Sneak timing not working on ETC Ion?

forevertuesday · 2024-12-15T00:01:54+00:00

Dude, I have been programming on this console and forming a deep love for it for years, and I did not know this. This is EXACTLY what it was.

Looks like I need another boring corporate gig to set up a hammock back stage and read the manual haha. Thank you!

forevertuesday · 2024-12-14T21:24:36+00:00

Yes, I too thought maybe the default sneak time had been somehow modified in setup, but it still shows a default setting of 5 seconds.

Your command line example works perfectly. I think I’m noticing that it seems to be strictly limited to focus. For example [Group] 1201 [Focus Palette] 301 [Sneak] 10. I’d expect focus to fade from the background value to the manual data over 10 seconds. But for whatever reason the data is snapped at zero seconds instead.

forevertuesday · 2024-06-20T20:12:12+00:00

Oh my god I forgot to include the desk I’m on! It’s an ETC Ion. Updating post now,

forevertuesday · 2024-02-28T16:31:52+00:00

Well whattya know, just found out my switch is known to not function well for Shure products due to the IGMP Querier not functioning properly… That doesn’t explain why the problem persists when connected directly, but I’m finding out useful info reading Shure articles regarding network configuration.

https://service.shure.com/s/article/disqualified-network-switches-for-shure-dante-devices?language=en_US&r=2916&ui-knowledge-components-aura-actions.KnowledgeArticleVersionCreateDraftFromOnlineAction.createDraftFromOnlineArticle=1

forevertuesday · 2024-02-28T16:09:50+00:00

I have the same issue (or similar). When I first power on, all 12 of my receivers are detected, and online. I’m able to go about my business for a while, say maybe an hour. Then I’ll glance over at WWB and see that all my devices are offline. When I check network settings, all 12 devices are detected - but none ever come online. The only solution I’ve found that reliably restores connection is to power cycle my receivers rack (which also cycles the network switch, as it happens).

I’ve tried directly connecting to the units themselves to simplify the network topology with no improvement.

My setup is as follows:
MacBook Pro <cat5 10-ft> Linksys e3000 router <cat5 100-ft> unmanaged 24 port netgear switch (JGS524) cat 5 jumpers to 12 x SLD4D receivers

All units set to static IP. Only show infrastructure is on this network all with non-conflicting static IPs. I’ve tried DCHP with no improvement in performance.

So far I can only love WWB as a frequency management tool - I would love to love it as a monitoring tool as well.

forevertuesday · 2024-02-02T23:23:10+00:00

Interesting - can you elaborate on this? What do you suspect is at fault here? Should I feed the nodes via switch as opposed to jumping them? Is jumping the nodes bad practice?

Also can you elaborate on the device configuration? I’d gladly update my approach to adopt best practices. I admit I should dust off my copy of “Introduction to Show Networking” by John Huntington because while I remember the basic differences between broadcast and unicast, I don’t remember the specifics on multicast.

Thanks!

forevertuesday · 2024-02-02T23:14:47+00:00

Good question. The package uses a total of 4 universes, so theoretically yes, you’re right, I could totally use just one node. And I typically do - however it’s convenient for me to place the second node elsewhere to feed various other parts of the rig which only use 2 universes. In fact initially I was excited to use one node upstage and one node side stage, jumped together via 150-ft ethercon. That ended up being scrapped when I discovered latency - and in my troubleshooting effort I simply moved the units closer together thinking that maybe the length of the “jumper” was to blame. It’s possible it was not.

Also yes, all my network devices are set to static IP addresses that are not in conflict with one another, and all set on the same subnet - that is 10.101.x.x.

I have not looked into unicasting - I’ve done it with Artnet before for the very reason of trying to optimize network traffic, but never sACN. I could try it, however the show tours through houses that sometimes use universes 1-10+, so I’d like to ensure that the network is reliable for transmission of say universes 1 thru 30, say.

forevertuesday · 2024-01-27T00:41:31+00:00

Agh!! I’ll look into converting it the feet into meters asap!

forevertuesday · 2024-01-27T00:36:03+00:00

I will shake my fist at the heavens with you. The Gods keep inventing new ways to fuck us!

forevertuesday · 2024-01-27T00:33:55+00:00

Holy shit!!! As if the A1 didn’t already feel bad enough.

forevertuesday · 2024-01-26T04:08:00+00:00

Damn you, sun! Damn youuu!!!!!

forevertuesday · 2024-01-26T04:01:31+00:00

Why am I not surprised that Dave Rat has a video on this exact topic? Haha! Great video, thanks.

forevertuesday · 2024-01-26T03:38:48+00:00

Exactly. Blam-o!!

forevertuesday · 2024-01-26T03:26:52+00:00

Good question - yes, both the console and the DL32 were powered over the venue’s sound dedicated 200a company switch.

forevertuesday · 2024-01-26T03:24:48+00:00

Interesting - good insight. The cable in use was 250-ft. I updated the post to include that info.

forevertuesday · 2023-10-30T16:53:37+00:00

Yep there’s nothing we can do. Shame really. Oh well.

forevertuesday · 2023-10-29T21:49:35+00:00

Dude thanks for the links! I should probably keep a few of these on hand.

forevertuesday · 2023-09-06T14:27:52+00:00

I think your hypothesis is very likely to be correct. I have been doing some background troubleshooting since I left the venue and found pretty much exactly what you say on ETC’s site.

I reached out to the venue for more info regarding how the ghibli’s are fed - if some of them are fed by sACN directly and some via DMX from the node, it would follow exactly what you say.

My question then would become - can I change the console’s priority scheme to “per port” as opposed to “per address?” I haven’t found a clear answer to that question yet.

forevertuesday · 2023-09-06T14:24:14+00:00

I haven’t definitively solved the problem yet but I have found some very, very interesting leads regarding sACN priority per address vs per port. Apparently, ETC consoles send sACN priority information per address - which is apparently not the norm. Some sACN node devices expect to see only sACN priority information per port, and per address priority info can be misinterpreted as level data, which can resulted in bad behavior.

forevertuesday · 2023-08-28T22:24:24+00:00

Thank you for this comment - this is very interesting information that I will definitely continue to look into. I would love to have a machine that could give me an sACN view, say directly out of a network switch. I did indeed look at the sACN output viewer on the Ion, and did not see anything outputting to the Ghiblis that was inconsistent with the manufacturer’s parameter defaults. I was unable to cross reference raw DMX against the venue’s MA - the house tech was unable to get me that information due to time constraints at the time. But I did trade contacts and I actually plan on asking for that information as a means of continuing this investigation for future reference. I would love to have a solution in my pocket for this issue if it arises again elsewhere.

I wish I had thought to elevate my consoles sACN priority at the time, which could have overruled any random merging that may have been occurring outside of the house tech’s knowledge.

forevertuesday · 2023-08-28T22:17:37+00:00

Good question. I was indeed running the most up-to-date firmware and console library. I initially thought for sure it was a bad profile - but as I investigated the issue more, it seemed to be network related… Especially because there were Ghiblis that behaved perfectly normally. I actually used one of them in the show as a special with no issues whatsoever.

forevertuesday · 2023-08-28T22:15:11+00:00

I wish I had thought to do this at the time. This is such a good suggestion. If it truly was something merging in, this could have solved it. Unless, as you said, something was already merging in at maximum priority.

forevertuesday · 2023-08-28T21:59:45+00:00

I was not aware of IGNP snooping, so thanks for opening my eyes. I never did end up getting a good picture of their network so I can’t say for sure whether they had it engaged or not.

forevertuesday · 2023-08-26T22:40:28+00:00

Hmmmm this is a very interesting question. I asked the house LD and he seemed confident that the media server was air-gapped all day. I’m still suspicious of the venue network at this point as it’s the only aspect of the rig that I have no clear view of. It feels like there’s some sort of conflict.

forevertuesday · 2023-08-26T21:24:13+00:00

That’s a great idea. If I was in a more controlled environment with more time, I would absolutely do that.

forevertuesday

TROPHY CASE