DMX 512s(Obey40) as a wing(input)

Ask a generic question about the usage of QLC+, not related to a particular operating system
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vector
Posts: 83
Joined: Fri Sep 23, 2016 9:25 pm
Real Name: Mark Sy

HI all,
Reading thru the manual Im unsure so thought Id ask b4 spending lots of time fiddling with things I dont understand.
Is it possible to use one of the many typical DJ like DMX controllers, eg Obey40 or the numerous generic clones as an input to control the scenes etc in QLC

Ie setup you virtual desk in QLC with the buttons and sliders attached to your chasers and scenes etc, then using the Entech input dmx channel which is connected to the output of the obey and map the plethora of buttons and sliders on the obey to the buttons/sliders on the virtual desk.

I believe thats what a wing is?
Can this be done with the cheap dj units? When you press a fixture button and move a slider on the obey, it chugs out a DMX stream. Map a dmx channel/value to the virtual slider and we have a cheap hardware wing?
janosvitok
Posts: 1266
Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2015 7:05 am
Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
Real Name: Jano Svitok
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Hi,

you can use a sliders of a controller like that. You map it to a DMX channel, and in QLC+ you use that channel to control a slider in virtual console.
Problem is with buttons. They either have special function (record/play/blackout/...) that is not mapped directly to any DMX channel, or they are flash buttons
that are mapped to the same channels as sliders (which means you can't distinguish whether a flash button was pressed or a slider is at the top of its travel).
You may use fixture buttons as pages, so that you get many more "virtual" sliders (although I think it's better to use QLC+'s own paging feature).
Note also, that if you unselect all fixtures, all channels go usually to 0, meaning it will reset all your sliders in QLC+.
So, to have Obey40 work as a controller with 8 sliders you need:
  • select first fixture
  • select PAGE A
  • make sure blackout is not enabled
For these reasons, it's easier to use controllers that have reasonable MIDI output. To find out capabilities of devices, either check their manual or: I've used Behringer LC2412 and it sends values from almost all faders and buttons over MIDI, but there are more candidates. Avoid those that have MIDI IN only (like Obey40).

Finally there are specialized MIDI controllers like Behringer BCF2000 that have motorized sliders. These have the advantage that if you switch pages, sliders will
move to their position automatically.


SUMMARY/TL;DR: you can use DJ controllers, if that's what's already on your desk. If you're going to buy a controller, read the above :)
vector
Posts: 83
Joined: Fri Sep 23, 2016 9:25 pm
Real Name: Mark Sy

awesome response.. see I knew there was more to it.

on another project we are using the behringer x32 with a few spare channels so that might be a way to solve that one I will look it up.

re the obey 40s. I happen to have one that is sorta faulty, well quirky so another option was to gut it. and use an arduino or something to build my own wing.
Yeah weird I know, one project, budget of $2 and my time is worth squat and project two, $$$ and no time :)

much appreciated
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