Undocumented TranzPort replay function for BIAB

I discovered this by messing around with my TranzPort, which is several rooms from my computer. With an increased use of Real Tracks, I wondered if it were possible to avoid waiting for Real Tracks to regenerate every time I pressed Play on the TranzPort. This is particularly annoying since I cannot see the computer and kind of wonder (with wireless) if the command 'took', until I hear the count-off.

If you press Shift+Play, you get Replay!

Although I reported this to PG Music and to Frontier Design, it hasn't made it into any documentation. Even with the improvement in regeneration time with BIAB 2010, this tip still is useful to avoid any delay in starting your BIAB song unless all the tracks are frozen.

You can pencil this onto the PDF printout from Frontier Design for BIAB here: http://www.frontierdesign.com/download/pdf/TranzPort/BiaB_Layout.pdf
and the Button and Data Wheel Functions documentation here: http://www.frontierdesign.com/download/pdf/TranzPort/BiaB_and_TranzPort.pdf

Awesome tip, Matt!!! Love it!!! Thanks for sharing!

Cheers,
Mike

You're welcome, Mike. I just updated the post to include two links to documentation, if you didn't have it.

Hey Matt,

Hope you are doing well. I am on the fence about this Tranzport. Is it worth the price? Does it work as mentioned? I would really like to have something like this for late night 1 person sessions, but I don't want to buy trouble. I see that they have discontinued it. Any idea why?

Thanks in advance,
Ed

Hi Ed.

Everyone I know who has a TranzPort loves it.

It is an indispensable item in my house, to control a (slightly noisy) computer from the studio, which is several rooms away. It works great in SONAR, Adobe Audition, and BIAB. I replaced the batteries once in three years.

The moderator at the Frontier Design forum (the manufacturer) was unclear about why it was discontinued, implying the product had run its course and that everyone who needed one already bought it, like fiberglass sailboats. I don't buy that logic at all, and my theory is they are re-evaluating the chosen wireless frequency, in light of all the radio frequency spectrum changes (at least, in the USA).

Even though it is discontinued, the Frontier Design website does not say that, and they still support it; they just posted a Windows 7 driver for it in November. If you want one, there are still retailers who have them in stock, but act quickly. PG Music sells it, too, here: http://www.pgmusic.com/tranzport.htm but I notice the video isn't working.?

Does this mean BiaB can be controlled by hardware DAW controllers now? That would be great! I'll give it a try tonight.

Just this one, to my knowledge.

BIAB has had native TranzPort support built in for awhile (year or two; have to check). It's a great feature.

Just a bit expensive, for a gear that is no more built, and support for how many time ?
no alternative gear at all ?
I hear a lot of system to control lwirelessly some midi software. like with a DS of nintendo or an i-phone
here's someone who try
http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2006/11/nintendo-ds-hacked-into-cool-wireless.html
http://code.google.com/p/dsmi/downloads/list

It would be a great if there"s anybody that can program something like this for BIAB

No luck with the Yamaha 01X

Ah, well. Just a little while and BiaB 2011 is available

Quote:

Just a bit expensive, for a gear that is no more built, and support for how many time ?

I'm not sure what some of your post meant, but about the support issue, please consider two things. First, Frontier Design released Windows 7 drivers even after they had announced the Tranzport was discontinued. I would call that remarkably good support. Second, PG Music (not Frontier Design) writes their own drivers to make BIAB support the Tranzport, so PG Music would have to decide to drop that support in future versions. That doesn't make much sense to me, and I have much more faith in PG Music's good intentions than any other music software company.

Quote:

Just a bit expensive, for a gear that is no more built, and support for how many time ?
no alternative gear at all ?
I hear a lot of system to control lwirelessly some midi software. like with a DS of nintendo or an i-phone
here's someone who try
http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2006/11/nintendo-ds-hacked-into-cool-wireless.html
http://code.google.com/p/dsmi/downloads/list

It would be a great if there"s anybody that can program something like this for BIAB

You don't need to wait for BiaB 11 ... You can have it now!

I've got another idea that some of you might be interested in. Actually I can't take full credit for this as an electronics engineer friend of mine suggested it when I was ready to toss out some of my electronics 'junk'.

Originally I had been thinking about setting up another PC to act as my media 'server' for my home network. Really, the idea was to be able to watch Internet movies, MP3 downloads and my wife's photography business all from the comfort of the living room via this server and then wirelessly on to a receiving unit on my entertainment center. Well then after I got researching things (which took awhile), I found that I could use a MS-Xbox as my receiver and thus, save me the cost of buying a $300 dollar receiver (plus this would encourage my wife to say yes).

Well, one thing led to another and my electronics friend seen how many bins full of old computer parts and stuff that I had and well ... He starts rumaging around and pulls this out ... then that .... by the time he was done, he had my stuff all over the living room floor!

Long story short ... Anyone who has ever used a programmable / learning-type entertainment center remote control can figure this one out ...

I took an old Radio Shack infrared send/receive unit that I was gonna throw out and I put the send unit in the living room and the receiving unit in proximity of my server in the family room. Remember, those old things were not RF (radio frequency), they were line of sight infrared. Now these units used RF to send from the sending unit to the receiving unit (via a little antenna like your FM radio has). Then the receiving unit takes your remote control signal and relays that onto anything in it's sight that is waiting for a signal. So ...

Next step is, I took an old PC infrared receiver that came with one of my old Diabetes testing machines. The new one's simply plug into the USB port to download my readings. The old one's were simply a IR receiving device that goes to a 9-pin Serial Port (remember those days)? Well, then the IR unit attaches to a 9-pin to USB adapter. Plug it in and even Win/7 see's it and it's ready to receive any signal sent out by your Radio Shack IR unit. So, now we have one unit in the living room (the send unit), one unit in the Family Room where this server PC is (the receiving end of it), and now an IR receiver attached via Serial Port and then onto the USB port. Got the picture? Next, assuming you're using Vista or Win/7 or Windows Entertainment Pack, you simply start up your Windows Media Center software (comes already packaged with your operating system).

Next step is to connect your TV (or as in my case the HD home theater receiver) using an HDMI cable. Finally comes programming your learning-type remote control (to take control of your PC via the Windows Media Center software via the IR signal bounced through to the other room). Now the cool thing about this is that for the cost of ... well almost zero for me, I'm able to control my PC (a network server) from the Living Room and I now have access to all my song files, all my photographs, all my HD videos, all Internet browsing and all Internet movies (many of which are absolutely free)! But, that's not the kicker ... The kicker is that since I've linked all MP3, MIDI and even MDU files to run BiaB, I can do the the same thing that you're doing with this feature you've mentioned here .... and then some!

It's really a lot easier than you think too. If you don't think you can do this, take a copy of this post down to your Radio Shack or electronics store and they'll set you up with just exactly what you need. Oh, and by the way, I found out too that Playstation now provides this same service as the X-box 360 does. Anyone who is subscribed to Dish Network or Directv or Hughesnet can get info about this feature on their web sites.

One last thing ... for those of you who don't like wires or who have a long distance from your server PC to your television / entertainment center / home audio system, there's a solution for you. You can purchase a totally wireless send/receiver for your HDMI and the nice thing about these is that you'll be able to control output to other TV's in the house! Is that nice or what!