85 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
85 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
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Title: a VJ's joy of using PC - part 1
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Date: 2013-07-05 12:33
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Category: blog
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Author: admin
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Slug: a-vjs-joy-of-using-pc-part-1
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Tags: geeksauce, vjism, english
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Thumb: /library/Man-Shoots-Daughters-Laptop-Over-Facebook.jpg
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In my previous
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post
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i elaborated on my recent decision to switch from Mac to PC. Such
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drastic changes of course influence my work in various ways. Some things
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were expected, others surprised me. Of course i was aware of obvious
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things like suddenly having to deal with graphic card driver settings,
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not being able to use my beloved Mac VJ software
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([VDMX](http://vidvox.net)) anymore and losing out on technologies like
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[syphon](http://syphon.v002.info).
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...then I got reminded of what it's like, having to work on a Windows
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PC...<!--more-->
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Using a windows machine, veejays get a completely different choice of
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software than in the Mac world. I decided to use
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[Resolume](http://resolume.com), because I like the interface and the
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overall look and feel of it. I tried [Arkaos
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GrandVJ](https://www.arkaos.net) and it just didn't feel right. I tried
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[Livid Cell](http://www.lividinstruments.com/software_cell.php) and
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closed it after a minute.
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[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/28227392[/vimeo]
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The Resolume setup was straight forward and it works incredibly fast on
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my machine...until i tried mapping my MIDI controller to the software...
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WTF \#1: I connected my [M-Audio Trigger
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Finger](http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep05/articles/triggerfinger.htm)
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that had served me so well in the last years to the computer, expecting
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it to work rightaway. Error message: "the USB device cannot be
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recognised." Fine - i am on Windows 8 and it's a fairly dated
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controller, so the system probably just wants drivers. I found the
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drivers on their website, installed them - no result, same error. I
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started plugging the Trigger Finger to all the USB ports I have,
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including the one on the side of my attached USB Apple keyboard -
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and....what? Windows detected it and installed the drivers
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automatically! But i got another error message: not enough power on the
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USB port. I plugged it back directly into the computer - "device not
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detected." Eventually i plugged a small USB hub and attached the Trigger
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Finger to that - and it works! WTF? On Windows 7 and 8 it doesn't work
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plugged directly, but only via a hub. Does anyone have a logic
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explanation for that?
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WTF \#2: Resolume saw my MIDI controller, so i put it in MIDI mapping
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mode to assign my knobs and buttons to different functions. It worked on
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two buttons and then Resolume just froze. I tried it over and over, with
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several restarts, but it always froze. I even tried it with Resolume 3
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and with a cracked Resolume 4 Arena version - same thing. In fact, with
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any kind of mapping mode enabled, Resolume dies. I was lost. I even
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tried to edit the XML files by hand to assign MIDI to Resolume, but I
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stopped, because that couldn't be the solution. I started to think about
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32bit Software vs. 64bit Operating System. Maybe that's it! Or maybe
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it's just Windows 8. I rummaged through my shelves to find a Windows 7
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Ultimate installation CD and went through the whole setup process on a
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secondary partition. After all the painful driver installations for my
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ThinkPad were done, i installed Resolume 4. I entered MIDI mapping mode
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and YESS!!! it works..........for a minute, then it freezes. Same
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problem. I figured it must be my hardware. The most probable thing might
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be the [NVIDIA Optimus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Optimus)
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switchable GPU magic. I rebooted, force switched the notebook in BIOS to
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only use the [NVIDIA
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K2000M](http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-Quadro-K2000M.76893.0.html)
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adapter, restarted twice until Windows understood that the intel onboard
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HD graphics adapter is gone, and tried again in Resolume. BAM! It all
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works fine and smoothly now. Including being able to map my MIDI...
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...it just took around 7 or 8 hours to just connect a fucking MIDI
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controller to my computer and map it to my software. SRSLY????? It would
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have taken 4 to 5 minutes on my Mac...............but let's not think
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about that.
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07So\_lJQyqw[/youtube]
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...at least i learned something about my system! priceless!
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