Controlling lights using DP

[spencer4t]

I was just curious, has anyone here used DP to control lights via MIDI and a dmx controller (led lights possibly) I am looking to sync up a light show to the tracks I am already running from DP. Any suggestions? Thanks

Spencer

[gseibert]

I used to do this when I was playing out. We had VERY elaborate light show using a CP-1 controller (not made any more, but very good for MIDI control, you could control pan, tilt, color, etc. on each individual light separately. Most new controllers only let you specify a program via MIDI). This was back in the 90's and I used an ADAT synced to DP for the audio tracks. Back then the laptops just didn't cut it for multi-track audio. Each song was a separate chunk in a large file. I would create a song chunk that had the whole show in it. DP ran the whole thing, including stop/start of the ADAT. Worked flawlessly except for the time the laptop became unplugged and the battery died in the middle of the show.

[Shooshie]

Before buying or renting a light controller or mixing board, get a copy of a manual. Not just the part that talks about MIDI, but the whole manual. This is hard to do, but I've always persevered until someone coughed up the manual for me. I've got a library of old lighting manuals just a few feet from where I'm sitting.

Check out their methods for light control via MIDI. Some use notes, patch changes, program changes (or both patch and program changes combined to get thousands of presets instead of 127), but the best way for me was always MIDI Show Control. The MSC spec can be found easily on the net, and it's pretty short and simple.

MSC consists of hexadecimal SysEx messages, each consisting of a set number and order of hex "digits" which range from 0 through F. A certain pair of digits mark the start and end of the message, and in between you'll have things like the type of device, device number, control element, MIDI channel, a value done in an ASCII equivalent where the digit 3 prefaces the ASCII digit, so that a number like 127 would be written 31_32_37. Once you figure out the code, it's easy to write the SysEx commands in DP's SysEx editor.

To insert a SysEx command, you choose SysEx from the list of things you may insert into the Graphic Editor or other window using the Pencil Tool. Insert the object, then double click it to open the editor.

You will need to know a lot about the controller or board, which is why I suggest reading the whole manual. I always knew more about our boards than the lighting guys knew, which was an absolute necessity, since they would attempt improper methods of booting that would shut out the MIDI connection. Those instructions are not found in the MIDI sections. When I was doing this the most, lighting guys were still very uncomfortable to let MIDI control their domain (and I understand that), but they would often try to sabotage it and blame it on the MIDI. That's why I had to know my stuff. On some occasions, I was rebooting their boards 3 minutes before curtain, as they had managed to make MIDI fail for the previous hour, and finally the director would get frustrated and force them to let me take over in the final minutes.

I never missed a lighting cue with MIDI in any show I played, except a couple of "off-the-beaten-path" venues where the power kept going off and shutting down the lights. Yes, we had filters, but I'm talking about brownouts down to about 30 volts, and a battery backup isn't going to power that kind of wattage hanging in 150 instruments above the stage and around the room! It was nerve shattering at times, but we always managed to get it running and synched for perfect operation.

I'm sure the technology has come a long way since then. When I started doing it, every LD I talked to said it couldn't be done. Nobody had ever seen it. When I lugged a Mac over to Sunbelt Scenic in Phoenix, and hooked my MIDI Time Piece up to a row of Intallabeams, the whole shop quit working and came to watch. Nervously, I typed in some cues, then ran the sequence. The roof nearly came off the shop when everyone saw those lights kick into action in time to my sequence. Even the owner of the place was humbled: he'd been one of the ones who said it couldn't be done. So those were the early days, and it took a lot of preparation to make sure all your instruments would work properly, to the point that I even created a light-cue database in Excel to help keep track of the cues and moves. When you've got thousands of them, it's easy to overwrite a cue that is essential to every song.

That's all probably old hat now. I'm guessing there are some very sophisticated MIDI controls for lightboards now, but they probably still use MSC. Talk to some LDs about it. Learn what boards they rely on. Learn the pitfalls of all the boards and choose carefully.

By the way, if you're buying, you can get fantastic deals on old technology that still moves lights just as well as the new stuff. Audiences aren't taking note of what kind of moving lights you've got. They just notice when YOU do it well and when you don't!

Just remember one major piece of advice: the LD of your show may not take well to working with a MIDI director. It really is up to you to learn this stuff and to know how to make it work when the LD either doesn't, or attempts to circumvent your control entirely.

Also, you've got to be flexible. It's possible to micromanage the lights from MIDI, but that's overkill. Let the LD work out his sequences, even timed with the music, if he wants, and you might just trigger a sequence every chorus or something like that. I've worked both ways, and I found that the most creative LDs usually have a ton of "patented moves" that are sort of their trademarks. Let them use whatever they want. Your job is really to stay out of the way until there's a gaping hole that everyone but the LD agrees needs fixing. Then you may add cues. Also, don't let the LD tell you how to manage your cues; he doesn't know your side of the deck and what cards you're holding. He'll get your wires crossed and cause you to overwrite cues, if you can follow my mixed metaphors. Mutual respect is necessary in these collaborations that sometimes can be like putting a big cat and a big dog in a little cage together.

Good luck!

Shooshie

[soloact]

You can cram a large light show into a DMX box/brain that's pretty small.
It's called the lanbox and I use it in this video
http://www.youtube.com/user/ericlanevid ... jtIqKTmSTI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'm cuing with a MIDI footswitch at that corporate party. I built a bunch scenes that could layer on top of each other using 3 LED cans, two Martin scanners, and a Martin acrobat. I simply had them setup by color & energy level. Cool scenes, warm scenes, chase scenes, strobe scenes. On any of those scenes I could layer scanner and acrobat scenes. The footswitch was such a quick and dirty solution, I haven't taken the time to program scenes into songs, but the lanbox responds to MIDI no problemo.

The lanbox has been bulletproof, and though it's a netherlands company and the manual isn't the clearest thing in the world, the email support is amazing. I needed a control fixture for the 7 ring led cans (each ring could be independently controlled), and the designer emailed a fixture the same day. He has a US distributer who is also strong with email support.

I use the lanbox LCE -- extremely tiny & powerful, but discontinued.
http://www.lanbox.com/products/LCEDataSheet.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It's been replaced by a powerhouse box
http://www.lanbox.com/products/LCXDataSheet.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This is the editor software
http://www.lanbox.com/products/LCplusSoftware.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Unlike many lighting programs, this one is Mac friendly and scenes are easy to set up. I'd like to see a timeline editor for it vs the spreadsheet approach, but it works great.

[daniel.sneed]

This one could be another choice :
http://www.enttec.com/index.php?main_me ... escription" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[spencer4t]

Thanks so much for your help, that DMXIS looks like it could be perfect for what I need. It never fails, this website has a ton of information on it between all the users. Thanks again.

Spencer