Workspace on different devices with different IO configurations

[Baer]

Hi Guys

Sorry if the Title is not clear, just can't find a better one but i will explaine what I want to do so i hope my problem gets somehow clearer.

I have build my own lighting desk up on qlc+ using an Odroid XU4 as a main processor, with an Ubuntu Mate as OS.
On that desk there is connected an ArtNet to DMX converter with 4 Output universed.
Also for the input section i have 2 Midi Controllers (1 handels 16 Sliders, the other one Handles 128 buttons)

My Virtual console always looks pretty much the same, because my input devices are always the same.
Programming the show on the lighting desk is not a big deal but a would prefere to have the desk at storage and not at my home for preparing a show

Therefore it would be good if a can programm and debug the show at home using my windows pc. Unfortunately on this PC i don't have the Midi Inputs and ArtNet Outputs.
On the other hand it is really annoying everytime you put a new worksspace from pc to the desk to configure all the inputs again.

Ideally i want to have 1 Virtual Console which is the same on windows pc and my lighting desk.

Ideal workflow would be:
Create fixtures and functions on Windows PC
Assing them to the virtual console (which is shared between both)
On loading on the desk the Input/Output section should be automatically loaded is configured.

Hope i stated my problem clear enough and somebody has an idea how to achieve this.

Would be also grad if this can be considered as a feature for QLC+5

Regards
Matthias

[bssmusic]

Hi Bear,
I'm not completely sure if I understood your problem right, but if yes, it seems similar to mine:
If you exchange the qxws between the machines, the fonts do not fit and so on. So:
1. You should at least use the same screen resolution.
2. Windows makes its surface in a different way Ubuntu does. Even different display managers (KDE vers. Gnome vers. Mate) could cause problems. You can only try. AFAIK there is a QT5 version available for Windoze, so an exchange between Windoze and KDE could perhaps work, but I don't know if KDE is not to "fat" for an Odroid...

[Baer]

No that is not my problem

I'll give an example

I have one machine where i have configured some input and output universes (artnet output, midi input aso.) This device is connected to a 128 button matrix.
No on my machine at home i have neither the artnet ouptut nor the midi inputs.

I want to programm my show on the machine at home (the one with not input and output hardware), then copy it to the machine with the output hardware an run it. (Ideally with preconfigured input/output universes) that i don't need to adjust the virtual consoloe to external inputs, and also the artnet outputs are valid.

Maybe someone has an idea?

[Baer]

Sorry for digging up this topic, but I'm still wondering if there is a solution


I will state the problem again:
I have an Odroid XU4 (similar to RaspberryPi but more powerfull) as controller on my self build console.
This device is connected to a bunch of sliders, and a huge amount (>100) buttons via Midi2USB
Also there is and ArtNet to DMX interface connected.

Due to the size of the console it stays normally at the theater. On the one Hand it is anoying to build workspaces on the small monitor attached, and on the other hand I want to to time consuming preproduction at home.

The idea is to use my desktop PC here (Linux and Windows Available)
Unfortunately i don't have neither the input nor the output devices available at home, and due to the price and needed space a won't purchase them a second time.

So I'm looking for a solution to do the preproduction including VirtualConsole Desing at my Desk at home without having to reassing all input and output universes to every VC controller every time i copy the workspace from my PC to VC and back.
The Virtual Console also stays more or less the same everytime, only the assingment of scenes to VC controls changes.

Is this even possible, or if not are there any plans to make this a feature of qlc+5?
If both is not possible maybe some of the developers could give me a hint how the best way to integrate such a feature would be.

[mdmayfield]

If you mean you're going into every single Virtual Console widget and updating its External Input settings, that must be very time-consuming. In my setup at least, I'm not seeing a need to do that.

I'm using Mac OS X with a visualizer and MIDI sequencer at home, and Linux with DMX USB and a different MIDI setup at the studio. The project I'm using has hundreds of Virtual Console widgets, and I've never had to touch any of their External Input controls when transferring between machines. All I've ever had to do is click the correct checkboxes on the Inputs/Outputs tab.

What exactly is happening to make your project lose its assignments? Can you post some screen shots?

[Baer]

Problem is a don't have any input devices at home so a can't create the VC console their.

Need to recheck if the values of the conole elements are also overwritten, but as far is i remeber this was exactly the case.

[igorrobertifoc]

Maybe work with the xml directly? A bit dangerous.. But maybe it works

[janosvitok]

I didn't try but: can't you just assign your input profile to any input/output plugin like artnet, configure the widgets and then reassign the device when you're at theatre?

I believe QLC+ does remember external input even when the device is not connected and they will be there when you connect the device again. However, that will not help you create new settings/widgets.

[mdmayfield]

Can you somehow create virtual MIDI devices on your Windows PC at home? Like with MIDI Yoke or something? When I transfer projects from Linux at the studio using one MIDI device it's remapped automatically to my home OS X machine's IAC equivalent, even when no physical devices are present.

Perhaps if you have two "dummy" virtual MIDI ports on Windows at home, QLC+ will do a similar auto-remapping and enable you to assign the relevant profiles to them and assign external controls to widgets as needed.

[Baer]

Thanks for the replys some good ideas i haven't tried yet.
Currently I'm doing some HW rework on my console so testing is a bit of a problem, but i will do it an come back if an which one of the solutions works best for me.