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240 capacitive notes - 95 lights - MIDI reference problem

Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 9:52 am
by LookAt
Hy everybody,

I'm writing here because I have a problem with a quite huge system that I've build.
The topic was to recreate an organ keyboard with light in a big scale, so I build a keyboard 6mt long 3mt hight build up of 60 glass slice, each with 4 capacitive sensors. Behind each slice I put 2 led stips, the upper activated by the first three capacitive sensors, the lower activated by last capacitive sensor.

In total I have 240 different "note", each group of 12 linked with a total of 20 Touch Board Bare Conductive (https://www.bareconductive.com/collecti ... sLmj8Drpqq). I have then a usb hub to an iMac.
For the lights I used a Entec open DMX USB (https://a.co/d/123OCIL) that drive 3 DMX decoder/controller 32 channels each (some lower note ativate the same light) (https://a.co/d/akMbvUs).

The audio goes with GarageBand, and I build a system in QLC+ with 20 different universes, one for each Touch Board. Everything works fine.
The problem come when the systen is shutted down due to power problem. When the system restart, I have to reconfigure each universe to the correct Touch Board.

I put an UPS but I want to modify the QLC+ program to work as GarageBand, so when the system restart I don't have to relink all the Touch Boards.

I was wondering if there is a method with I can say to QLC+ to read from all the Touch Boards toghether the correct MIDI code.
Is it possible? Can someone help me?

Thank you all in advance,
Luca

Re: 240 capacitive notes - 95 lights - MIDI reference problem

Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 10:23 am
by mcallegari
[moderator] please read the "community" section description before posting. It's definitely the wrong place to post a support request. Moved this post to the proper area

Re: 240 capacitive notes - 95 lights - MIDI reference problem

Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 10:53 am
by GGGss
When connected, does your Touch Board Bare Conductive reveal a serial number inside QLC+? If so, there might be a solution. Explanation: the USB bus refreshes upon startup. It doesn't respect any order of USB devices attached. So QLC+ cannot possibly know where to look for device #4. Unless a serial number is revealed, you may ask Massimo to do a code tweak so QLC+ remembers the serials of your attached devices.

Re: 240 capacitive notes - 95 lights - MIDI reference problem

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2024 2:17 pm
by LookAt
Thank you for the answer, and I apologize for the mistake, I'm quite new to forums and I tought I was in the right section.

I will try the serial numer method asap to see if it works, finger crossed!

If not, for the random usb order, would it be possible to insert a device that turns on the ports in a programmed way?
Like a programmable usb hub?

Or is better to build up one directly with Arduino in your opinion?

Re: 240 capacitive notes - 95 lights - MIDI reference problem

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2024 4:38 pm
by janosvitok
LookAt wrote: Fri Oct 18, 2024 2:17 pm I will try the serial numer method asap to see if it works, finger crossed!
How to check serial number on mac: Go to "Other" applications, start System Information. Then under Hardware/USB find your devices.

If they have "Serial number" property and it contains something reasonable (i.e. all the devices have unique serial number),
then there is a chance that QLC+ may distinguish them IF someone writes the code.

If the serial numbers are not present and/or they are all the same, the chance is much lower - 1. someone must write the code AND 2. you must find a way how to set the serial number.
In this case you may have to consult with the vendor how to fix serial numbers and whether is it possible at all.

Jano

Re: 240 capacitive notes - 95 lights - MIDI reference problem

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2024 3:40 pm
by LookAt
Hallo everyone, and sorry for being late.

I’ve run a few tests as you all suggest and got the following results when connecting the touch boards to the computer.
Checking the USB connections through the hub, it doesn’t seem like the Mac can assign a unique ID to each board. The vendor ID and manufacturer ID are the same for all the boards, and the location ID changes randomly depending on which board is read first.

When I reboot the Mac or the USB hub and recheck the same touch boards in the same positions, the location ID changes.

So Jano I am in the worst scenario you predicted.

However for the point 2 I was thinking to modify the internal Arduino code on each touch board so that it emits some kind of name or serial number on startup.
However, I’m not sure how QLC+ can read this name/serial in any setting.

However I don’t Know how can I go through the point
1. someone must write the code
.

I know a bit of programming languages, but I don’t know how can start to fix the problem (if it’s possible).

Any suggestion?

Thanks in advance,
Luca