TOPIC:

Hi Devs,
your kit arrived today, the box has seen some rough handling but no damage (i think) due to your good stuffing!
Now, i have the miniDSP revA right next to me, hooked up to my eeePC (netbook, Win7), the blue led blinks, a HID-device is recognized, all looks ok.
I installed Air and then your Software. I doubleclick on the link ("MiniDSP-2waySUB-V3"), and the app launches.

Problem 1: the layout is too large. Even though i have my taskbar hidden, i cant see the borders, resizing or fullscreen doesn't work. Luckily there's alt-F4
twitter.com/miniDSP
Ok, so i click around a bit, hit "restore" in system settings, then press the sync button. A window pops up ("Connecting to DSP"), then the timeout triggers ("Cannot connect to DSP" or so). I read the Forums, close the app, launch minidsp.exe ("Device Found" & "start application now" or so), then launch the app. I hit the synch-button. Now it connects and i hit the "Sync & update"-button (the top-left one). The app turns grey, the blue led stops flashing for a few seconds, then it comes back up.
Problem 2: The app stays grey and a little black spot shows in its middle (see screenshot).
I wait, but nothing happens. So i alt-F4 out of the app.
To verify i restart the app, hit the Synch-button (top left button reads only "Synchronize" this time), the app turns grey, the black spot appears and doesn't go away. alt-F4.

Two additional points i noticed:
1. When i put the sub in mono-mode, i don't see any difference in the layout, it still shows all 4 channels and i am able to set different values for both sub channels. I'd love to have only 3 channels with sub in mono-mode, avoids confusion
2. The pcb layout is very different from your manual. There's an additional 3pin-Header on board, what is it for? Also, can i solder any 5-24V source to the power connector space?

edit--
hm, looks like i'm too stupid to upload a screenshot... anyway, regarding the delay for minidsp.exe, i'd suggest the use of named pipes in favour of a delay. Its thread-safe and reliable. Also i'd (double)check the returncode in case the minidsp.exe wasn't found or so...

Hello Dalaw,

First of all, I think that we're not going to be able to shrink the UI a lot more... It's already quite tight...Although we could see what could be done, I can't promise anything as I personally think that there ought to be a min resolution for software...

With Win7, please make sure to run the software in WinXP compatibility mode as I believe that's the reason why you're not seeing one of the dialog box (DSP connected) which should prompt you up after a successful synchronize.
Let us know how it works, but pretty sure that it will be fine.

As for your good suggestions on the layout, we indeed plan to link both channels. We'll try to push that feature up in the wish list.

There was indeed a new layout (released about 3weeks ago) and updated manual will be release shortly. The +/-24V is indeed for direct connection of an external DC supply.

With regards to the boot up sequence, we actually already have that solved in our Beta Dev source and it's now working fine. Although none of our PC at the office could reproduce the symptoms, we worked with one member of the community who had problems to investigate the problem. The initial delay suggestion wasn't what was chosen as a resolution so no worries. Anyway, we hope to release the fixed release hopefully this week.

Hope this info helps and showing you that most of your concerns will be solved shortly.

DevTeam

See, resizing of apps is possible since what? 30 years? Minimum resolution is all good&fine, but, if push comes to shove (1024x600), what about scrollbars? This isn't Doom or ProEng... Netbooks & MIDs are the thing these days. Why should i fire up my 300wattseating16gig8coremonstermachine to tweak the settings of an usb device?

Also Windows XP is dead, it's support lifecycle is deadlined by Microsoft. How long do you think miniDSP will be around? The XP compatibility mode is an ugly hack for old software that is not developed anymore. Does your software fall under that category?

Please don't get me wrong, this is some honest critic, no trolling

edit:
oh, and i'd like to beta-test, too

Mmmh let's not get so emotional. Let's chill out, we're listening over here and answering threads/concerns to our best so no need to be so extreme...

1) I think that there was some misunderstanding here.. You should get some scroll bar, if you didn't get them, then indeed something is to be investigated. We'll get the engineers to have a look at it and get back to you.

2) WinXP compatibility isn't that bad as you make it sound (knowing it's a simple right click) while it has to do with some file access limitation under win7 (not running in Admin). It's on our todo list to fix it, but right now have a very busy dev schedule for new products. We never had the problem under our Win7 dev setup as the station is running under Admin all the times. Does this prevent you from using the software? (once again, a single right click is all it takes). Will we fix the problem? Yes we will.

Hope this makes sense,

Sorry, i'm a dev myself and willing to beta test and otherwise help in any way i can. I guess some things just make my teeth ache
Technically there's so much more to the compatibility mode than just a right click (virtual machine). I can't use it without serious performance issues on my limited hardware. Instead i use an XP bootstick for now.
And to solve file access permissions, just create a configuration folder (Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData) and move your config files over. Easy fix, works reliably under XP and Vista too. Oh, and be sure to open the files in the program folder readonly.

Thanks for the suggestions and for your offer on becoming part of the beta team. You can get in touch with us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more info. As for your suggestion on the access permissions, we'll pass along the suggestion on the configuration folder. I believe that one of us had a look at it before but with got dragged back onto another project.

Always another thing to look at..

dalaw wrote:

When i put the sub in mono-mode, i don't see any difference in the layout, it still shows all 4 channels and i am able to set different values for both sub channels. I'd love to have only 3 channels with sub in mono-mode, avoids confusion ...

devteam wrote:

As for your good suggestions on the layout, we indeed plan to link both channels. We'll try to push that feature up in the wish list.

separate from any visual aspects, what happens when I update only 1 of the sub channel settings in mono mode? which one will determine what comes out of the channels 1&2?

Actually, 2.1 structure as of now is as follow:
It's the exact same structure as 2wayPEQ BUT with a mixer before the output channel 1&2, mixing both signals to a single channel.

In other words, you indeed need to copy settings to both ch1&2 to make an accurate mix. The upcoming plug-in version will link output gain/delay/phase/mute for ch1&2 when in mono mode.

Hoping this makes sense

yes, that is clear. thanks.