The Search for DMX Lighting Control Software.

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On 2021.06.06

In Reviews, Tech Tips, User Interfaces

At my church, we recently started upgrading our platform lighting system. Our original platform lights, consisted of some old flood lights on a light bar. Over the years, they have slowly died. When we replaced them, we had 3 working lights left. Our platform looked a little anemic. :)

The decision was made to upgrade, so we talked to Sweetwater, and they recommended using DMX controlled lights. That basically meant we could control those lights from a control board or software. We bought their recommendations… Full RGB and some moveable spotlights.

We chose to use software to control the lights. So we purchased the Enttec DMX USB Pro Mk2. It’s a USB to DMX device. A very nice little piece of hardware that does what it should… and does it well.

Enttec DMX USB Pro Mk2

Then began the long and arduous process of finding software to control the lights. Enttec provides a list of compatible software on their website. Unfortunately, much of the software for controlling DMX systems looks like it was designed by engineers. Drunken engineers who wanted to see how many buttons they can put on a screen. And use some really old developer UI tools to do it. I suffered through some truly horrible UIs.

After trying several tools, I found LightFactory. It had a couple of things going for it. 1) a working demo. You get a 1 minute delay on startup… and then you can use the software “unlimited” for 30 minutes. 2) it was reasonable priced. 3) it was one of the few that just worked. (you’d be surprised how many of the software options I tried just did not work)

We are now in the process of tuning and tweaking our lighting. I’ll try to post another piece with some pictures of our new lighting setup.

Bassology Around The World – New England 2020

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On 2020.09.21

In Music

I recently had the opportunity to spend 2 and a half days (well over 15 hours) of training with Anthony Wellington during the BATW New England 2020.

Before anyone freaks… we wore masks and maintained proper social distancing… lots of hand sanitizer. You know the drill.

Back to the good stuff.

I won’t reveal any of the details (it’s not my information to share)… but I can share some things that are already public.

For instance, we covered the 7 String Modes in much more detail than is covered in the linked video. I got to play a 7 string Fodera. Awesome bass… and it really shows you how the modes work, really enforces floating thumb… and sounds wonderful.

I got photo-bombed while playing the 7 String Fodera!

We covered several systems that Anthony created. If you ever get a chance to take lessons from him, or attend one of his workshops… ask him about Texas. It’s a way to learn something that is important to all bass players (sorry, no secrets).

I learned how many chords are in a key (it’s probably more than you think). Secondary Dominants and Tritone Substitutions. We learned about how to identify what key you are in… even when the Root never appears. We talked about why nothing seems to bother Anthony. Anthony talked about “listening to the conversation” when playing. Like… don’t “shout” (play super loud”) if others are quiet. Don’t play super-fast if others are slow… try to use similar vocabulary, phrasing, etc. And then I got to “Trade 4’s” with Anthony.

Ok, I need to digress a bit there…

First off… I didn’t “Trade 4’s”. I was too focused on playing… and totally missed counting bars… so it was like “Eric Plays” -> Anthony Trades 4 -> Eric Plays for awhile… Anthony trades 4. :)

What was truly amazing from that… is this. I went 2nd to last. The other 5 players who went ahead of me are further along the “musical highway” than I am in most areas. So while they were playing 16th notes at 100+ BPM… I knew I couldn’t do that.

So… instead of chickening out (which I seriously considered)… I chose to deviate and play 8th notes. To make it more comfortable for me… Anthony repeated my last phrasing and stayed with the same tempo. I didn’t even realize it until after the 2nd trade-off. He was “practicing what he preached” and listened to me… and then continued that conversation.

Oh yeah… here’s one more photo… we were doing some sort of exercise, so I’m counting on my fingers, and visualizing something in my head.

If you ever get a chance to go to a Bassology event. Whether the “At Sea” or “Around the World” or one of this clinics. Do it. You won’t regret it.

SQL Server – Aliasing an Instance

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On 2020.03.10

In Code

As you may know… I’m a software developer. As with most developers, I want things to work… with minimal intervention.

So, when I started a recent contract (.NET Core Web development), they were using a Git repository… I grabbed the latest, restored the DB backup to my local “full install” of SQL Server…

AND BAM! It didn’t work. Why? The current .config files all pointed to a .\SQLExpress DB. Yes… that’s a named instanced on localhost.

Well, I didn’t want to reinstall SQL Server (which is the only way to change the Instance name). And… I didn’t want to have to edit several .config files each time I pulled the latest changes. And for various reasons, the client didn’t want to switch over to using a “connections.config” file to remove the connection strings from the web.configs. (That would have been best, since I could then just git ignore the connections file, and continue working.)

After a bunch of searching, I finally found someone else who had done what I wanted.

Here is a link to the article “How to Configure a SQL Server Alias for a Named Instance on a Development Machine“. For me, I had to make sure I did both 32 bit and 64 bit aliasing.

TADA! I can now leave the .config files alone, and my local install of the DB (that uses the MSSQLServer instance naming) happily works with a connection string pointing at .\SQLExpress!

Ukulele players jam out to some classics!

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On 2019.04.16

In Music

This was our first event like this in the Bangor area.

WABI TV did an overview of the event (featuring yours truly!).

Inaugural ukulele ‘Mud Strum’ held in Bangor

If you live in the Greater Bangor area (Bangor, Orono, Old Town, Hampden, Hermon, Veazie, Brewer, etc.) – feel free to stop by one of our Ukulele jams.  You can find more details of the groups on the Ukulele Players of Maine Facebook group page.

Keyboard Shortcuts? You need training!

By

On 2017.07.06

In Tech Tips

Keyboard shortcuts are important.  They speed up just about any computer task you are working on.

If you want to train your skills, you need to train.  Check out shortcutFoo!

 

I’m learning the bass guitar – here are my goals for 2017.

By

On 2017.07.06

In Music

Music Goals:

Short Term Goals (next 60 days):

  • To play in church without chord sheets
  • Successfully finish the SBL “Study Piece” challenge.
  • Record Study Piece and publish on YT
  • Record 4 songs (family jams or practices) and publish on YT
  • Start the Blues course from SBL

Medium Term Goals (by the end of the 2017):

Long Term Goals (Within 2 years):

  • Audibly recognize intervals between notes (2nds, 3rds, 5ths, etc.)
  • Get a mixer board and mics for the house recordings/jams
  • Learn to Slap

A Magic Trick with Windows Explorer?

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On 2017.02.26

In Tech Tips

  1. Open Windows Explorer (WIN+E is a handy shortcut)
  2. Click into the Address Bar (ALT+D)
  3. Type the name of an application that is in your PATH
  4. Press Enter.

Your application can be anything that is in the PATH.

Here are some examples:

  • CMD – Launch a command window.
  • winword – Launch Microsoft Word.
  • powershell – Launch Powershell.
  • notepad – Launch notepad.

There are more applications that you can launch. Here is the article form Channel 9 that goes into more detail.

Help! The indentation on my bullet points are wrong!

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On 2015.05.19

In Code

I was recently asked to help someone with some HTML. They said that the bullet points were indenting wrong.

If you look at the Results tab below first, you’ll see the difference. The top is what they had, the bottom is what they wanted.

My first thought, was that we’d need to adjust the CSS and fix/change the styling on the UL tag.

Then I saw the HTML. It was a simple change. Use proper HTML elements instead of P tags with special HTML entities and styling.

VOILA! Easy fix.

Learning SQL – A New Resource

By

On 2015.05.15

In Code

I use SQL all the time at work. I’m a web developer (mostly using the IIS, ASP.Net and MS SQL tool chain).

Anytime I can learn some new SQL tricks or logic, I’m happy (well, actually, anytime I can learn anything, I’m happy… but that another post for another day).

I recently found out that Khan Academy has release a new SQL course.

It’s an expansion on their “Hour of SQL” they did back in December of 2014.

Enjoy!

Ektron upgrade from 8.6.1 to 9.1 “Reference.svcmap” error

By

On 2015.05.12

In Code

I recently upgraded Ektron from v8.6.1 to v9.1 SP1. After the upgrade when I tried to view the website, or run the project in Visual Studio I got the following error:

Parser Error Message: Reference.svcmap: Could not load file or assembly 'Ektron.Cms.Contracts, Version=8.6.1.xx, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=559a2c4fa21e63be' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)

After much headache and many long emails back and forth with Ektron Support, I finally found an article that got me headed in the right direction.

Follow the link above for screenshots and details.

The basics are:

  1. Edit your Web Reference.
  2. Go into the Advanced tab.
  3. Clear the “Reuse types in referenced assemblies” checkbox and OK.

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