Music festival / Band application
Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 4:38 pm
Here is my current setup with QLC.
I use QLC for lighting control with my Production business. We handle sound and lighting for many types of events. Mostly music festivals, band concerts, DJ concerts, and smaller things such as wedding lighting, etc. We have used many different types of DMX control, and are very happy with the abilities of QLC.
For the control side, we use the newest QLC typically on a raspberry Pi, we will switch to a larger machine, such as a laptop running ubuntu, for larger events where we have more than 2 universes. We strictly use Art-Net between FOH and Stage setups, all typically on a wired 100mbps network. Our QLC setup is pretty basic, we use a pi attached to a touchscreen monitor, and a Behringer LC2412 running in MIDI mode to trigger events on qlc. We rely on the touchscreen for things like color changes, and moving head movement patterns. The midi controller we have faders and buttons mapped to trigger certain things on the software.
We use Art-Net due to the ease of transition between different machines that we run QLC on. If for some reason we have an issue with the Pi, we can easily grab another machine, laptop or what not, and be back up and running in seconds, rather than having to connect a usb dongle, wait for it to be recognized, and so forth. We in the past have ran a hot spare, with the show file up and running, then switched to the spare, by using either an art-net merge, or just disabling artnet on one machine and enabling the output on another, merely seconds to be back up rather than minutes or more.
We run everything live, relying on the LD to run the lighting with the music as he hears it. We use submaster faders to control all moving head dimmers, matrix dimmers, etc. Our setup is close to some of the larger consoles, we have main faders for each type of fixture on the rig, moving head spots, beams, washes. We use pixel mapped bars (matrices) for effects, and crowd blinders, etc. We use hundreds of channels to span everything, sometimes spanning over 3 universes. QLC handles it all without issue!
On the stage box, we have all the pieces listed below mounted in a 2u rack case, with all of the connections terminating on a D-style panel on the front. This allows us to roll up, plug the stage box in, let it boot, connect network, and fixtures to the dmx out, and we are ready to go.
I can provide one of my show files if anyone is interested (keep in mind we have more than a few custom fixture definitions). We use a color palate for our fixtures, with "all color" buttons above using collections, a bunch of moving patterns, static positions, matrix functions, etc. I will also attach a screenshot, and some pictures of it all in action in a separate post.
This setup works very well for my business, we have used it from small weddings controlling 2 fixtures, to controlling hundreds of fixtures at music festivals. It always seems to work!
I'd be glad to answer any questions anyone has also!
Equipment List
FOH Setup
1. Raspberry Pi 3B - QLC v4.10.5b
2. Dell Touchscreen HDMI Monitor
3. Powered USB Hub
4. Generic MIDI to USB Adapter
5. Behringer LC2412 in MIDI mode
Stage Box Setup
1. Raspberry Pi 3b - OLA 0.10.4
2. Enttec Open DMX USB (x4)
3. Powered USB Hub
4. Generic DMX Splitter/Amp
5. Ubquiti AirRouterHP
I use QLC for lighting control with my Production business. We handle sound and lighting for many types of events. Mostly music festivals, band concerts, DJ concerts, and smaller things such as wedding lighting, etc. We have used many different types of DMX control, and are very happy with the abilities of QLC.
For the control side, we use the newest QLC typically on a raspberry Pi, we will switch to a larger machine, such as a laptop running ubuntu, for larger events where we have more than 2 universes. We strictly use Art-Net between FOH and Stage setups, all typically on a wired 100mbps network. Our QLC setup is pretty basic, we use a pi attached to a touchscreen monitor, and a Behringer LC2412 running in MIDI mode to trigger events on qlc. We rely on the touchscreen for things like color changes, and moving head movement patterns. The midi controller we have faders and buttons mapped to trigger certain things on the software.
We use Art-Net due to the ease of transition between different machines that we run QLC on. If for some reason we have an issue with the Pi, we can easily grab another machine, laptop or what not, and be back up and running in seconds, rather than having to connect a usb dongle, wait for it to be recognized, and so forth. We in the past have ran a hot spare, with the show file up and running, then switched to the spare, by using either an art-net merge, or just disabling artnet on one machine and enabling the output on another, merely seconds to be back up rather than minutes or more.
We run everything live, relying on the LD to run the lighting with the music as he hears it. We use submaster faders to control all moving head dimmers, matrix dimmers, etc. Our setup is close to some of the larger consoles, we have main faders for each type of fixture on the rig, moving head spots, beams, washes. We use pixel mapped bars (matrices) for effects, and crowd blinders, etc. We use hundreds of channels to span everything, sometimes spanning over 3 universes. QLC handles it all without issue!
On the stage box, we have all the pieces listed below mounted in a 2u rack case, with all of the connections terminating on a D-style panel on the front. This allows us to roll up, plug the stage box in, let it boot, connect network, and fixtures to the dmx out, and we are ready to go.
I can provide one of my show files if anyone is interested (keep in mind we have more than a few custom fixture definitions). We use a color palate for our fixtures, with "all color" buttons above using collections, a bunch of moving patterns, static positions, matrix functions, etc. I will also attach a screenshot, and some pictures of it all in action in a separate post.
This setup works very well for my business, we have used it from small weddings controlling 2 fixtures, to controlling hundreds of fixtures at music festivals. It always seems to work!
I'd be glad to answer any questions anyone has also!
Equipment List
FOH Setup
1. Raspberry Pi 3B - QLC v4.10.5b
2. Dell Touchscreen HDMI Monitor
3. Powered USB Hub
4. Generic MIDI to USB Adapter
5. Behringer LC2412 in MIDI mode
Stage Box Setup
1. Raspberry Pi 3b - OLA 0.10.4
2. Enttec Open DMX USB (x4)
3. Powered USB Hub
4. Generic DMX Splitter/Amp
5. Ubquiti AirRouterHP
Thanks!
This is still a medium sized, 6 moving heads, 4 pixel mapped bars, 8 rgbuv washes, haze, 12 front fills, etc. 
