Q Light Controller+

Hi there,

A little background...

I'm introducing a "light show" to my Halloween activity, a haunted cemetery, I do for our students every year. Prior to this year, I was content with some dimming of lights, but this year, I want the lights to follow a music track. So, audio and lights would have to be in sync.

I've been looking all over the net, and QLC+ seemed to be a great app for me and the little ones who will enjoy or be scared at the end of the month! Especially when I found out that QLC+ can do a timeline show following an audio track and light fx tracks.

I'm having a hard time though...

I set up QLC+ on my Mac, running OSX 10.9.4, and I imported my audio track into a show. I'm trying to build the show following the audio track, but, whenever I stop the show, and click play again, the audio shifts. The same if I try to move the cursor to another section of the tracks, the timeline is messed up. The only way it stays in sync is if I never touch the stop button or the cursor.

As you can see, trying to sync a show when I always have to start from time "00:00:00" is a bit time consuming and driving me insane!

I read that the OSX version of QLC+ is a big buggy, so, if I save my progress so far, and transfer it all under a Windows box, would it work better?

I also have access to a Win8 box for that, but that'd be more time involved... and it's already limited with building props for the Halloween activity already.

Thanks for any feedback.

Ok, I'm really trying to like QLC+, but it is driving me insane right now.

I set up a chaser following audio times I have recorded. For example, I have a bell sound at 32 seconds where I want some flashing red lights. I set a scene in a chaser to start flashing at 32 sec. Looks good.

I save the program.

I open it again later, now, the bell sounds are at 24 seconds???? I adjust again.

Save.

Open an hour later, the bell sounds are at 32 seconds again????

I'll spare you the string of words that came out.

I have nothing right now to fall back on. If this doesn't go as planned, I'll be really sad, for me and the kids.

So... where do I go from here? Seems that every time I save my project and reopen it, it changes playback by itself.


*Here's my wish / suggestion for a timeline DMX project. Could anyone out there design in the same way as automated tracks go into a DAW? I mean, most people involved in music editing know how a DAW works. I think there would be a great deal of people interested in a DMX program that would follow the same principles. Each track could be an automation of a slider. Regroup tracks into a folder identified to a fixture. Double click on a folder and see the channels and their automation vs timeline. *

I just got a hold of a Win8 box...

I got the Win app, used the saved file I got from setting up my show in my Mac.

Tried the play button. It doesn't play anything.

Created a new show, imported an audio file. Clicked on the play button. Nothing happens.

What to say.... is this for real?

I feel like I'm running after my tail and going nowhere... fast!

Re-read the manual... I don't know where to go from here.

Jeff, post the file please.

Make sure your Windowz is working - try QLC without anything loaded to see if the lights come on using the Simple Desk tab. Is the DMX interface detected in the Inputs/Outputs tab?

Let us know if the actual interface is working before we move on...

Yep. on the Win box, I used the Simple Desk to test I was hooked up to my Enttec Pro box, and I could move sliders and bring up the lights.

With that acknowledge, I went on to the Show tab, added a track and put an Audio track in there. Pressed play... and nothing happened.

No file really. I tried the simplest thing, as starting a new show and adding an Audio file.

I'm back on the Mac box now, but the time shifting every time I close / open the app, or move the cursor, makes it impossible to work with.

Oh, thanks for the reply!

Jeff, are you using MP3 clips ?
As written in the user guide, they don't give seek precision.
Use WAVE files instead and possibly not OSX.

Thanks Massimo,

Yes, through my research, I stumbled upon the MP3 bug, so I made sure I was using a .wav file.

Problem is that the Win box isn't better (if not worse) than the Mac box....

Well, it's not a bug. It's just that the library used by QLC+ to decode MP3 doesn't have a very good seek precision.
In fact I think that common DAWs load the decoded clip into memory (so like a WAVE) and play/seek on that data.
I could do the same but some weaker systems like the Raspberry Pi would suffer from this. And also, I believe that users can use WAV files during the design phase and then eventually switch to MP3s at the end.

As for Windows, yes, it's a monstrous bug. Aplogies for that.
I reproduced it on Linux as well.
I concentrate too much on complex cases, backward compatibility, etc that this stupid bugs are able to get into a release.

Anyway, I've just fixed the sources.
I think I will release a 4.8.1 bugfix release very soon

I see. Thanks for keeping on top of things and trying to fix it.

Just to be clear, neither WAV nor MP3 worked right while trying to sequence a show. That was on OSX. Windows just didn't play at all.

Edit: I had to try. I held my watch while playing back the show. Times do not match. At 32 seconds on my watch, the show's timeline shows 25 seconds. But, timing the audio file, it is indeed at 32 seconds. If I restart the playing, it skips backwards a bit.


Edit #2: I just figured out that it's the whole QLC+ way of keeping track of time that is messed up.

I built a chaser on the Functions page, specified 25 seconds as run time, and that chaser plays for 32 seconds in real time.

No wonder I was going nuts!

As a suggestion,

I'm not a coder, so I have no idea what's involved in doing so, but....

How easy would it be to include the visual waveform of the audio track within the Show tab? It would make everything much easier to align than noting down the actual times events happen.

Or make QLC+ a plug-in for Virtual DJ?

A friend uses (tries to use) a single core Windows 7 laptop with QLC+, Pangolin and VDJ at the same time. Both lighting programs use the direct audio input and the end result is chaos.

Audio either goes to one program or the other (sometimes both), CPU is around 94% or more.

My point is: Comprehensive audio playback is great but we would end up with different levels of software for different users: Lighting software using an old PC for the stage or a church, and DJing software which needs a quad core monster PC and offers crossfades, sync and the rest.

Massimo's point about the Raspberry emphasizes this.

Doing a live show with scenes, chasers setup as buttons and sliders already work pretty well in QLC+.

DJs, from what I have been reading, rely more on MIDI timing to trigger lighting. Plus the old school way describe in the first place.

Adding a timeline show, where one could just hit start and let the show run by itself while doing other things, is something that would enhance QLC+... IMHO.

Hi Jeff:

It is already possible to display the waveform of the audio.

Form the manual:
>Note: It is possible to display the waveform preview of an audio item just by right clicking it and selecting the channels you want to display (mono, left channel, right channel, stereo)

Aye! And I thought I had read the whole manual... seems I skipped this part! Now that is going to help me a lot! Thanks for pointing the little trick. That should be enabled by default!

Edit: Oops! I just tried it and the waveform does not match the timing followed by QLC+.

My WAV file and the waveform are similar, they follow each other, but the time clock on QLC+ does not follow them. Like I mentioned, I have a transient at 32 seconds, but according to QLC+ own clock, it comes in at 25 seconds.

Just for kicks, I tried importing a MP3 file, it shows as 10 seconds long, even though it plays for over 3 minutes.

Nope, because to create the waveform preview I have to decode the whole audio clip and it's a quite slow process (even on a PC). Furthermore it consumes a lot of memory.
Again, poor little Rasperry would cry for this.

Well then... here we are with what you believe is going to be the next big thing.

I wish you good luck with the Rasperry and I sure hope you get it right....

But for me, right now, I need an audio file and waveform that sticks to its true form.

Like I said, I am not a coder, but is there any future where the waveform will adhere to its real time?

I support the new things, but, if you get a feature in, better support it fully before moving on to something else.

You seem to be standing between the two. A full fledge version of QLC+ and a lite version that would be handled by Rasperry.

I am nobody to you, but if I may... make a choice and support one fully. Don't be on the fence between the two. Trying to please everybody never worked for anyone.

If you clean up the timing code, I'll be a happy guy. If you decide to go full Rasperry, I'll live and move on, but it will be a move you think is worth for your future.

In any case... best of luck!

I got all excited!

New 4.8.1 saying Audio and video fixed.

Lasted the time of a download and opening of the app.

Doesn't work for me. Waveform and actual sounds do not follow each other.

I'm still looking for an autonomous DMX (automation following an audio track in my case) on Mac. Not an easy feat.

And now, trying to fix the show... QLC+ crashed.

Maybe it just wasn't to be.

Hi Jeff, Massimo,

I thank we have had problems like this before with OSX. https://sourceforge.net/p/qlcplus/discu ... /a640d492/

Jeff is there any chance you could make a simple click track and give that a try?

Just as I was getting to the point of having no more hair to pull.

I made a 50 sec click track. Re-opened QLC+, created a new show, a new track and imported the audio wav click track file.

QLC+ followed the click track perfectly!

I was so confused.

So, I deleted that click track, and imported my audio show file.... again, waveform and audio output was in sync. Even playing with the cursor up and down the audio file, it stuck perfectly to the timing.

I had to double check it was going to stick this time. Saved, re-opened the project... it said File not found, but relinked the audio file, and it was again in perfect sync.

What a relief! Now I can finally get to work! (knocking on wood that no other problem will creep in!)

Still got 2 weeks to build props, build the lighting show and then scare our students!

Thanks Odd!