Best practices for midi/dmx programming

[halver]

Hello everyone,
I'm pretty new to the DMX world and I'm trying to setup a very small light show for my band.
We are playing with some backing track and with that we would like to automate the show using midi.
It took a bit of work but we manage to make our DAW communicate with QLC, the question that I am now asking myself is what is the best way to program the show ?

Option 1 - using only QLC+ pre programmed chaser and sequence and trigger them with midi notes
It should do the trick but if QLC+ crash and the drummer find the time to restart it during a break or something, the timecode in the lightshow will be incorrect (and sorry to say that but based on my experimentations with qlc+, as of today I dont trust qlc+ enough for that).

Option 2 - defining some basic scene / chaser and triggering them with midi notes
It will requires a lot more midi notes compared to option 1 but it has the advantage of being more recoverable in a show and also it allows me to switch to another software if needed (juste need to reprogram basic scenes).

Also I'm wondering what is the best practices when it comes to light programming and how qlc+ best react :

Question 1 - I want 3 white strobing lights, what is the best ?

Option 1 - one scene with strobe + white + midi to trigger on and midi to trigger off
Option 2 - one scene with strobe + one scene with white + midi to trigger both scene at the same time on and midi to trigger off
Option 3 - one scene with strobe + one scene with white + midi to trigger both scene at the same time in flash mode, not toggle (scene active as long as I maintain the midi note)

Option 3 seems better to me as it offers more flexibility and less scene definitions

Question 2 - I have 3 lights and I want to control them separately
That means that for each light I have to define a scene where only this light is active , which means that if I have 10 effects on a fixture, I will need 10 * 4 scenes to control them separately or togather.
Knowing that to be able to control them, each scene must be associated with a midi note, I can quickely run out of midi note. Also do I really have to declare a button in the virtual console for each scene / midi note that I want to trigger ?

That may be very basic questions sorry for that, like I said I just start my dmx journey

Thanks

ps : not related to the question but I had several crashes on windows, especially when playing a bit with input/output, are they ay crash report dumped on the system somewhere ? (or a way to activate them ?)

[Mettleramiel]

The way I get around the limited number of midi notes is I made a cue list of scenes for each song. I have one midi note set to start that sequence and another note set to "go to next scene" in that particular cue list. This way, I only use 2 notes per song.

I then made a button in the virtual console that stops all sequences in case something goes wrong and I have to start again.

As far as qlc crashing, I would say it's your computer. I have 2 laptops, neither of which is new or powerful, my go to being over 10 years old, and they have no issues with crashing. I have c and Reaper running during each jam and show with Reaper outputting midi to qlc, midi to a pedal, video to a projector and audio out to both an interface and the laptop audio out and never had any issues.

[halver]

Also I've played a bit with chasers and I got some trouble.

I have a chaser with 4 steps to mimic a heartbeat (scene , fade in, hold, fade out)
- full red, 0 ,0 , 300
- blackout, 300, 0, 0
- full red,0, 0, 800
- blackout, 800,0,0

Full red scene is only setting all red channels to 255, everything else is not used (even master)
Blackout scene is setting master to 0.

I have a fader plugged on CC to control the master.

First question is how can this work (because yes, it does) ? At the first loop, blackout should set the master to 0, then it should stay at 0 since nothing is putting it back to 255
Second question is, after triggering that chaser, every time I press the midi note to trigger the full red scene, I have some delay on the fade out, whereas it should be instant, why ? (seems like the chaser did something but I dont understand what)

Thanks

[halver]

The way I get around the limited number of midi notes is I made a cue list of scenes for each song. I have one midi note set to start that sequence and another note set to "go to next scene" in that particular cue list. This way, I only use 2 notes per song.

I then made a button in the virtual console that stops all sequences in case something goes wrong and I have to start again.

As far as qlc crashing, I would say it's your computer. I have 2 laptops, neither of which is new or powerful, my go to being over 10 years old, and they have no issues with crashing. I have c and Reaper running during each jam and show with Reaper outputting midi to qlc, midi to a pedal, video to a projector and audio out to both an interface and the laptop audio out and never had any issues.

Thanks for feedback.
For the crashes , we experienced some also on the mac where logic pro is running so we will test stability a bit more. As for my computer, I'm running windows and we all know that drivers on windows are pretty bad when it comes to audio/video/midi ^^

Your cue list can probably do the trick, but if it crashes during a song and that you manage to restart qlc+ during the song, you cannot restart the lights , that's what I'm trying to avoid , but why not.

[MichelSliepenbeek]

.... I can quickely run out of midi note.

You can use 16 midi channels each providing 128 MIDI notes, so 3.048 in total.
Apart from that you also have the same number of Control Changes (and if needed .. Program Changes).

Furthermore you can make use of Multi Page Frames. As only the page on top is active, you could add a page for each song and now you can (just as an example) use note A1 on page 1 to start your strobe, on page 2 to change your color to Red and on page 3 to Flash your Blinder Lights.

You are not going to run out of Midi Notes, it is more likely that you are going to create something that is far too complex to oversee.

Question 1 - I want 3 white strobing lights, what is the best ?

Option 4 Use a RGB Matrix.
Instead of using the build in strobe channel of your Fixtures, it is better to use a RGB Matrix with Pattern = Strobe.
If you use Fixtures from different Manufacturers, you won't have to search for DMX values where they all run in Sync, QLC will solve that for you.
Furthermore if you use Blendmode = Mask, the strobe will run on every color.


In general i advise you to skip the idea of wanting to control everything (if it comes to light) from your DAW and wanting to solve everything with Scenes and Chasers (have a look at what you can do with RGB Matrices).

Why not look at your songs as being a sequence of parts like: Intro, Verse, Chorus, Interlude, Guitar Solo, Drum Solo, ...... Outtro.
Let your DAW tell where the changes are and let QLC do its work.

Now for every part concentrate on:
- Mood. Just pick a RGB Matix Color Changer (pattern = Balls, Gradient, Plasma, .....) where Color(s) and Running Speed match with the type of Song.
- Accent. Create some scenes that light up the entire Band, or put accent on the Singer, Guitar Player (guitar Solo), Drummer (Drum solo), ...... Audience ("everybody sai Yoh, Yeah, ... Ooh").
Here you could also create some specific Fixture Groups and use RGB Matrix with Pattern = Plain Color and Blend Color = Grey (e.g. R = 128, G = 128 and B = 128): in Blendmode = Subtract you will Dim
the Fixtures by 50%, but in Blendmode = Add you will raise the level of your Fixtures with 50%.
- Effects. Here you can use Strobe, Blinder and other things.
Again you could make use of RGB Matrices, now you can make use of the "Run Once" option.

[GGGss]

Now for every part concentrate on:
- Mood. Just pick a RGB Matix Color Changer (pattern = Balls, Gradient, Plasma, .....) where Color(s) and Running Speed match with the type of Song.
- Accent. Create some scenes that light up the entire Band, or put accent on the Singer, Guitar Player (guitar Solo), Drummer (Drum solo), ...... Audience ("everybody sai Yoh, Yeah, ... Ooh").
Here you could also create some specific Fixture Groups and use RGB Matrix with Pattern = Plain Color and Blend Color = Grey (e.g. R = 128, G = 128 and B = 128): in Blendmode = Subtract you will Dim
the Fixtures by 50%, but in Blendmode = Add you will raise the level of your Fixtures with 50%.
- Effects. Here you can use Strobe, Blinder and other things.
Again you could make use of RGB Matrices, now you can make use of the "Run Once" option.

A quick reminder to the readers (and followers of this thread)... What Michel willingly (thank you) is contributing is a 'complete solution package'. That said, this is not for the novice meant to be, but how the total picture can look once you understand the total concept of a lighting desk.
In essence, it comes down to this: musicians do their thing at their pace and mood, and the console needs to follow their decisions on stage. This is the LD/LJ's decision, and if the tech dept lacks a person in charge of light, you need to be creative.
As said: Michel's solution is perfectly viable in this situation and should be IMHO the 'solution chosen'. (And put me out of the future jobs...)
@michel, we should consider creating an extensible proof concept we can refer to. I really like your input and efforts regarding the bands lacking an LJ and their need to do their own lighting.

[MichelSliepenbeek]

... musicians do their thing at their pace and mood ....

Back in the old days there was a band called Led Zeppelin and when Jimmy Page started a guitar solo nobody (including Jimmy) knew on beforehand what he was going to do and how long it would take.
If musicians are jamming, you need a LJ that is busking (= to play his Lighting Desk like an instrument).


Nowadays you have bands where all the musicians use In-Ears (with a click track) and all have an I-Pad (with running Timers in Seconds and Milliseconds).
On those In-Ears they hear things like: "Sax Solo in 4, 3, 2, 1" and then the audience will hear a Saxophone that is not on stage (in some cases they run a video or even make use of holograms).
The guitar player is still allowed to do a solo but he has to stick within 8 bars.
If you can preprogram the musicians, you can also preprogram the lights.