[ANSWERED] Counter and Pulse in a Closed System - Why Don't the Actors Execute?

Aidan

I am observing some strange behaviour with the Counter Actor which is being pulsed.

I detect when the counter has ended its count and turn off the Pulse actor (feedback loop?).

However, I am experiencing something that seems to be to related 'mutability', whereby the Pulse Actor 'trigger' output is freezing on the Counter 'add' input, in spite of both being of 'trigger' type. I overcame this randomly by simply connecting the Pulse output to a trigger (which is connected to nothing), but seems to have 'mutated' things in the right way. Any thoughts?

Attached is the simple Count to N file and a more elaborate User Actor (which counts in either direction at a given rate and then stops), both of which function correctly with my rather strange fix.

Any thoughts? Count to N.izz

Izzy 3.08f11 , MPB 2019, Mojave.

DusX

@aidan

I think your fix is simply providing an additional path of function, which Isadora requires to Not see the other elements as a closed feedback loop. It needs to pass something somewhere to do something other.

Your User Actor has the xtra Trigger actor detached and still works. This is because you have added User Outputs which provide means for the loop to interact with something else.

Isadora tries to disable feedback loops if they are closed systems.

mark

@aidan said:

Attached is the simple Count to N file and a more elaborate User Actor (which counts in either direction at a given rate and then stops), both of which function correctly with my rather strange fix.

@DusX is basically right, but I want to say it another way to make this super clear.

Imagine this simple, closed system:

Note that the outputs of these actors don't "go" anywhere, except to themselves. Because of this, Isadora "optimizes" the patch by not executing this pair of actors, asking the question "why execute a group of actors that provide no output to any other actors?" It's just a waste of resources if nobody is paying attention to the result.

If you do this though:

Now someone is listening to the output of that closed system, and it will start executing – which you'll see as the 'trig out' of the Trigger Delay actor firing every second.

Does that help you understand what's going on?

Best Wishes,
Mark

Aidan

@mark Oops! My bad, I had omitted the User Output in the User Actor!

Too many late nights coding....!

In compensation, here is the finished User Actor, now more appropriately called Count N Triggers.

It will count from any integer to any other integer, thus counting upwards or downwards.

The trigger rate can be set and it outputs: the current number, the time between triggers, and a trigger out.

Count N Triggers.iua3