Universe input type - MIDI or not

kproth · Sun Jun 11, 2023 11:52 am

From within slotInputValueChanged(…) in vccuelist.cpp (or generically, from any virtual console widget’s implementation), is it possible to lookup the external input universe’s type and determine if it’s MIDI or not? I’m doing something in custom code that needs to know if the original input was in the 0..127 midi range or the 0..255 dmx range. I.e., what was the raw value before the input handling code ran it through MIDI2DMX.

janosvitok · Mon Jun 12, 2023 7:25 pm

I don't think it's possible to know that. Can you elaborate what exactly are you doing?

Jano

kproth · Mon Jun 12, 2023 9:17 pm

I've already implemented a capability to use external input to tell a virtual console cuelist widget to go to a specific step #. This is in addition to the existing functionality that is meant to be driven from an external fader and maps the full 0..255 dmx range onto however many steps the cuelist has. I'm getting ready to submit this capability as a pull request, and looking for any code cleanup opportunities before sending it in. Since I couldn't figure out how to look that up from this spot in the code, I just added a pair of options, one to go to a specific step # by DMX value, and a second to go to a specific step # by "MIDI value" (where I'm just dividing the input value by 2 first, to undo what the input processing code already did when it multiplied it by 2). But if there was a way to lookup whether the actual external input came in from MIDI or not, I could simplify things.

mcallegari · Tue Jun 13, 2023 6:52 am

If there is an input profie then you can know the source type.
However I've got one question: MIDI values go from 0 to 127. What if a Cue list has more than 128 steps?

GGGss · Tue Jun 13, 2023 8:03 am

mcallegari wrote: ↑Tue Jun 13, 2023 6:52 am If there is an input profie then you can know the source type.
However I've got one question: MIDI values go from 0 to 127. What if a Cue list has more than 128 steps?

I would be happy with that limitation (as long as it is indicated with the option box).
[off topic]
In theatrical, I have known cue lists with over 400 cue's. That was very unpractical to operate with non-technical rehearsals, so I started using internal 'chapters' so the cue list would split up.
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kproth · Thu Jun 15, 2023 9:28 pm

mcallegari wrote: ↑Tue Jun 13, 2023 6:52 am If there is an input profile then you can know the source type.

Does all MIDI input (at least all that comes through a MIDI2DMX conversion) require a suitable input profile? If yes, can you suggest what programming object I should be looking for to look that up, given just the universe number inside this function?

mcallegari wrote: ↑Tue Jun 13, 2023 6:52 am However I've got one question: MIDI values go from 0 to 127. What if a Cue list has more than 128 steps?

Yep, great question. I didn't remove the code that is capping the input value at 255. So after dividing by 2 to get back to a "MIDI" step #, obviously the highest one that can be reached is 127. If the user is trying to drive a cuelist with more steps than that, even the existing functionality (jumping to a proportional step#) won't work perfectly because some of them simply can't be reached, so I would assume the user would figure out that it's not a good fit. It won't crash or anything though.

kproth · Thu Jun 15, 2023 9:31 pm

GGGss wrote: ↑Tue Jun 13, 2023 8:03 am [off topic]
In theatrical, I have known cue lists with over 400 cue's. That was very unpractical to operate with non-technical rehearsals, so I started using internal 'chapters' so the cue list would split up.

What do you mean by internal chapters? Did you just have multiple cuelists (maybe in different frame pages or something)?

GGGss · Fri Jun 16, 2023 7:49 am

kproth wrote: ↑Thu Jun 15, 2023 9:31 pm
GGGss wrote: ↑Tue Jun 13, 2023 8:03 am [off topic]
In theatrical, I have known cue lists with over 400 cue's. That was very unpractical to operate with non-technical rehearsals, so I started using internal 'chapters' so the cue list would split up.
What do you mean by internal chapters? Did you just have multiple cuelists (maybe in different frame pages or something)?

If you study the book of a play and the way it is split up, you can detect distinct 'chapters' in a play. When the director decides to rehearse starting at cue 164 f.i. and go! then you will have to scroll like a crazy monkey in the cue list. Cue 164 is the beginning of the garden scene. Just making things up now to make it understandable.

kproth · Sat Jun 17, 2023 1:31 pm

GGGss wrote: ↑Fri Jun 16, 2023 7:49 am If you study the book of a play and the way it is split up, you can detect distinct 'chapters' in a play. When the director decides to rehearse starting at cue 164 f.i. and go! then you will have to scroll like a crazy monkey in the cue list. Cue 164 is the beginning of the garden scene…

Ok. I had thought you meant chapters were a feature of a cuelist I hadn’t been aware of. So would you have just had a different cuelist for each chapter?