Controlling Mixing Desk with MIDI

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alanoneill
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2015 6:59 am
Location: Western Australia
Real Name: Alan ONeill

Hi,
I'm hoping someone can help me get past a problem I haven't been able to work out myself.
I'm trying to set up QLC+ so that a single operator is able to run both lighting and sound for a small amateur theatre company using QLC+ virtual console.
I want to be able to cue scenes that preset microphone muting, microphone effects (e.g. reverb), integrated with lighting changes, recorded SFX, & also manually adjust volumes.

I'm running a Behringer X-Air XR18 mixer using MIDI controls from the same PC as my DMX lighting control QLC+.
The mixer allows control of line levels, mutes and FX effects using MIDI CC commands.
It uses MIDI Channel 1 for line & FX levels (Addr 0-31), and Channel 2 for Line & FX Mutes.

I have set up a new MIDI profile for the XR18, and can monitor all of the line level and mute controls successfully in QLC+.
I have set up dummy fixtures for the various line level and mute controls.
I have also set up sliders in QLC+ virtual console, and can successfully control all of the line levels that go out on MIDI channel 1.

My problem is controlling the mutes on MIDI Channel 2.
Although I have configured the MIDI interface in OMNI mode (channels 1-16), while channel 1 is working, I can't (or don't know how to) configure outputs to MIDI channel 2.
If I set up the MIDI interface to just control channel 2, outputs to the mutes work fine, but I can no longer control the line levels on channel 1.
In OMNI mode, the documentation seems to indicate that I need to output to 4096 * Ch# (i.e. 4097 for output 1 on channel 2), but I'm only able to configure a fixture with a maximum address of 512.

I suspect I'm missing something quite fundamental and obvious here, but I've been searching for a solution for a few days now, and haven't been able to find the answer.

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help.
Alan
alanoneill
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2015 6:59 am
Location: Western Australia
Real Name: Alan ONeill

Hi
I've been able to resolve my problem - maybe not the most elegant of solutions, but it's working for me!!!
Here it is for anyone who's interested.

As before, I have set up the midi profile for the audio desk according to the documented CC messages, channels and addresses.
The midi universe is set up like I am connecting a motorised midi control surface (e.g. BCF2000), with the midi input channel selected and the midi output set as "feedback".

I then set up a second universe with no inputs or outputs defined.
I Create some dummy fixtures for the audio fader and mute controls attached to the dummy universe. I then made a single generic 32 channel fixture representing the various audio channel level controls, and another generic 32 channel fixture representing the mute controls. I could have easily created 32 fixtures of 2 channels each representing the level and mute controls on each fixture - doesn't really matter.

When creating the virtual control desk, connect the appropriate midi control to the widget input. I used a slider for the level controls, directly operating on the dummy fixture channel. The mute is controlled by a button, triggering a function which sets the dummy channel to 255. In both cases, the input control set to the midi channel also generates the appropriate midi feedback output message as a result of changing the virtual desk widget.


Danger: The final *really* important thing is to disconnect the one midi cable from the desk MIDI-OUT to the computer MIDI-IN. If this step isn't done, the desk and QLC+ will fight over control and both the audio desk and QLC+ will oscillate uncontrollably - possibly with nasty results to motorised faders on the audio desk.

Just having the MIDI-OUT from the computer to MIDI-IN on the mixing desk allows QLC+ to output to the desk based on the widget control, but changes directly on the audio desk are not reflected on the virtual control panel... Only a minor downside for my purposes.

Thanks for a fabulous product.
Fatorrh
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2016 10:20 am
Real Name:

Hi. I'm trying to accomplish the same. I'd appreciate some more details, if you please.

Did you need to create a function for every channel strip and mute button?

A few days ago I made something similar, but QLC sendind CC messages to Resolume Arena. As you said, it wasn't the more elegant way, but solved my problem. The big issue it's to scale. I'm sending 100 messages in one channel, but each message has in the Virtual Console: a button with feedback; a function to trigger and the message itself. For that, I create jut one dummie fixture with one single channel. Everytime I need to add a midi message I use the same fixture, but I have to create this same structure (function and button with feedback).

Would help me a lot if you tell me how you relate each channel of your fixture to the desired cc message. If you can show some images would be even better.

Thanks
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