Vista and crashes

Originally posted by dylanwalker Can I suggest as a priority for adding to the release, adding temporarily to the help file: - a list of links to online tutorials (e.g., the ones provided in this thread)? - I think the "well known" vista solutions could also go in there...  - and maybe any other recurring issues with known solutions/workarounds

Aurora is working on a manual/help file, but they are a bit busy with the issues that Michael mentioned above.  As for the other stuff, that's why we have this forum.

We can't include the Elvis song because licensing it would be cost prohibitive for a low volume product such as light sequencing software.  Still, for tech support purposes it helps to have a "known good" sequence included with the program.  Just prior to 1.0.0 the test sequence was Wizards but that sequence had become dated and needed updating since it was created with 0.2.0.  Eventually we'll license something else (probably cheezy) from one of those royalty free catalogs and create a test sequence for it so that we can include the audio with Aurora.

Alright, I undersntand what you are saying so let me reply again.

Hey everyone,

thanks for your responses.

1) The problem is that people that initially install the software would probably like to take it for an immediate test drive (this is what the included sequence is for, no?  I couldn't even register my software, because the quick start menu prohibits access to the main toolbar.  In order to do this, you first have to create a sequence (which means choosing an audio file and waiting for the software to process it, etc... )

2) Actually I have a lot of uses for light sequencing that don't include sound.  I like to run my lights on a nice looped sequence for many hours during the holidays (and I suspect my neighbors would not be pleased if I was constantly running music)... Muting the audio is OK as a workaround, but its silly that a user should have to make an xx minute long audio file of silence just to get an xx minute long sequence. 

3) Actually, I simply didn't see any default image at all in several instances (could this be because I had not yet added channels?).  I realize what the visualizer does and have used the one in spectrum before... but it did crash out on me in my quick 1-channel test example.  This along with the other crashes has given me the feeling that the software is a little unstable (and I've had crashes ruin hours of sequencing work, as I'm sure many others here have as well, so I want to make sure that the stability issue isn't insurmountable before I dump hours of my time into it)

4) I think rewind is crucial!  Again, the software is very similar to spectrum and I found myself using the rewind in spectrum frequently to get a sense of how my sequence was evolving. Now there are surely ways to work around this, but I think the lack of a rewind is pretty counter-intuitive... and would it be a hard feature to implement?

Tonjymartin, thank you for providing the tutorial links;  I realize many of this is out there (and I think you're assuming since I have no experience with THIS software, that I have no experience whatsoever)... but all the links your provide are surely useful to anyone reading this as well and thank you for trying to help. That being said, I think your response to me was a little unwarranted.  I do not expect to "master" a software in a short amount of time and I don't think my complaints reflect that. And I don't need to be dressed down. The software crashes in multiple instances (even if this is a consequence of the flow routing to a software exit and it's really just one crash; I didn't tell the software to quit, and it probably shouldn't)

Many of the issues I have mentioned (software crashing out at multiple places), (install not including the media files for the "example" sequence that is "ships" with) are things users would expect from a commercial software product that is "ready to ship".  I think those things matter, even if there are workarounds that allow you to use the software successfully. 

As to the issue of creating a sequence without audio, I really would like this feature. I am migrating over from spectrum, where creating a lighting sequence without audio is easily accomplished (and no, it isn't just "random lights blinking"... give me a break).  I think the solution of creating a xx minute long audio file of silence is a poor solution to the problem and I suspect that the feature of supporting audio-less sequence would not be an insurmountable addition, in the future.  Also, suppose I want to create an audio-less light sequence and I am not yet sure of the length. I think this would be a great feature.

Please realize that I'm not asking for any of these things to be resolved overnight.  It is a bit frustrating, though, to be migrating away from a software and losing features that were very useful.

Hay, welcome to Aurora, good to have you here. I'll see what I can comment on for you.