Technical Support

This probably won't last long on the forum's but after a solid 2-3 weeks of testing. This Software just isn't it.

I'm using ableton and trying to build a light show with a combination of midi sends to queue up banks and programs, as well as automation lanes for dimmers.

The process of mapping automation lanes to ableton is good the first time, but trying to unmap or remap requires a weird combination of exact prcoesses. Unmap here, close out completely, re-open this software first, then remap etc.

That was just the beginning. Someone else mentioned in this forum that the software just feels unfinished and incomplete, and I couldn't agree more. Upon open the UI is fragmented until resized then I can see the usual interface. Just weird stuff like that.

What keeps happening to me is I'll build a show, and then run that show in ableton with the midi program changes and dimmers on automation lanes and it will just crash out of nowhere intermittently. When I'm building I can guarentee it will crash during build multiple times, then I'll have to run the show and let it crash another few times before it makes it through maybe once or twice. 

That is completely unnacceptable for live show situations.

My guess is there just isn't enough devoted time to the dev team internally at Enttec. At least for this software. They have larger opportunities elsewhere I don't think a $75 or $99 a year software is making enough of a dent for them to actually finish this stuff out.

Theres another topic in this forum about Emu crashing when closing. The moderators response was "don't close it with CMD+Q ... close it with the red X" ... thats is a completely rediculous solution to an obvious bug in the software.

If you're looking to use Emu plugged into a DAW, please run from this software. I'm moving to LightKey personally. Its bittersweet because I love the automation lane VST plugin. But its aparent theres something in the architecture to the plugin that is crashing the software.

Sucks I've already paid for the year, but at least I won't have to deal with consistent crashing, and showing up to shows with crystals and magic 8 balls praying to the stars that Emu decides not to crash that night.

Thanks for the response! To be clear I absolutely LOVE this software and the way it works when it works. The problem is mainly these 2 things:

I build live shows in Ableton where we play to live tracks and automate lights from Ableton. I need 2 things:

1. absolute reliability

2. A software I don't need to spend hours through a knowledgebase and back and forth with tech support a few days after purchase

The software is super intuitive and I love the automation lanes in ableton with the VST plugin. It just isn't reliable for me. Ableton crashes across multiple places, sometimes its on a midi note, sometimes its absolutely not.

I'm also in the unique situation where an artist Im building for uses Emu in ableton also. and he's experiencing IDENTICAL issues.

For live applications I need something thats going to be rock solid 100% of the time. I setup a redundant rig for this exact reason, but the crashes continue.

This issue also is also what I'd call "consistantly intermittent" ... it happens 2-3 times first playback, then I'll get MAYBE a full session through in ableton. It crashes in multiple places. So replicating and going back and forth with support would be a nightmare.

A couple responses to things you said:

"if you face some issues that doesn't mean all face them too"
Of course! totally agree. the issue is this specific type of problem has led to 2 outcomes. 1 - I'm going to need to spend some serious time with support to replicate and then try and track down this issue 2 - My trust in the software working live without crashing is completely eradicated. Especially due to the fact its so random. If it was consistent It'd be reasonable to stick with it and try to solve it.

"Most issues caused by users wrong manipulation in DAW"

Again, I'm in a unique situation where the artist I'm working with is using it and the issue is identical and completely intermittent and random ... but absolutely happens multiple times while building and multiple times while just running playback. Also if you're seeing similar issues caused by users wrong manipulation, why not write code to support whats happening? Is that possible? There are dozens of other plugins out there that deal with automation and midi notes that don't point to the end user as the problem

"midi loop issue"

I'm not looping midi at all, nor am I creating an in/out loop with midi if thats what you mean

"Another item which is CMD+Q"

I dont quite understand what you said here but im on latest mac os and latest EMU version and CMD+Q and closing via the top tab is crashing EMU every time still for me

"outstanding support / happy users"
I don't doubt that! In fact I envy you all! haha ... I wish this software was working flawlessly for me, and I know I'm possibly an outlier, but for those in my same circumstance and context in how their using EMU I'd say 100% go another way. Theres a couple reasons:

1 - I think EMU has a smaller user base, therefore a lot of these issues may not pop up quite as often. A software like LightKey has a MUCH larger user base and support.

2 - Larger softwares in the space also seem to have better focus on JUST the software. I believe Enttec has a whole suite of lighting solutions they offer, and I'm willing to be their larger corporate accounts are much more worth their time. Because of that the larger software focused solutions tend to have better put together, more solid, less buggy offerings.

"forum is more for sharing expericen"
agreed! thats why I shared! 

Like I said, this software is amazing! I truly do wish I was able to work it out and I do envy all the useres that are killing it with this software! haha 

But after this experience I just can't trust it live.