Problems with macros

[Daniel Keinath]

Hi there!

I have been trying for some time to configure a couple of macros. I was hoping to create a bunch of handy shortcuts which would make my life with pyramix easier.
But after spending many hours (definitely too many hours) with the macro editor I am now getting more and more frustrated since it seems to me that there are some serious issues concerning the way pyramix handles macros.
When I was playing around with macros it happened very often that they just did not behave as they should in theory. In fact some strange things happened when I was running them, even if they were pretty simple and straight ahead. And I am still wondering if I am doing something wrong since I cannot believe that macros are generally that unreliable.
I suppose one of the main problems might be that in some cases pyramix is not able to follow the fixed sequence of commands that is defined within the macro.
Apparently it happens that commands of the sequence are being executed even before a previous one has been finished. This leads to serious confusions and makes the behavior of certain macros very unpredictable. I think these kind of problems occur especially when changes of the cursor position are applied in a sequence with play or stop commands. Even macro tools like "wait for cursor update" and "wait for active machine running" did not make a big difference.
Is there anyone who can give me some instructions how to address these kind of problems in general? Or is it a fact that certain things just cannot be done?

Let me give you a very simple example of a macro which I was just not able to make it work. Maybe someone can figure out a good way how to make this work:
During a recording session it might help sometimes to have a shortcut which would stop the recording of the current take and then start recording the next take right away. Therefore I need a macro which stops the machine, then automatically hits the return key to confirm the last take as "good take" and then again starts recording.
That sounds pretty simple but as I tried it, it turned out to be just impossible. No matter which possible workaroud I tried, it just did not work since the whole macro had been executed before the popup window showed up. Is there any way to make this work? Is there any way to make a macro wait for a certain amount of time before the next command is being processed?

I'd be really glad if anyone could help me with that!
Thanks a lot!
Daniel
workaround

[Graemme]

Hi Daniel,

It would help to have actual specifics of the steps in your macros. For the one that you mentioned, I wouldn't use a macro at all. Go to the 'Record Settings' window and under the 'Post Processing' section, disable 'Prompt for name after recording.' Then just use your standard record/stop shortcut keys.

What are the specifics of the other macros of yours that don't work?

Graemme

[Daniel Keinath]

Hi Graemme,
thanks for your reply!

As for the example I mentioned, I probably can't do without the "prompt for name" window because this would make me lose the possibility to decide whether I want to keep a take or throw it away after recording (by using Return or Escape).


But apart from that I found that most of my other macro problems can be reduced to a small (but very important) pattern that just does not work.
Moving the cursor position between different locations is one thing I need in almost every macro of mine.
Therefore it is unavoidable to store/recall positions and also to nudge the cursor to left or right.

And here it is... It's hard to believe that this doesn't work. It's just too simple:

- Macro Tools : Recall Cursor Memory 0
- Cursor and Marks : Nudge Cursor to Right

(make sure that a valid cursor position has been stored to cursor memory 0 before)

In other words: Is there any possible way to nudge the cursor after recalling it to a previously stored position? I tried using command "Macro Tools : Wait for Cursor Update" but it didn't make a difference.
The only way I found to work around this was toggeling the machine twice using both "Active Machine Play" and "Active Machine Stop" between the two commands. But this is not a feasible way for macros that are more complicated than the one above since it would make things even more unpredictable.

Thanks for your help!

best regards
Daniel

[Jose Raposo]

Hi Daniel, in my machine everything works fine... I have Isis controller and some macros with my most used fuctions. Note you must êxit pyramix to the macros been stored in macros.
For example I have a fuction like the one you described: touch Play you store a memory to cursor and play, when you touch stop and need to go back to the memory you have stored I hit the reverse play to jump back and Play again from that point. And everything time I need to store a memory a hit shift play to store the memory cursor.
Very simple and works fine when we have a record session.
Also I notice when we update the machine we have to put again some of the macros in its position, some how the machine misses the function.

[davidgleeson]

TBE mistaken post

[Daniel Keinath]

Did you also try to run the exact sequence as described above? i.e. "Cursor Memory Recall" followed directly by "Cursor Nudge"?
Every time I try this, the "Cursor Recall" seems to be skipped and the cursor is being nudged from its previous position.
This is necessarily part of many macros of mine and it keeps me from having lots of handy shortcuts...

Daniel