mc² Release Notes - 10.2.4

Breaking Changes 10.2.4.9

Beware - HOME Cluster Deployments running version 10.2.4.9 do not support direct L2 connections into the red/blue media networks, but only routed L3 connections. This may break your installation!

Document Version 10.0 – 2022-09-06

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Introduction

Version 10.2.4 is a minor release version for mc² consoles based on the A__UHD Core Phase 2 technology. Version 10.2.4 adds in various new functionalities to the system.

This software release applies to the following products:

mc²96
mc²56 MKIII
mc²36 MKII
A__UHD Core
A__stage series
A__digital64
A__madi4/6 (running NodeSys 2.4.0)
A__mic8 (running NodeSys 2.4.0)
mc² Compact I/O (running NodeSys 2.4.0)
Power Core Gateway

Breaking Changes 10.2.4.0

Ember Provider Channel metering is now using the Ember streaming format instead of int64.
Compressor and Expander Hold parameter has been removed from the Ember Provider, since it actually is not available in the system.
Physical GPIOs are no longer available in Command Trigger and Ember+ Provider of MCX, but may only be used using TCL. Physical GPIOs need to be connected to vGPIOs in Home, in order to use them in MCX.
The Aux Bus pickup point has been removed, previous Aux Bus pickups are automatically converted to Aux AF (after fader).

Ensure Integrity of Device IDs

Before upgrading to the 10.2.4 release version, please review the integrity of Device IDs between the device agent and the Home Discovery service / etcd. This can be done using the NodeSysUpgrade tool. Further Information about the NodeSysUpgrade tool can be found here https://confluence.lawo.com/x/t9g4Aw.

The steps to use this tool in order to re-sync the live Device IDs with Discovery service / etcd are:

1. Run up node-sys-upgrade, passing the IP address of the NATS server to connect to, e.g. node-sys-upgrade.exe -nats 10.3.123.56
2. Type Scan to get a list of all devices in the system and their software version etc.
3. Type SyncDeviceIds -all to ensure etcd is in sync with the set of live device IDs.

New etcd version in Home 1.4

This new etcd version is not backwards compatible with the previous version of etcd which means downdating etcd is problematic. As a failsafe for any Gateserver based Home deployment, please take a backup of the database first using the command shown below and then copy it off the Gateserver as a backup.

When updating a clustered system the home update.sh script will take a backup prior to doing the update and store it in /opt/home-release/backups/

When running Home on the Gateserver, etcd backup can be invoked using the following command, the backup can be found in /root:

aker:~ # /opt/home/bin/etcdctl snapshot save backup.db

Update redundant A__UHD Cores safely

When upgrading A__UHD Cores that are part of a redundancy group, please follow the procedure below:

The primary A__UHD Core should be active.
Update the passive/backup A__UHD Core first.
After successful update - turn off the backup/passive A__UHD Core.
Update the primary A__UHD Core
When primary comes back online, power up the backup/passive A__UHD Core again.

New Features

2 Fs / 96 kHz Support

The A__UHD Core Phase 2 system does now support 2 Fs / 96 kHz. This applies for all above mentioned products, but the Power Core. The Sampling Frequency can be changed in Home per device, or for multiple devices at once. A network supports multiple different sampling rates, however devices that should work together as a system have to use the same sampling rate.

Dynamic TC Automation Support

Dynamic Automation is now officially supported in A__UHD Core Phase 2 systems. Automation passes < 10.2.4 are not compatible (no matter if created with 6.x or 10.x) and will not be loaded.
Please note, that there are several parameters, that are no longer going to be part of the Automation:

Channel format (Mono, Stereo, Surround)
Bus assignments (Aux Send Levels and Panning are still fully automatable)
VCA assignments
Channel Config incl. Direct Out pick-up point and Insert (Klötzchenreihenfolge)
Upmix (has never been part of the Automation)
Metering pick-up points
Module Link

mc²36 MKII Dynamic TC Automation Add-On

From now on, there is a purchasable software upgrade license for the mc²36 MKII in order to use it for Dynamic TC Automation, called SW AUT mc²36 MKII „Lizenz Automation mc²36 MKII“.
Article Number: UHDAUT36

mc²36 MKII 48-fader Support

The new dual-fader Panel of the 48-fader variant of mc²36 MKII is now fully supported. Make sure to adapt the system type of the console accordingly.

Pyramix OASIS Control Integration

OASIS Control Integration for the Merging Pyramix workstation has been added. The mc² console surface can now be used to remote control up to 256 channel strips of Pyramix. This includes not only Fader, Mute etc. but also all mapable items of the channel strip like EQ and Dynamics. Furthermore, machine control of Pyramix integrates seamlessly with the console.

Supported Features:

Up to 256 Strips / Channels via 256 GPCs
- Fader Level, Mute, Phase, Label (Label transfer only Pyramix to MCX)
- Panning X, Y, Z, LFE, Slope
- Strip Tools / Bus Tools for Gain, EQ, Dynamics
- Solo and Rec arm via Fader User Buttons
Machine Transport Control
- PLAY, REC, RW, FFWD, STOP
- Machine Timecode

Currently not supported:

Metering

Further information on how to configure the OASIS IO of the mc² console can be found here https://confluence.lawo.com/x/Luc4Aw.

LiveView^TMThumbnail Integration

A__UHD Core Phase 2 systems now support Video Thumbnails and Image stills in the Channelstrip again. Supported Video Thumbnail Providers are V__pro8, V__link4 and V__remote4. Image stills can be uploaded to the console manually, custom Image stills are now located in /data/config/mcx/user_thumbnails.

Further information on how to configure Thumbnail Providers can be found here https://confluence.lawo.com/x/aOc4Aw.

Contained Versions

MCX 10.2.4.0-b114
HOME 1.4.0.5-b62
NodeSys 2.4.0.56

Changes

10.2.4.1

Fixed: Home Cluster: config.js file needs modification in order to make the UI be able to connect.
Fixed: Redundancy Group UI elements missing in the Home UI.
Fixed: Routing towards Virtual Device Proxy receiver breaks the receiver.
Fixed: Loading a Snapshot in Home may only bring up the confirmation pop-up briefly, but blank the entire page, without the content of the Snapshot being loaded.
Fixed: home-agent does not handle trailing white-spaces gracefully.

10.2.4.3

Fixed: mxUpdate does not show proper prompt on connection attempt - this is an UI only problem, the actual functionality works fine.
Fixed: MCX: Losing connection to NATS broker may result in redundancy failover.
Fixed: Data partition does not get allocated for XCS, XCS deployed with 10.2.4.0 do not store configuration.
Fixed: mc²36 MKII: Internal A__UHD Core cannot resolve nats.home - static IP configuration for the Home Server is required.
Fixed: Thumbnail assignment pop-up cannot be invoked.
Fixed: Automation VAP 1 and VAP 2 are missing in the default GUI configuration.
Fixed: GPIOs getting lost when doing a snapshot load in Home.
Fixed: OASIS: No parameter changes transmitted, when loading a Snapshot
Fixed: Bug 21362 - AfV Value for Falltime cannot be set lower than 3000ms if the Channel is controlled by a VCA Master > the VCA is default set to 3000ms
Fixed: Bug 21816 - Automix ON status recalled when assigning VCA
Fixed: Bug 21924 - Metering cluster not applied to invisible channels
Fixed: Bug 21971 - UserGPIs not being available via Ember+
Fixed: Bug 22040 - Audio artefacts at certain Delay values.
Fixed: Bug 22052 - Delay and Hold times do not support decimal values in Ember+
Fixed: Bug 22149 - Passive initialization & garbage collect leads to loss of all ext. signals
Fixed: Bug 22151 - correlations metering not working in Ambit.
Fixed: Bug 22153 - Arbitrary noise/tone on sender stream from UHDCore after system update.
Physical GPIOs routed to MCX are no longer exposed in Command Triggers and Ember+ provider.
Various mxUpdater and Image Creator improvmements.
Short labels do no longer automatically append format indication (e.g. M).
Reset Input Metering on Bank & Layer changes.

10.2.4.4

Fixed: Bug 19544 - Couple does not work for VCA Assignments.
Fixed: Bug 22181 - A__UHD Core: No warmstart will be written after update 2.2.x -> 2.4.x.
Fixed: Bug 22194 - Reveal in Place: Revealed faders switch back to underlying assigned DSP when touched.
Fixed: Bug 22198 - RebootSystemCold only performs a warmstart.
Fixed: Bug 22204 - Missing function which checks source settings switch for consistency.
Oasis Io: Fixing label transfer for Pyramix mix buses.
Introduced capture window for joystick position, allowing to capture position of non-motorized joysticks.
Fixed channel label ISO being missing from the Iso Set matrix.

10.2.4.5

Fixed: Bug 22228 - VSM Ember+ facade (glow matrix) does not allow disconnecting in A__UHD Core Phase 2 environments.
Fixed: Bug 22236 - Cannot set permanent isolates on DSP channels.

10.2.4.6

Fixed: Bug 22232 - MCX vGPIOs cannot be routed to NodeSys GPOs.

10.2.4.7

Fixed: Bug 21950 - HOME: N73 RAVENNA Card Device Proxy broken.
Fixed: Bug 22112 - HOME: Creating a RX on an EXT Device and connect after disconnect RX is duplicated and cannot be connected anymore.
Fixed: Bug 22203 - Thumbnails stop working after XCS failover.
Fixed: Bug 22206 - HOME: Ember+ Connection Changeover seems to be blocked/delayed when constantly trying to change gain.
Fixed: Bug 22237 - Signallist connects lost after connecting TX uhdcore stream to a second RX I/O node stream/HOME wipes all signal tag entries in UHDC which leads to problems in 1 TX to n RX stream routings.
Fixed: Bug 22238 - Colors of PAD and 48V Buttons are swapped on GUI.
Fixed: Bug 22239 - Fader strip unassigns when faders is isolated and bank is changed while any fader is sensed.
Fixed: Bug 22244 - Metering flickers when releasing fader.
Fixed: Bug 22245 - Production load incorrectly modifies joystick notch position.
Fixed: Bug 22251 - Channel config copy doesn't work.
Fixed: Bug 22252 - NodeSys: Complete loss of streams after Nodectrl warmstart while A-Matrix connects are present on receiver which has been deleted.
Fixed: Bug 22264 - Output DSP is not synced for destinations which receive the same sender stream.
Fixed: Bug 22268 - NodeSys: Product Description shows up multiple times in Ember+ providfer.
HOME: NATS reconnect buffer size change, to improve behaviour after devices or HOME servers disconnected from the network for a period of time.
HOME: Ignore group leaders rather than all group members when computing Connected Sources in StreamDsts.
NodeSys: Improved update from older versions (< NodeSys 2.0).
NodeSys: Fixed some issues with mDNS, when using A__ with the Power Core as Ember+ consumer.
NodeSys: Fixed an issue that loglevel entry can be empty.
NodeSys: Fixed missing routes in interface specific routing tables.
NodeSys: Changed PTP summary interval to 2^7=128sec.

10.2.4.8

Fixed: Bug 22301 - Channel Strips on Channel Display are not updated during production load when the target strip is empty.
Fixed: Bug 22303 - Load Production can lead to the creation of production.surgery file when executed multiple times.
Fixed: Bug 22305 - OASIS labels overwrite internal signal labels in MCX.

10.2.4.9

Fixed: Bug 22000 - Sync system time of NodeSys devices to NTP not possible
Fixed: Bug 22034 - Surround Aux X Panning not working.
Fixed: Bug 22120 - Device Proxies lose Location, if Device is offline and Home reboots
Fixed: Bug 22188 - Using Umlaute in Labels creates issues in the Signallist page
Fixed: Bug 22235 - TFT Display zeigt auf manchen Bildern Streifen
Fixed: Bug 22237 - HOME wipes all signal tag entries in A__UHD Core which leads to problems in 1 TX to n RX stream routings
Fixed: Bug 22243 - Phasenversatz wenn 2 Group OUTS bestehend aus G1/G8 zusammen mit G>9 gemessen werden
Fixed: Bug 22247 - Missing thumbnails from stream provider after mcx redundancy takeover
Fixed: Bug 22254 - Performance problems on A__UHD Core due to interrupt storm on network interface.
Fixed: Bug 22257 - Nova73-Proxy routing not possible if strm0 assigned to RV Link.
Fixed: Bug 22280 - Bus Downmix Matrices not working correctly
Fixed: Bug 22300 - Inherit source for thumbnail assignments doesn't work
Fixed: Bug 22306 - MCX user labels edited via ember become unchangeable in mcx signal list. Expose Signal and Channel Label modified flags via Ember+ to make users able to reset those on demand.
Fixed: Bug 22314 - Automix Groups affect all Vmixers in pooled systems
Fixed: Bug 22315 - Channel Handler snapshot load synchronises only first channel for source settings
Fixed: Bug 22316 - Multiple GPO messages from mcx in the system which might lead to delayed GPO events.
Fixed: Bug 22322 - A__UHD Core Status Tooltip cannot handle UTF8.
Fixed: Bug 22326 - Missing UTF8 encoding for Signal Parameter Channel Labels
Fixed: Bug 22334 - Wrong HW gain of MIC/Line resource after switching off/on IO device.
MCX: Mono Tones can now be used for Stereo and 5.1 Channel Tone Custom Function.
MCX: Stereo Spill Custom Function does no longer purge the Channel Label.
NodeSys: Changed default Payload ID of Output Stream Senders from 96 to 98.
HOME: Show SDP stream name in connected source when source is not known to HOME.
HOME: Add Loki and Grafana to the HOME Cluster release package.
HOME: Power Core proxy now uses SDP session/stream name as sord label for senders. Also correct Power Core type number and network names.
HOME: Power Core proxy now supports internal routing for heterogeneous configurations of Ravenna IP senders and receivers.
HOME: Fixed device proxies screen may be blank.

10.2.4.10

Fixed Bug 22304 - Swapping back from a RDP connection to GUI_0 the Screen Control Encoder stops working and edit fields (like snapshot names etc.) cannot be modified anymore.
Fixed Bug 22331 - Sense pop-up window not appearing for Source Settings module.
Fixed Bug 22349 - String for loglevel is missing after update which results in high CPU load.
Fixed Bug 22365 - Senders are created with false DSCP tag of 56.
MCX: Removed secondary IP address from System Settings until a proper IP representation is in place

10.2.4.11

Fixed Bug 22436 - Console machine control not working.
Fixed Bug 22385 - Segfault in HOME IO with HORUS device
Fixed Bug 22474 - Automation. Invalid playpass can lead to mcx crash
Fixed Bug 22475 - GPIO state and connect changes not send immediately
Fixed Bug 22377 - UHD Core randomly does not play audio in UHD RXes if many RX Streams are active >130
Fixed Bug 22328 - Audio IP Senders may generate false IP header checksum
Fixed Bug 22189 - GPIO changes from mcxs via Home to A_ device too slow

Known Issues

Bug 22205 - De-Esser Suppression Band Listen not working.
The MCX Ember+ Provider does not send updates after Snapshot load.
MCX redundancy failover may render Automation data corrupt.
MCX redundancy failover may require reloading Automation, when writing an automation pass.
Ext Keys are limited to 8 even though A__UHD Core provides up to 32.
MCX Signallist: Auto-increment in Label pop-up does not increment a number, if it is part of the string but not at the end.
MCX Signallist: Auto-increment in Label pop-up adds a number, if there is no number at the end of the string.
MCX Signallist: RTW Metering Outputs not listed in Misc > Matrix/Monitoring Outputs.
MCX Signallist: AES3 Signal L and R legs cannot be labeled independently.
USB file transfer not yet supported, if system uses external (redundant) control system (XCS).
User-assignable monitoring buttons not yet assignable, but must be routed manually.
mxGUI: Host-only Adapter IP address is not displayed properly in mxGUI.
mxGUI: When using mxGUI on macOS based systems with retina display, it is necessary to adjust the resolution macOS is using to run VirtualBox. Go to Applications, right-click VirtualBox and select Show Package Contents. Continue to Contents > Resources > VirtualBoxVM and press command + I. Now check the option Open in Low Resolution.
A__UHD Core: Dynamics Metering not working for Surround Masters.
HOME: Tie-Line Streams between A__UHD Cores don't bring up corresponding Signals in the mc² Signallist, use External Tie-lines as a workaround.

Known Limitations

mc²/MCX Control System:

User Lists in the Signallist not yet supported.
De-Esser ist not yet operable in ISO BAY mode.
Power Core^RP and LCU Integration not yet supported.
Label Transfer for Waves Plug-In Integration not yet supported.
OASIS Label transfer only works from Pyramix to MCX, but not the other way around
HOME UI cannot yet be displayed natively inside the console UI.

A__UHD Core:

A__UHD Core redundancy does only work for HOME native devices.
A__UHD Core redundancy is not supported with NATS Relay (NATS messages forward by the A__UHD Core on Gateserver systems) L3 network routing required.
Reference Level / Headroom settings cannot yet be adjusted, being fixed to 24 / 0 dB.
RX statistics not yet supported in the WebUI.
Front display control / interaction not yet supported.
Factory defaults sets the device to DHCP.
Reference Sync when acting as PTP GM has to be configured using Ember+.
Sync Input does not yet support Video Sync.

A__mic8, A__stage series, A__digital64, A__madi4/6, mc² Compact I/O:

Input / Output metering not yet supported.
RX statistics not yet supported in the WebUI.
Enabling/disabling/editing senders and receivers not yet supported.
A__mic8: Front display control / interaction not yet supported.
A__mic8: Factory defaults / upgrade from RAVENNA Suite Butler sets the device to DHCP.
A__madi: Second and third bridges do not report health data.
A__stage / A__digital64: FAN LED does not yet display the correct status.

HOME:

User labels for Signals are not yet supported.
DHCP/DNS is not supported, when HOME Services are located on the Gateserver.
Radius Authentication is currently not working with Cisco Catalyst 9300A switches.

mc²36 MKII:

Point-to-point mode for mc²36 MKII with directly connected NodeSys I/O systems is not yet supported officially.
HOME does not handle mc²36 MKII as a single item, instead of 4 single components (MCX, A__UHD Core, VMS, Local I/O).

For a more detailed list of possible limitations, please refer to the Comparison Reference List - Nova73 vs. A__UHD Core.

Breaking Changes History

PRODUCTION / SNAPSHOT INCOMPATIBLITY: Release Version 10.2.0

Release 10.2.0 introduced incompatible hash-codes, resulting in newly created external device signals in the console, being incompatible with the ones being restored from productions and snapshots. Release version 10.2.2 is required, in order to properly load and restore production files coming from 10.0.2 and 10.0.0. This only affects native Home devices like A__line devices. External Tie-lines and Third-Party proxies are not affected by this. Productions created with 10.2.0 are not compatible with versions > 10.2.0 and need manual porting! If this is required please reach out to AP PL!

BREAKING CHANGES: Version 10.2.0.x introduced breaking changes compared to previous versions

Over Snap Incompatibility:

Over Snaps that have been created with 10.0.0 or 10.0.2 release versions are not compatible with 10.2.0 and will be discarded!
Over Snaps that have been created with 6.4.0 release versions are compatible and will be loaded.

Behaviour of receivers of A__UHD Core and A__line (NodeSys):

If one routes a source stream with fewer channels (S) than the receiver (R), then only the first S audio channels of the receiver will have signal.
If one routes a source stream with more channels (S) than the receiver (R), then only the R audio channels as specified by the receiver will be present.

Ember+ Provider:

The panning granularity of all DSP channels and GPCs has been changed to +-100. Depending on the implementation of an Ember+ consumer, this may break compatibility!
Output DSP gain parameter range has been changed from -128 ... 15 to -4096 ... 480 with factor 32 in order to be consistent with other gain parameters in the Ember+ tree.

BREAKING CHANGE: Version 10.0.2.6 introduced one breaking change about NATS Relay configuration!

If the system relies on NATS Relay on the A__UHD Core (the A__UHD Core forwards NATS messages from media networks to a Gateserver in the management network, this is e.g. mandatory for mc²36 MKII) you have to adapt your system by invoking the following command on the Gateserver:

rm -r /data/config/homerm -r /data/config/nats/cluster.conftouch /data/config/nats/leafnode.conf

BREAKING CHANGE: Version 10.0.2.5 introduced one breaking change in the Ember+ provider!

Output DSP gain parameter range has been changed from -128...15 to -4096...480 with factor 32 in order to be consistent with other gain parameters in the Ember+ tree.

BREAKING CHANGES: Version 10.0.2.1 introduced breaking changes with respect to TCL configuration and Ember+ provider!

TCL Configuration File Locations:

Please be aware that from now on MCX expects its TCL configuration files in a different location. The location has been changed from /data/config to /data/config/mcx.

This change affects both physical systems, as well as mxGUIs with an externally mounted mxgui_config_share and in the case of the latter it affects the configuration for each product type individually.

For physical systems and mxGUIs the new versions include a helper script migrateEarlyPhase2Config (that can simply be invoked from CLI) to convert a set of configuration files to the new structure. In case of a physical system the script has to be executed once and then has to be followed by a reboot of the system.

For mxGUIs multiple conversions can be performed subsequently by passing an explitcit base path as the one and only argument to the conversion script.

Please note, that further custom configuration files (such as Mackie HUI or special custom configs) might need to be adapted manually!