Iceman v1.0 - Windows Based 788T Control Software (replacing Goose)

[jawharp]

Hey guys,

 

Here's a new version of my currently Windows-only 788T control software.  It can control most functions of a 788T remotely via USB.  This is meant to be a replacement from here on out for Goose, my previous version.  This should sort out a lot of GUI/scaling issues people were having.  I re-wrote the frontend in .NET MAUI.  It looks better and should scale appropriately across different screen sizes now.

 

Download link and screenshots at the end of this post.

 

Changes from last version:

- Better UI

- Persistent user settings for storing preferred COM port & temperature units. (The gear button by the power button)

- Quick note buttons for quickly adding frequently used notes to takes:  Tailsticks, 2nd sticks, Noisy BG under dialogue, and one custom user button that can be set in the settings menu.

- Better visual feedback for when the app is busy

- EQ Settings are now available in the Input options, but I think they only work if you have a CL-9 attached.  I don't have one, so I can't test this yet.  They should work though.

 

GENERAL INFO:

 

FEATURES
- Fully control the 788T's transport REC/STOP/PLAY
- Edit scene/take info easily for the last recorded and next take
- One-button lettering up to the next scene letter or slate number
- One-button false take
- "Track View" - view track meters, edit track labels, arm/disarm tracks
- "Output View" - view output meters, adjust output attenuation, set output routing sources
- "Input View" - view input meters, adjust input settings such as source, phantom power, phase flip, pan, rolloff, delay, and (soon) EQ
- View and edit file metadata in a take list that shows previously recorded takes
- Unit temperature readout to see how spicy she's getting

 

 

REQUIRMENTS:
Ensure you are using a USB 2.0 or greater cable to connect your 788 to your Windows PC(the plastic inside the connector should be black or blue, NOT WHITE)
You will also need to make sure you have the latest Microsoft .NET Desktop Runtime installed (8.0.4 as of this post).  You can get it here: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/8.0  

 

 

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. To use the software, connect your 788T to your windows computer via its USB port.
2. On the 788T, set your connection mode to "Wave Agent"
3. Open the windows Device Manager and look under Ports (COM/LPT).  You should see your 788t listed with its COM port as "Silicon Labs CP210X USB to UART Bridge."  Take note of the COM port listed with it.
4. Start the software, then select the COM port from the dropdown by the power button.
    (You can also set the COM port in the user settings and it will default to this option in the future)
5. Press the power button to connect to the 788.
6. To Disconnect/Exit, just click the power button again.

The meter view label at the bottom (TRACKS) is also the button to cycle through Output/Input views.

 

KNOWN ISSUES:

The meter scale might not be 100% accurate.  I still need to do thorough testing of it.  It should be good enough for government work.

I wasn't able to test the EQ settings cause I don't have a CL-9.  They should work, but when I try to use them without a CL-9 attached they do nothing and keep reverting back to the default settings when I leave the menu.

The transport colors don't always update correctly.  Sometimes the app will look like it's still playing back a file when you already hit stop on the machine itself.  If you just hit stop in the app it will go back to normal.  I'm still trying to figure out a better way to deal with this but I have a 3 month old dictating my sleep right now and it feels like my brain is made of farts, so it'll have to wait til the next release.

Sometimes the meters do weird stuff like stop updating.  Relaunching the app seems to fix it.  Again, fart brains.  I'll try to fix it at some point.

DOWNLOAD LINK: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fVM0i1qCiY_DpVA5PBCOrUBGXNfaq3Vg/view?usp=drive_link

Stay frosty.

 

 

[ProSoundRecordist]

Ok, very cool. Just downloaded it and played with it a bit. Looks good, I like the interface and colours, I think it works well in daylight and dark sets.

Everything works well and very responsive.

EQ with a CL9 works well, but... Unfortunately it changes the parameters of the next track. So if I go to input 1, everything I tweek (limiter, cutoff,etc) it's affected on that input. But if I go to EQ settings and change something, it does change it but on the next input. So in the example it would change the parameters on channel 2, not 1. And if I try changing EQ parameters on input 8, it crashes and close.

And the "letter up" button still makes it crash if the value is anything but a whole number, so if the scene is 5a, or 195-1, it crashes when asked to increase.

 

Besides that all great, thanks a lot for this and let me know if I can be of help

 

"I feel the need!"

[jawharp]

Thanks for the feedback!  I'm happy to hear you say you like the colors cause I'm red green colorblind and wasn't sure if I was blinding everyone.

 

I think I fixed the EQ issue.  I updated the download link in the first post with the fixed version if you want to give it a shot.

 

The letter-up problem will take a bit longer to fix, but I should be able to correct it by next week.

 

Thanks!

[Aprikot]

This is tempting me to pick up a 788T!

 

Just going off screenshots -- when a track is armed is the "armed" circle green? Wondering if making it red might be better?  Red = hot = armed(?) 

 

(That's how it is in the Wingman app... not that the logic there is necessarily better. If it is in fact red, I'll go ahead and delete this) 

[jawharp]

I avoided red just cause I'm red/green colorblind haha.  I can add an option to change it in the preferences maybe.

[ProSoundRecordist]

Ok, got the fixed file and it works perfectly. Well done 💪🏽

As for the Armed/Disarmed status, I'm attaching 2 photos for Aprikot and others to see how it works. I like it better this way rather than changing colours.

One possible suggestion/request for a future update that would make this awesome, is the possibility of being able to assign the colour to the channel strip, as many times we assign a colour to a specific actor to follow the script.

Again thanks for this

[Philip Perkins]

wow bravo!

 

[Aprikot]

Thanks for sharing the screenshot - the arm/armed distinction looks great!

[Derek H]

This is really cool. I don’t own a 788 but the design is great. SD should hire you to redo SD remote..

[ProSoundRecordist]

Quick question, to edit the notes on a take, it can only be done after recording? Or does it have a way to do it before/during recording?

[jawharp]

Only after, I don't think there's a setting for default notes that it would add to the take.