Multiplay Tutorial 8 - Midi Sequence Cues 

Thanks for the tip. I actually have an earlier tutorial where I used Waveform to do just that. I published this latest tutorial because there are some old school theater techs out there that find the whole subject of DAWs to be too intimidating. Coming from a teaching background, I like to give people options. That being said, there are a lot of people using Ableton to create accompaniment tracks and control lighting particularly in the case of worship groups. Lots of RU-vid videos on that subject.

Hi Matthew Yes you are correct. You could set up a chaser in QLC+ with the timing required to sync up with your audio cue. Reducing the number of cues in Multiplay is also a good idea so that the operator is not confused by a lot of extra cues. If you have a chance, take a look at my CSC Show Control tutorials. The thing I liked about CSC Show Control is that one cue could contain multiple audio, midi or OSC cues. That information was hidden from the operator so all they would see is a single cue. I used it for Middle School shows when I had a middle school student firing the cues. The only downside is that the LE version of CSC will cost about $130.00 but that is a permanent license. For several reasons CSC was my go to show control program. Ed Richards

Hello Question 1 - Priority Fader priority is determined by HTP and LTP. If you are using midi messages to change scenes on a particular fixture, it is best that you use buttons in a solo frame. In a solo frame only one button can be active at a time so the previous fader settings are cancelled. This would solve any priority issues. Question 2 - Fade In/Out Times If you are using buttons to trigger scenes and you want the scenes to fade in and out rather then jump immediately to the next scene then do this: 1.Go to the "functions" tab and select the "scene" that you would like to edit 2.Click on the "clock" icon and adjust the "fade in" and "fade out" time Now the scene will fade in/out when it is triggered. If you are doing a theater show, another alternative is to put your ques in a que list instead of buttons. Then use midi messages to advance through the que list. The fade in/out times in the cue list will determine how each scene is presented. Ed Richards

Hello Yes, you are correct that Multiplay will send Note On commands multiple times without a note off command but here is the issue: The receiving hardware or software may not accept the repeated instance of the Note On command. For example: I send a C4 Note On Midi message to my laptop running my slide presentation software and it translates to a spacebar press which advances to the next slide. All seems to work fine until I send the C4 Midi message again and it doesn't work. The reason it doesn't work is because the laptop software sees that note as already being On so it ignores the message. In order to send the command repeatedly I need to follow the "Note On" message with a "Note Off" message. Think of it this way: If I am playing a musical keyboard in order to play a note many times I need to press then lift my finger from the key each time I play the note. When you lift your finger that generates a "Note Off" message. Some software/hardware may function without the "Note Off" message but I include it just in case.

Hi Carl Absolutely you can just use the midi commands to activate the "next" button in a QLC+ cue list. Just remember that in order to press the "next" button repeatedly, you need to include both a "Note On" and a "Note Off" command. Think of it as pressing a key on a musical keyboard. You press the key to sound the note then lift your finger off the key so that you can play it again. Remember that you cannot use Multiplay "Midi Cues" and "Midi Music Cues" going to the same software/hardware. The "Midi Music Cues" will stop working and freeze up. It is a bug they are trying to work out in the software. I use the "Midi Music Cues" when I am synchronizing multiple lighting cues with a single audio file. Just stick with the "Midi Cues" and you should be fine. Take a look at my tutorial on how to use midi messages with QLC+ ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OoRkQamAMdE.html The only difference is that you will be sending the Midi messages from Multiplay instead of a hardware midi controller. You may also find these two videos helpful to understand midi and QLC+ ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IPMAMZkIBig.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NENYnhJvzg4.html If you have any more questions or need help, feel free to email me direct at ctltech2@outlook.com Ed Richards

@edwardrichards7722 we run a show that is heavily music to set timings in lighting for example a 4 minute song could have about 20/30 light cues, something I'm currently working on is the cues and making the last cue as infinity then progressing to the next cue which is infinity again for the host talking between songs then the next cue will be timed to the song so it's theoretically a massive cue list.

@@carlrobinson6210 I have an idea Give me a few days and I will make a video tutorial for you with some ideas how to best handle your big cue list. Ed Richards

I'm completely self taught on dmx lighting and Qlight controller in the last 3 months, it's something I haven't done live with as the first show I did not have the components to make it digital from my laptop so was still on an analogue board but all this stuff interests me.

@@carlrobinson6210 Hi Carl I just posted a new tutorial that I thought you would find useful: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hRFR3ow-Uu8.html Also I made a short video just for you to help explain how to get QLC+ to respond to midi cues: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-I41a_onevLc.html The virtual midi cable software can be found here: www.nerds.de/en/loopbe1.html Just curious: What kind of analogue lighting board were you using? Some of the older lighting consoles do accept midi commands. I had an EOS Element Board in community theater that I would send midi commands to synchronize my audio with lighting. Ed Richards PS: Feel free to email me direct at ctltech2@outlook.com Also check out my web page for theater tech: comutinytech.com/TheaterTech/