 Box cannot be remotely power cycled without additional equipment. Some suggestions include:

  • Furman CN-1800S + Furman BB-RS232 giving control via Ethernet.
  • Furman M-8S (US) or the Furman PS-8RE III (Europe) connected to the GPIO connection from the E3 engine, along with an event (saved in the default show) to latch a GPIO when the system is started. Attempt only if you feel comfortable with electronics. If you would like me to build this setup and demonstrate it, send me an email.

Moving to OS X Lion…

I decided to take the plunge into OS X Lion. Based on previous experience with .0 releases of OS X, you’d think I’d know better than to install another one, but alas I simply couldn’t wait. 🙂 This article will chronicle surprises and workarounds I’ve dealt with along the way.

I have a few different machines at home:
– Late 2007 13″ MacBook
– Late 2009 27″ iMac
– Early 2010 13″ MacBook Pro

The MacBook Pro is provided by my employer, so it won’t be touched.

the iMac

I started with the iMac. Download of Lion was smooth with decent bandwidth. It took a few hours, but I figured it would. Keeping the non-technical user in mind, I figured that Apple would take the approach of removing the installer once it was installed, so I backed up the disk image (http://osxdaily.com/2011/06/08/create-burn-bootable-mac-os-x-lion-install-disc/) to my NAS before installing. Good thing I did as the installer was removed. Install was smooth. No issues.

SSL Issues
The only major issue I ran into was that SSL wasn’t working in Chrome or Safari, which also caused problems for iTunes and the App Store. I run a Squid proxy at home, and even though I don’t have SSL going through the proxy (it goes DIRECT instead), I still had issues. Turns out I needed to check the “Automatic Proxy Configuration” box as well (https://discussions.apple.com/message/15663396#15663396) in the Network Settings, something not previously needed.

Multiple Desktop Screens
The one minor issue I had was that I previously had four desktops, configured through spaces, but I couldn’t figure out how to do the same in Lion. Completely by accident, I figured out that when I was in the Mission Control environment, placing my mouse pointer on the right edge of the screen near the top, caused a plus (+) icon thingy to pop out. Clicking it allowed me to create more desktops. I later found in the Keyboard section of the System Preferences that I could change the keyboard shortcuts to flip between screens. My old settings were carried over from Snow Leopard, so no changes were necessary.

the MacBook

Last night, I stayed up until 03.00 working on the MacBook. Ha!

Knowing that Lion was coming out soon, I figured this would be a good time to also add some RAM and upgrade the HDD in the machine. I planned to go from 2G to 4G of memory, but unfortunately one of the memory sticks I bought seems to be bad as the Mac beeps in a very upset manner, and Google tells me that the particular beep sequence means the memory isn’t passing checks. So, I’m only at 3G instead of 4G.

For the HDD, I choose the Seagate Momentus XT 320G as it has 4G of MLC cache added on, and the drive will cache frequently used things on its own. I

Interesting videos from the TED Women 2010 conference

In my day-to-day job, I work for the most part with men. I don’t mind, but from time-to-time I wonder and think about why there are so few women in my industry. As my interest has grown, I’ve started working with an internal women’s group to support other women in my office in their career and professional growth.

I’m also a long-time TED viewer, and recently got the opportunity to watch a live stream of the TEDWomen Conference through the women’s group. Several of the videos were very intriguing, but only a few were streamed. Looking more through the TED site, I’ve found a couple more that I felt were worth sharing with a larger audience.

Sheryl Sandberg: Why we have too few women leaders
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg looks at why a smaller percentage of women than men reach the top of their professions — and offers 3 powerful pieces of advice to women aiming for the C-suite.
http://www.ted.com/talks/sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders.html

Halla Tomasdottir: A feminine response to Iceland’s financial crash
Halla Tomasdottir managed to take her company Audur Capital through the eye of the financial storm in Iceland by applying 5 traditionally “feminine” values to financial services. At TEDWomen, she talks about these values and the importance of balance.
http://www.ted.com/talks/halla_tomasdottir.html

– k8

The absolute minimum IPC Android Service I could make work

I’m not a Java programmer by trade, but I do dabble now and again with it. As such, I’m kind of slow when it comes to solving coding problems for the first time.

I’m working on an Android project where I want to:
  • do some processing and background downloads of HTML data in a Service,
  • communicate to the service using IPC
  • build the IPC interface with AIDL
Mostly for my own personal reference in the future, I’ve typed up the bare minimum of code I need to get this going again in the future. Because Blogger doesn’t have the nicest of interfaces for editing this post, I’ve included it in my Snippets page.