External MSC MIDI Triggering

[gazzer82]

We have used the M-Audio uno on hundreds of shows, and never has a single issue, they do look a little delicate, and we do reterminate them to F connectors. Some of our are over 4 years old and still going strong.

[SourceChild]

Try to Avoid the M Audio Unos if you can. I found many problems with them when I was rushed into a show. The 2x2s seem to be the best simple solution I've found and are quite robust.

I've since found that Medialon is a nice way to control triggering.

If you're going to be using a lighting controller to trigger catalyst then MIDI is the wrong way to go. Use a single DMX channel and the Catalyst Preset Trigger.

In the inBuild web server it will show you how the DMX profile is setup. This is truely a simpler way to run catalyst presets.

[gazzer82]

I have to disagree with you there, we own nearly 50 of the UNOs and use them constantly on shows that involve standard midi (note on/off, program change) MSC and MTC and have never had a problem that didn't eventually transpire to be caused by something else. In fact we have run MSC command over 100m of XLR using nothing but passive jumpers in the past, and even with that weak a signal they have been solid.

Exactly what problems have you experienced, are you sure there wasn't something else at blame?

Try to Avoid the M Audio Unos if you can. I found many problems with them when I was rushed into a show. The 2x2s seem to be the best simple solution I've found and are quite robust.

I've since found that Medialon is a nice way to control triggering.

If you're going to be using a lighting controller to trigger catalyst then MIDI is the wrong way to go. Use a single DMX channel and the Catalyst Preset Trigger.

In the inBuild web server it will show you how the DMX profile is setup. This is truely a simpler way to run catalyst presets.

[SourceChild]

Exactly what problems have you experienced, are you sure there wasn't something else at blame?

On one occasion on three machines, the UNOs would not connect. Drivers were removed and reinstalled (from a terminal level). Still didn't connect. In both cases, I swapped the UNOs for 2x2s and they worked fine.

On three additional occasions using different machines, after reboot the UNOs did not come online and had to have drivers reinstalled.

In every case, switching to a 2x2 or something better has worked. I will admit though that I haven't used an UNO since Fall 2009. Maybe the drivers are fixed.