Tracks and channel path

[James Shelby]

I have sequenced channels in track 5. I have created new channels in track 1 using the same name and channel information. Then copied and pasted the programming from track 5 to the new channels in track 1. After that I deleted track 5. I noticed the track 5 channels are removed from my animation window, that's fine I don't have a problem with that. My question is will S4 recognize the new channels in track 1 and run them in the show? If I migrate these sequences to S6, will s6 recognize those channels? 

 

[Don]

In S3/S4 if you created a 'new' channel in another track with the same Controller/Circuit ID, the software would actually create an entire NEW channel complete with it's own internal ID (which you never see if you are looking in the Sequence Editor.) At that point you would actually have a Duplicate Channel situation going on. Two channels would be assigned to the same Controller/Circuit. If you 'copy to new track' (I forget the exact verbiage) then you would actually have a copy of the original. 

When you deleted Track 5, you deleted the originals. S4 will see the channels in Track 1 and run them. Though you'd want to make sure you don't have any duplicate channels. As for migrating to S6, there shouldn't be an issue if there are no duplicates.

[James Shelby]

Great that was my big worry s4 or s6 not seeing the new channels, I was told I screwed that up. I had to create duplicate channels from tracks 2, 3, 4, and 5 into track 1, moving all the sequencing to track 1 then deleting all the tracks but number 1 eliminating all the original tracks. 

Edited April 29 by James Shelby

[k6ccc]

It's been a long time since I used S4, but as I recall, Track 1 was essentially the master track.  EVERYTHING has to go into Track 1.  As Don said, copies of channels can be added to other tracks.

 

[James Shelby]

I am needing to move all my channels not found in track 1 but only found in the subtracks into track 1. Then I'm needing to delete those subtracks leaving only track 1 with all the channels. The process just make me nervous, just knowing it should work helps, thanks for your help. 

[Orville]

14 hours ago, James Shelby said:

I am needing to move all my channels not found in track 1 but only found in the subtracks into track 1. Then I'm needing to delete those subtracks leaving only track 1 with all the channels. The process just make me nervous, just knowing it should work helps, thanks for your help. 

No need to be nervous.  I am doing that with my S4 musical sequences to move [I hope] into S6 this year.

What I started doing was I just saved the new single track musical sequence channel config in S4, then start making new musical sequences with the single track channel config.  Then I just copy and paste from the original S4 multi-track sequence to the one track one prepped for moving to S6.  I also created a Directory for the new sequence transition, I named mine S4-2-S6. 

Doing it this way just seems to go smoother and quicker, at least for me.  It got quite tedious adding in DUMMY CHANNELS, then moving channels, then deleting each track. 

BTW: S4 will not allow you to have a completely empty track, I had to add ONE DUMMY CHANNEL to each track, then move the actual channels to track 1, leaving the DUMMY CHANNEL in the track to be deleted with the track.  I had 8 tracks I had to add 1 DUMMY CHANNEL to, then DELETE the tracks with the DUMMY CHANNEL.

Once you've done it a few times it's quite painless really.🙂

[James Shelby]

That's basically what I had to do myself. Most people blast us for doing it this way but I fought this for months and came to the same conclusion, my s4 sequences needed to be rewritten. On mine I had to remove all my unused channels and made a naming scheme that prevented S6 from reorganizing all the channels. It's been a nightmare so far, you would think it should have been like moving from s3 to s4. I had to hire someone else to work on it, I had a melt down and had to take a break.

[James Shelby]

I also found in s6 many channels shifted causing the colors to be wrong in the sequences. 

[Orville]

23 minutes ago, James Shelby said:

That's basically what I had to do myself. Most people blast us for doing it this way but I fought this for months and came to the same conclusion, my s4 sequences needed to be rewritten. On mine I had to remove all my unused channels and made a naming scheme that prevented S6 from reorganizing all the channels. It's been a nightmare so far, you would think it should have been like moving from s3 to s4. I had to hire someone else to work on it, I had a melt down and had to take a break.

I haven't tried importing anything into S6 as yet, and I left my unused channels intact for my old Gen1v2 CTB16PC controller, also left any unused ports intact on all my Pixie controllers, prenamed and set up for what they will be used for in the near future.

So once I figure out the preview aspect in S6 and get that set up, I'll see what happens when I start the conversion process from those updated(new) S4 sequences into S6.

Still got a lot of work to go before I'm ready for actual importing.  Keeping my fingers crossed I get everything set properly, and the transition goes seamlessly, and smoothly.

[Orville]

40 minutes ago, James Shelby said:

I also found in s6 many channels shifted causing the colors to be wrong in the sequences. 

I've had that happen in S4, usually it's because the channel count is incorrect, either more or less channels in a port than what should be there.

If you look into the original sequence and you had set up 100 pixels, then changed it to 150 and didn't update your channel config with the added channels, and even if you did update the channel config, if you didn't add those extra 50 channels BEFORE importing the updated channel config this can happen.

  Even if it's only 1 channel added to a standard AC controller this can happen. 

Every track you copy over must be exactly identical in the new sequence you're creating, 1 missing or 1 too many channels can cause this issue. 

The channel config will only add the channels in it, so if a stray or missing channel(s) are in the sequence when you import the new channel config file, this can happen. 

I just use the Undo command and track down and find the channel(s)/missing channel(s) that usually cause this issue.

Sometimes it takes me several channel imports and using undo to find (all) the channel(s) or missing channel(s) creating the issue.

Yes, it can get quite tedious, and this is just another aspect of sequencing we have to contend with.

Sequencing, creating updates, going to a completely different version, and way of doing things so differently from older versions in the software can get quite tedious.

When they do, I walk away and go work on a different project for my display, like a new prop I'm adding pixels too, or just go take a couple hours off, and watch a movie or TV shows to get my mind off of it, and before stress fully sets in. 

Sometimes I'll just go and run my G Scale trains, or just sit in my garden area, relax, pet my cats, and listen to my large 5-foot tall, 6 tiered waterfall fountain.

I always find something else to do before I'll get too stressed over an issue, and then get back to it when I'm ready to take another look at the issue(s).

And if I really can't figure it out on my own, then I come here and ask for advice on the issue(s) I'm having.

Best of luck!

Edited May 5 by Orville

[Steven]

On 4/29/2024 at 1:03 PM, k6ccc said:

It's been a long time since I used S4, but as I recall, Track 1 was essentially the master track.  EVERYTHING has to go into Track 1.  As Don said, copies of channels can be added to other tracks.

That was the recommended configuration, but it wasn't enforced by the software, which would let you have a subset of channels in Track 1, or even entirely different sets of channels in the different tracks. But it made things so much easier to make Track 1 the master track.

[Orville]

On 7/28/2024 at 1:31 PM, Steven said:

That was the recommended configuration, but it wasn't enforced by the software, which would let you have a subset of channels in Track 1, or even entirely different sets of channels in the different tracks. But it made things so much easier to make Track 1 the master track.

Nope, never used track 1 as a master track.  When I was using multiple tracks, track 1 was specific to my single CTB16PC GEN1 AC Controller, nothing else in it.  Track 2 would be my 2 Pixie 4's, track 3 was my Pixie 16, and track 5 was my Pixie 8 when it was added.

I had other tracks that I used some controllers for Spares or new additions, like tracks 6 and 7 were for 4 pixie 2 controllers, 2 in each track.

Track 8 was for older CCB100D 5V controllers that would control some props I converted using the Cosmic Color Bulbs (5V RGB), mainly for small foreground items like some small RGB Candy Canes I created from old Solar lights or converted from standard incandescent strings.

So, my track 1 was never the master, just the first track of 8 tracks.

It didn't become a Master track until I started moving everything from all other tracks into track 1.e 

One issue I encountered when I tried to use the copy channel to a different track, then if I deleted that copied channel in the track it was copied, would delete both the copy and the original in track 1 or whatever track I was making the copy from. 

Thank goodness for the .bak files, otherwise I'd have lost a lot of work.   Never used, or tried using that option again after that experience.

So, no I have never had, or used a master track at all.  Never had any issues not having one.

Edited August 11 by Orville