Using Qtractor with QLCplus - midi triggers and perfectly timed scenes.

RickBrock · Thu Mar 05, 2015 12:47 am

Hi,
I was laid in bed tongight pondering my prolems with not getting to grips with 'Show Manager' and wondered if i could get QLC scenes and chasers to trigger using an external MIDI source.
I originally planned to use Ardour3, but my OS is linux mint and there is a 'pulse audio' issue between mint and Ardour. (I dont understand what or why... i just know it isn't happy)

So i downloaded Qtractor from synaptic and started to play about. I was VERY pleased witht the results and decided to put together a quick 'HOW TO' video (while still in my bed)

Basically, using Patchage, Qtractor and QLCplus i filmed myself making things work... the video (which will be linked to in the comments box below) is here for you to enjoy to... it's in 2 parts because I reached my phone video limit in part 1.
I could join the two parts together into one.... if i knew how.

My point is this....
If you want perfectly timed scenes and things to happen to a piece of music then this is a way forward.... In future I may find myself thinking "Why didn't i just use show manager?" but for now this works a treat.

I assume many things about your ability to use QLCplus.... you will need to read up a few things, especially the MIXXX tutorial (tutorial #6) which is what pushed me this direction tonight.

NOW... I would attach the project I used in the videos... but for some reason that option has dissapeared from the buttons below..... humpff!

Happy lighting folks.
Rick

Massimo Callegari · Thu Mar 05, 2015 2:33 am

Hello Rick,
looking forward to seeing the videos !

The attachment crap is #1 issue of the SF forum. You cannot do it on the first post. So just post and edit it afterward.
Or post and then reply to yourself.

If you are willing to share a QTractor tutorial, I'd be pleased to add it to the GitHub wiki, where the Mixxx tutorial is.

Did you know that QTractor was my first choice when I was looking for an open source software where to put my dirty hands on ?

If that went well (so basically if the author wasn't an asshole with me), now QTractor would have an integrated DMX part, and everything would be "multi-track-driven"

I've sent you an email a few days ago, but I suspect it didn't reach you ?

Massimo Callegari · Thu Mar 05, 2015 2:36 am

Oh, by the way, which problems are you encountering that prevent you from using the audio playback in the Show Manager ?
The more details, the more help

I sense it's getting more and more necessary to create a Show Manager video tutorial...(but who has the time for that ?)

RickBrock · Thu Mar 05, 2015 8:36 am

Hello everyone.
It took 7 hours to uplpoad my video... i spent the time wisely and went to sleep!

Massimo, by all means do put this on the tutorials if you think it's good enough. Thanks again for all your work.

Part one is here http://youtu.be/NLdH1QWrEVU (15mins duration)
Part two is here http://youtu.be/JmBSH_lOISc (2 mins)

The project is attached...

Enjoy

Massimo Callegari · Thu Mar 05, 2015 9:55 am

Hi Rick,
excellent videos. Sorry for your cold

I just have a few observations.

1- I think we Linux users use "qjackctl" for patching audio/midi signals. The author of qjackctl is the same of Qtractor. He also wrote "vmpk" as for Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard. It's an excellent and simple application to test MIDI signals manually. It's on synaptic as well.
To be honest I've never heard of this Patchage you found but I like it with all that wiring diagrams

2- if you are working with notes, you might want to assign the "Generic MIDI" input profile to your QLC+ input universe. So when you do auto-detect, you will see the same note names you picked in Qtractor. This makes life a bit easier

3- I think the long note (C3) you assigned to the chaser, is kind of a mistake. Keeping the note on, and sending it over and over again in loop doesn't make much sense.
In my band's project we did the same (from Ardour) connecting MIDI notes to buttons (assigned to several Show functions) in solo frames. Basically we had one short note for each button and then one short note assigned to a button called "Reset All" to stop the running button/function. The reset button is attached to a dummy function which is different from a "Stop all functions" button.
Actually I noticed that in your second video the chaser starts in one loop and stops at the next loop. I think that is not what you wanted.

Other random ones:

- Qtractor wants to be the bad copy of Cubase. Basically what you shown in the video can almost be ported to Cubase with no further changes
- when you press "play" in QLC+ you go into "operate mode" not "working mode". Seems like the design mode is a "non working" mode

- what you shown is a basic audio/lights playback. Why not doing it entirely in QLC+ ? Watching your videos made me think that at the moment there is no connection between the Show Manager and the Virtual Console. Most likely people will want to interact with VC widgets and the only way to do it with the Show Manager is by creating some dummy dimmers and output them to the loopback plugin. Then connect the loopback signals to VC widgets.
Basically is the same of having external MIDI signals, but instead you just generate internal signals within QLC+

Now I will surely reference your videos in the GitHub wiki, but it would be nice to have the tutorial in text form for those who want to print it on paper instead of watching 14 minutes of videos every time

When I'll have some time, I'll try to do the same tutorial for Ardour and maybe Cubase. That's all I've got at the moment.
To OSX users: come on guys, show us what you have done with Ableton, Logic, Sonar and friends !

Thanks again Rick !

Darrow · Thu Mar 05, 2015 3:35 pm

Interesting videos Rick, similar to some work I have been doing with Sonar on Windows 7.

My main interest is sound-to-light with color responding to frequency, and intensity or chaser-stepping triggered on beats. This is possible using Sonar or any other DAW with midi. The problem is that every song/track has to be built manually. I found ways to make that job easier using Sonar's EQ filter plugins to split frequencies and autogenerate midi to drive QLC+.

After using Sonar for a while I switched over to Mixxx because it has a very good beat detector using a VAMP plugin. Mixxx also has an AutoDJ feature that I like. I can load up any playlist and let it run. No tweaking of Mixxx or QLC+ is necessary. It just runs, tracking beats from Mixxx and frequency from the audio trigger widgets. It's definitely worth checking out if beat detection is important to you.

Massimo, thanks for the great work. When I have the time I will write up my work and maybe make a video if there is sufficient interest.

Heiko Fanieng · Thu Mar 05, 2015 4:23 pm

Dear Massimo,

SF-Forum sucks, i'll quote manually

>To OSX users: come on guys, show us what you have done with Ableton, Logic, Sonar and >friends !

I'dont work with this programs, because i'm not a musician - i'm absolutely talent free

But i use DJ-Programs (Algoriddm DJay, Traktor pro and Mixxx) who can match the beat for me.

After a long time my virtual console works like i want, and i hope after solving the last problems i described here: https://sourceforge.net/p/qlcplus/discu ... /a2a21819/

My goal is to show some of my uses cases and share the experience with Tutorials in the Wiki. At least i want to document it with video, but for that i first net results that i like.

During the learning process with this great software & community i learned a lot, even if some threats here point me to things like i've never seen without being part of this community

Thanks a lot for that,
Heiko