Is there a tutorial for hooking QLC+ to MIDI events, say like Ableton Live or Logic?

[Jeff]

I've been looking around the web, Youtube, etc for a tutorial on how to link buttons (scenes) in QLC+ to a timed MIDI track on either Logic or Ableton.

I keep landing on pages that show they did it, but nothing on "how-to?"

Anyone would have a link to share?

Thanks!

Jeff

[Maikel Boerebach]

Hi Jeff, what do you want to achieve specifically?
Do you want to trigger a track in Logic/Ableton and a button in QLC+ simultaneously?

[Jeff]

My needs are simple.

I have a couple of Pars and will need to trigger some scenes at certain times throughout an audio file, which will be looped to play for over and hour.

I could assign a scene to a button in QLC+ and link a MIDI note to that button, so whenever that note is played within the loop, it triggers that scene. Then add some more scenes/buttons.

It's the sending of MIDI notes from my DAW to QLC+ that I can't find.

[Maikel Boerebach]

Hi Jeff, this is acutally quite simple. Do you use a Mac? This guide is pretty helpful: https://www.ableton.com/de/articles/usi ... uses-live/
I have tried it and it works great. What i have done is select the IAC-Device as the input in QLC+ and then used that to trigger certain scenes, by grabbing the midi value ableton sends and using that as a trigger. If you need any further assistance i can make some screenshots illustrating how i did it.

[Jeff]

Thanks a lot! I will have a look at that link.

[Jeff]

I just tried that. I used Logic with iAC.

I can trigger once or twice, but then, QLC doesn't seem to listen anymore.

Plus, I set the trigger to "Toggle on/off", but it always triggers a "on" signal.

When I use the Auto-detect, it show a note number and a question mark. "200: ?"

[Daniel Nyström]

I've experienced similar issues. I think there's a problem with the
IAC driver. Try using a Midi Monitor tool to look into the MIDI
messaging. I get very strange behavior, sometimes one single note
press can trigger tenths of both Note On and Note Off messages. Very
weird.


2014-10-20 6:31 GMT+02:00 Jeff :
> I just tried that. I used Logic with iAC.
>
> I can trigger once or twice, but then, QLC doesn't seem to listen anymore.
>
> Plus, I set the trigger to "Toggle on/off", but it always triggers a "on"
> signal.
>
> When I use the Auto-detect, it show a note number and a question mark. "200:
> ?"
>
> ________________________________
>
> Is there a tutorial for hooking QLC+ to MIDI events, say like Ableton Live
> or Logic?
>
> ________________________________
>
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[Maikel Boerebach]

Could you post some screenshots of your setup?
What do you mean with the "on" signal? Does it only turn on the switch once?

[Maikel Boerebach]

Could you post some screenshots of your setup?
What do you mean with the "on" signal? Does it only turn on the switch once?

[Jeff]

I'm including a screen shot of the button' properties.

If I click directly on the button in the virtual console window with the mouse, I turn on the scene and a green frame appears. I click again and the scene stops, as the green frame disappears.

I key in a MIDI note on Logic, the scene starts and the green frame is there. Hitting the key again does not make the scene stop. I also programmed an "all-stop" button. It works once every 5 or 6 times. Most of the time, there's nothing happening. Hitting any key, but there is no effect in QLC+.

If I go back to the Virtual window, I can manually click the button and stop the scene.

[Jano Svitok]

Jeff,

"191: ?" means Input channel 191 without a specific name. Channel 191 is translated by MIDI plugin from MIDI note on/off events for note #63, that is D#4.
"200: ?" is similarly note #72 = C5.

You can check the translation [here](http://www.qlcplus.org/docs/midiplugin.html#channelsmap).

It would help if you can run some MIDI logger to see what specific MIDI event Logic sends,
so that we can adjust QLC+. From the brief look at the sources, the button should be pressed when Note On comes with velocity > 0; velocity == 0 means Note off, and both are ignored.

[Maikel Boerebach]

I have used a different approach. I send the note from my DAW the entire time that certain scene needs to be triggered and set the scene to Flash function. This way as soon as the MIDI note stops being sent by the DAW the scene will stop. This is the most useful way of handling scenes, because you dont need to think of a stop command but only have to worry about the length of the note being sent.
However, I managed to implement your approach in Ableton without any problem. Could you maybe specify how your setup looks inside of Logic?

[Jano Svitok]

If you assign "generic MIDI" profile to your MIDI input, you'll see proper note names instead of "?"

[Jeff]

Thanks JS and MB.

QLC+ only recognizes the first or second note, after that, it is "deaf" to anything I try to input from Logic.

I have to get back to the virtual console and click the scenes with the mouse, then it will "wake up".... for one or two more notes.

Here's the setup in Logic:

[Maikel Boerebach]

I have tested multiple versions and found out that the toggle function needs a decent space between two notes being sent. For example if you want to stop your first scene you send that specific note. Unfortunately most of the times you don't want to go dark between two scenes, so you would send a midi note to trigger the next scene at exactly the same time. I did not manage to get this to work. But: As i described above, setting the QLC+ buttons to flash, makes it possible to make an immediate transition between two scenes. Have you tried that approach? I attached screenshots of my configuration. Since i only have ableton i used that, but it is similar to Logics setup.

[Jeff]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!

You guys are the best!

After trying to get Logic to communicate with QLC+ and had a real hard time, I downloaded Ableton Live demo and was able to create a MIDI track with trigger keys associated to my chaser and scenes.

Using the computer keyboard, I was able to record a simple MIDI track that played perfectly.

The Haunted House is back on track!

PS. I will try to get Logic to talk to QLC+, but if I still can't, and pressed for time, I'll just get the Intro version of Live (and may be able to get a teacher's discount) and be done with it!

[Maikel Boerebach]

Awesome, I am glad you have made it. By the way, if you don't need all of Lives' sound/plugin library you could just spend 100€ on an Akai APC Mini which includes Ableton Live 9 Lite .

[Jeff]

The Intro version is $50 which does not include much in terms of sounds and plugins, but that's fine by me, and they say that there may be a teacher's rebate... so I think I'll go that way.

I got Logic to communicate with QLC+, but it is intermittent. QLC+ will recognize some notes sent but not all of them.

Ableton Live it is, then!

[Charles]

Jeff

Not sure if it's a help but I'm using an Akai LPD8 as a handy control surface.

I've noticed that for most things the Midi Notes don't trigger reliably when used as basic buttons (probably for the reason Maikel suggests), but CC works fine.

[Jeff]

I don't have a control surface, nor do I need one in this particular case.

I needed my lights to follow an audio file. I had some troubles with the Show window, so I went looking for an alternative.

Ableton and the Virtual Console came through in the end.