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QLab and Freestyler

Questions regarding general external control forum.
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CHNL
Knows how to turn Lights ON
Posts: 2
Joined: June 27th, 2012, 3:32 pm
I Use FreeStyler for: Theater

QLab and Freestyler

Post by CHNL »

Hi there,

After scanning the forum for a possible answer (which I couldn't find) I decided to join. Am planning to move to software controlled lighting. Based on feedback I understand Freestyler is a possible candidate. There's however one restriction: I'm using QLab from figure53 to control audio and video on a MacBook. QLab is also capable of sending midi messages to any device capable of receiving these messages.

QLab and MacBook are a given. If I use a Windows laptop with Freestyler on it, can I create a stable setup by sending midi from QLab on my MacBook to Freestyler on this separate laptop? Signal from Freestyler would run out via an Enttec Pro interface.

Happy to hear all advice. Thx in advance

CHNL


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Spirit
Pro Supporter! (Moderator)
Posts: 1421
Joined: July 10th, 2010, 8:55 pm
FreeStyler Version: 3.5.9
I Use FreeStyler for: Nightclub Lighting

Re: QLab and Freestyler

Post by Spirit »

yes you can make a Midi conection thru Ethernet.
i'm not sure but LoopBe can do this.
this way you can Create a Virtual Midi connection.
But be shure you sending CC# notes to Freestyler because these are midi only midi notes freestyler understands.

/spirit
AMD FX-6100 (3.6ghz)x6, Nvidia 770GTX 4GB, 8GB Ram,ROG MB, enttec Pro, Open enttec, Velleman, T2250MTS-B1 22"touchscreen, Ilyama 23" screen, scans, dimm, rgbled, laser, soundsystem Just a drive-in show. Live and Dance
gracoat123654
Knows how to turn Lights ON
Posts: 1
Joined: August 10th, 2016, 6:33 pm
I Use FreeStyler for: Theater

Re: QLab and Freestyler

Post by gracoat123654 »

I realize that this is an old post, but I'm using FreeStyler and QLab at the theatre I volunteer at and have about 30 LED lights, 9 channels each.
Additionally we use a lot of projections and sound so having Freestyler trigger from QLab would be a real boon!

I've struggled with this for some time, but finally figured it out. Here's a bit of a long winded explanation as to how I got it to work.

On the PC, I installed this software that’s called rtpMidi
When I installed it, I accepted all the installation options. What this program does is allow midi information to cross through network connections (including wifi!) excluding the need for extra cables.
The only thing I changed from default was the “Who may connect to me” pull down menu option. Choose “Anyone”

Next on the Mac that’s going to be running QLab, (Note that QLAB can’t be open or running while you set this up) open up “AudioMidiSetup”. (it’s in the utilities folder)
Go to the “Window” menu and choose show midi studio.
Double click on the network button.
In the Bonjour Name Field, type in a name that you’ll recognize when looking at the PC’s screen. (It’s going to show up there in a second)
Hit the “Enabled” checkbox at the top.
Under Live routings, ensure that “Network Session 1” is chosen from the bottom of the two pulldown menus. Leave the top one as a - (i.e. nothing chosen)
Under “Who may connect to me”, choose “Anyone”

On your PC, open up the rtpMidi program.
In the directory field, you can see that the Mac’s name will appear there. Select it, and choose connect. (or just double click).
Ensure that the “Enabled” checkbox is selected under the Session area.

Now, on the PC and the Mac you’ll se that in the participants lists each others name will appear there and show the latency. Strangely, on the PC side the latency shows as ??? where as on the Mac it shows 0. I think the question marks are simply showing that there’s not any latency at all. Since you can force latency I think this is why that list is there.

Okay. Onto freestyler.

First things first. Build the show as you see fit adding cues to the list of… Cues.
Once that’s done, go to the “Setup” menu at the top of the freestyler window and choose “FreeStyler Setup”.
Select external control —-> Midi Control.
At the top, there’s a list of Midi Devices to choose from. Select the name of the PC there on both the left and the right. Click Start.
Leave the bottom ones set to “No output”, and don’t hit the start button since we’re not outputting from Freestyler anyway.
A huge list of functions is below there. The one’s we’re interested in are “Toggle Sequence XX”

Back over to Qlab before we teach freestyler to listen for Midi.
In QLab. Add a midi Cue.
In the Basics tab - set the “Post Wait” field to .6 seconds. (this is the big hang up - this is why FreeStyler wasn’t hearing the note properly to toggle the cue. QLab was sending a midi signal that was so fast, freestyle just wouldn’t pick it up. .6 seconds make is so the note is actually “Played” for .6 seconds.)
In the settings tab, on the Midi Destination pulldown, choose “Network Session” (there might be a number in front of it so choose the relevant one that signifies the network connection)
The Message Type is “Midi Voice Message - Musical Midi”
The command is “Note On”.
Channel 1
Note Number 60
Velocity 127 (Freestyler only appears to be able to hear velocities of 127 and QLab’s default is 64. You MUST change it to 127 - I could be mistake on this)

Go back to FreeStyler and click on the Note IN field for Toggle Sequence 1. - A window will appear, just hit close.
Click the Learn Button at the bottom.

Go back to QLab, and under the Settings Tab that we were working in, there’s a “Send Message” button. Click it!

If all is well, Freestyler should pick up the note and populate the fields as transmitted from QLab into the Toggle Sequence 1 row.
Click the Learn button again to stop freestyler’s learning.
Click Save at the bottom of the Setup window.

Go back to QLab once more.
Copy and Paste the Midi Note On Cue that we’ve just created to duplicate it.
Change the Command to Note Off.
Set the Velocity to 0 (zero)

Final Notes:
For every note that QLab plays for .6 seconds, you must have a corresponding “Note Off” command set to 0 velocity. Think of a keyboard that’s playing a note. QLab will essentially press the note and hold it forever. While you’d think that you couldn’t hear it, Freestyler will. The note being played must be released.

When creating new Midi connections within FreeStyler, remember to “Stop Learning” by click the Learn button when you’re done. You also MUST HIT SAVE before FreeStyler will hear the notes and do it’s job.

On both the PC and the Mac, you do NOT need to have the Audio Midi Setup and rtpMidi Programs open for the system to work. If they’re not currently connected, do so and close them up after. (the processes stay running in the background and are extremely lightweight. My tests show less than a percent processor usage on each platform)

On FreeStyler, Ensure that Loop on/off is set to off for each cue unless you specifically create a corresponding “Toggle Sequence X” for each looping cue to stop it when needed. Otherwise You’ll end up having multiple Cues running at the same time.

It’s EXTREMELY important to remember that the Midi signals trigger buttons on the cue list. NOT CUES THEMSELVES. This means that if you make changes to Freestylers Cue list, corresponding changes MUST be made to QLab. Therefore it’s important the that two programs - both FreeStyler and QLab be built and running properly for the production BEFORE you insert your midi on / off triggers.

That’s about it I think!

BEAST DEFEATED.
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