Is anyone using other software to control FS via MIDI?

[lindsayward]

We run click tracks from a Mac using Ableton Live, which means we should be able to send MIDI out of the program (somehow) wirelessly to the lighting computer to control FreeStyler.

Is anyone doing this?
If so, please tell me how you have set it up? What do I need to make it happen?

Thanks

[Mattotone]

Theres a midi plugin in the community development forum. This will allow midi over wifi

[lindsayward]

Thanks! Do you mean here: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=5115
Just want to know I'm looking in the right place.
Has anyone used it?

I didn't see anything there about what to put on the FS computer when running it over a network.
Would this application go on both computers and one talks to the other one, then in FS you'd set MIDI in to the app (or MIDI-OX/Yoke if you wanted local MIDI control as well)?

[Mattotone]

Feestyler can accept network connections so nothing needs to be installed on the pc with fs installesd

[lindsayward]

Thanks for the reply. So, is the forum page I linked to the correct MIDI "plugin" that you were referring to?

And, is there somewhere I could find documentation/help on how FS can accept network connections?
When I open MIDI control settings, it says "no input"... I don't see an option for network.

[Mattotone]

Its the right page and freestyler is already setup for networking. The addon is new and iv never used it. From what I gather you can only send one command with it. It works seperate from freestylers midi page.

[lindsayward]

Although I'm fairly technically capable, I couldn't figure this method out. The documentation assumes too much.
Even though FS is "already setup for networking", I still have no clue where to look to see the signals it might be setup to receive. I scanned the network document in the help folder, but it's a reference manual not a tutorial.

So, I've installed a program called ipMIDI (which I only found mentioned on this forum once), and so far it's working great.
ipMIDI runs as a virtual MIDI device that I send MIDI signals OUT to on the Mac, so in my sequencer (Ableton Live) I have a MIDI track with notes that get sent to ipMIDI.
Then on the FS computer (Windows) I have ipMIDI as the input MIDI device and it works just like I'd pressed the notes on that computer.
ipMIDI is not free for Windows, so I'm looking at "EthernetMIDI" as well.

I'm going to try Midi Yoke so that I can still use a local physical MIDI controller as well. (My BCF2000 is in the mail.)
I haven't set this up yet, but I think I'll have the following questions:
* It's easiest to use MIDI NOTES (like C for sequence 1, D for sequence 2) in Ableton, but if I have local BCF control, will it want to use different signals? How would I handle that?
* I will load different songs with tracks and would like the same lighting 'show' each time I load a particular song, so is there a way to load a specific cue set with a MIDI signal? Otherwise "start sequence 1" would start a different sequence depending on what was loaded, which would be different...

Any ideas are appreciated!

[Spirit]

hi

you can use the cuelist buttons to load differnt sets of Seqeunces.
as you will notice if you press a Cuelist button all Seqeunces will run automaticly and you dont whant this?
you can press on the COG wheel above the cuelist buttons and select "LOAD ONLY"
this will only load the cuelist and not play the sequences.

and the only Notes Freestyler knows are B0~BF (Control Change, CC#)

/spirit

[lindsayward]

I have spent some time trying to get MIDI over lan working from Mac -> PC for free, and finally have it.
I tried wrapping EthernetMIDI with Wine (to run Windows programs on Mac), but although it ran, the Mac didn't see it as a MIDI device.
I tried asking for a discount for ipMIDI but was unsuccessful.
I tried the nmj MIDI Java program...
Then I found rtpMIDI (http://www.tobias-erichsen.de/software/rtpmidi.html) and so far it works great. I use the "Network" MIDI device in Mac (native) and it finds the rtpMIDI virtual device on the network using Bonjour.

Now I have to program some MIDI in my sequencer (Ableton Live) to set my submaster steps (next/previous) rather than toggle sequence 1/2...

I'm not sure I understand

the only Notes Freestyler knows are B0~BF (Control Change, CC#)

.
I had it responding to actual "notes" (like C#) before, as well as control changes. Perhaps I don't understand the differences properly.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[lindsayward]

OK, so I believe I have it working now, at least in my test case so far.
I actually can still program Live with normal MIDI notes (all full velocity 127), which makes it easy to drag them around the sequencer timeline to sync properly. I obviously have to match the notes I program with the existing setup for the BCF2000. E.g.
G#5 is 92, set to tap tempo,
C#4 is 73, set to next (Go) submaster 1.
The shift function took a bit, but it's fairly obvious (it just didn't work consistently for me, so I thought I was doing it wrong).
F#5 is 90, which is shift
I can program two notes at once, with shift (F#5) starting before and ending after the other note, e.g. C#4 (73) is my "blackout group 1".
This works.
See the screenshot if you're interested. This shows two tempo taps, then a blackout, then a submaster go, then start, then blackout (back on).

AbeltonLights1.png

Fades/knobs (not buttons) can be done using the envelope, as in this screenshot, showing CC 2 (submaster 2 speed) being set. You have to find where 100% is (25 here) first.

AbeltonLightsEnvelope.png

If anyone is actually interested, let me know and I can write up a wiki page on this.

[dmxlighting]

have a look here viewtopic.php?f=87&t=5182 it might interest you

[lindsayward]

Thanks. I wasn't looking for an app, but what I've got now - controlling automatically from Ableton Live.