I am working on some Virtual Console improvements.
Do you like the idea of having external controllers mapped on the Virtual Console that can be imported and used with a couple of clicks ?
Here's the BCF2000.
I'm willing to do some more for Korg nanokontrol 2 and maybe LC2412
Beyond profiles...
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Matthew Marks
Erm... that's very pretty 
, but apart from simulation/testing when you don't have the hardware to hand, I can't think of a compelling reason for it. I'm willing to be corrected though!
What would be lovely with a BCF2000 is what was suggested elsewhere: a layer of abstraction to allow the faders etc to control more than one thing. For instance, when editing scenes you could assign a couple of physical buttons to move you between the fixture tabs, and the physical sliders would pick up the sliders for the displayed fixture and fly to the values set. Another couple of buttons could move you between scenes. You could also use rotary controls to move quickly, but I would suggest the faders didn't fly until the control was pressed in. My cat is amused enough by them as it is...
, but apart from simulation/testing when you don't have the hardware to hand, I can't think of a compelling reason for it. I'm willing to be corrected though!What would be lovely with a BCF2000 is what was suggested elsewhere: a layer of abstraction to allow the faders etc to control more than one thing. For instance, when editing scenes you could assign a couple of physical buttons to move you between the fixture tabs, and the physical sliders would pick up the sliders for the displayed fixture and fly to the values set. Another couple of buttons could move you between scenes. You could also use rotary controls to move quickly, but I would suggest the faders didn't fly until the control was pressed in. My cat is amused enough by them as it is...
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Massimo Callegari
Well, then Virtual Console is useless in general if you use an external controller, It just shows what you can see with your eyes on your controller.
My point is (apart for look&feel) that when you select an input profile, it takes half an hour or so to map it to your Virtual Console. (LC2412 could take more than a hour)
If every profile has an already-mapped frame that you can import in your VC with just one click, then all you have to do is to assign your functions to a pre-existing layout.
As for your suggestion, BCF2000 is kinda useless for most moving heads in the market, since they usually have more than 8 channels.
In any case, you always need to consider that QLC+ tend to cover an average usage of many users. Some of them, like you, use MIDI controllers, some others OSC, some others ArtNet, some others mouse and keyboard.
Auto-patching QLC+ sliders to an external controller wouldn't make everybody happy for sure.
That's my cross to bear
My point is (apart for look&feel) that when you select an input profile, it takes half an hour or so to map it to your Virtual Console. (LC2412 could take more than a hour)
If every profile has an already-mapped frame that you can import in your VC with just one click, then all you have to do is to assign your functions to a pre-existing layout.
As for your suggestion, BCF2000 is kinda useless for most moving heads in the market, since they usually have more than 8 channels.
In any case, you always need to consider that QLC+ tend to cover an average usage of many users. Some of them, like you, use MIDI controllers, some others OSC, some others ArtNet, some others mouse and keyboard.
Auto-patching QLC+ sliders to an external controller wouldn't make everybody happy for sure.
That's my cross to bear
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Matthew Marks
No I wouldn't say the current virtual console is useless because it can be optimised - the representation of the physical controller may have lots of unused stuff cluttering up the screen. And the screen can show a lot more than one controller, so with some sort of patching system you could view a whole load of things simultaneously and switch between groups of them to control (whereupon they would "jump into focus" to indicate which ones were active).
Add the rotary controllers and you have 16 things to twiddle on a BCF2000. Ignoring for the moment the awkwardness of deciding which to assign to sliders and which to knobs, would that cover most fittings?
I wouldn't advocate this patching to be done automatically - it would be a user option. If I can find the time to understand the program deeply enough then I'll try to add it myself some day. It's proving hard enough finding the time even to get 14-bit MIDI values finished.
Sorry to hijack the thread!
Add the rotary controllers and you have 16 things to twiddle on a BCF2000. Ignoring for the moment the awkwardness of deciding which to assign to sliders and which to knobs, would that cover most fittings?
I wouldn't advocate this patching to be done automatically - it would be a user option. If I can find the time to understand the program deeply enough then I'll try to add it myself some day. It's proving hard enough finding the time even to get 14-bit MIDI values finished.
Sorry to hijack the thread!
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Chris
I bought a Livid Alias 8 midi controller last weekend and have been playing about with it with QLC+.
I was considering making up a "template" just like this.
Also I think it would be very useful to be able to save whole scenes from the function editor, and whole frames of controls in VC via an export/input arrangement in QLC+. I've done some brute-force manipulations like this by very careful text editor cut & pastes.
I was considering making up a "template" just like this.
Also I think it would be very useful to be able to save whole scenes from the function editor, and whole frames of controls in VC via an export/input arrangement in QLC+. I've done some brute-force manipulations like this by very careful text editor cut & pastes.
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Willy_Pinguino
in my experience, virtual consolle and hardware input MUST work together.
I've used it with BFC2000 and moving heads for many things, like call macros or see better the values or the colors of certain machine...
but the configuration is often very boring...
well the best option would be a panel where config easly the hardware... something like a virtual console where you can select a prebuild hardware or build your hardware in your virtual hardware configuration, selecting visually the hardware component to use adding the related control. If this panel could save profiles separately from projects and recall it easly, someone could make a profile for an hardware and share it to everyone...
at the same time would be fantastic if in the same panel would be configurable an easy way to load a multi layer configuration, changing on the fly the actual configurtion of the real controls, where an 8 fader control board can drive a 200 chanels show...
the other big improvement could be to make some layer where a specific device is configured on a particular hardware (e.s. a MAC2000 Profile device, configured directly on the BFC2000 layout) with a matrix of buttons in the virtual consolle where become possible select directly single or multiple devices and jump directly at the right layer configuration of the hardware input to controll it/them.
I've used it with BFC2000 and moving heads for many things, like call macros or see better the values or the colors of certain machine...
but the configuration is often very boring...
well the best option would be a panel where config easly the hardware... something like a virtual console where you can select a prebuild hardware or build your hardware in your virtual hardware configuration, selecting visually the hardware component to use adding the related control. If this panel could save profiles separately from projects and recall it easly, someone could make a profile for an hardware and share it to everyone...
at the same time would be fantastic if in the same panel would be configurable an easy way to load a multi layer configuration, changing on the fly the actual configurtion of the real controls, where an 8 fader control board can drive a 200 chanels show...
the other big improvement could be to make some layer where a specific device is configured on a particular hardware (e.s. a MAC2000 Profile device, configured directly on the BFC2000 layout) with a matrix of buttons in the virtual consolle where become possible select directly single or multiple devices and jump directly at the right layer configuration of the hardware input to controll it/them.
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Willy_Pinguino
about your example, like you know the BFC2000 can have multiple configurations recallable from some buttons combinations.
probably the more usefull function of an interface that you work on, is a way to see optically in what configuration mode you are, what page of buttons and potentiometers is selected now (maybe assigning a colour at the background of any single page and change it when another page is selected)
probably the more usefull function of an interface that you work on, is a way to see optically in what configuration mode you are, what page of buttons and potentiometers is selected now (maybe assigning a colour at the background of any single page and change it when another page is selected)