Converting DMX to MIDI

[SGP]

Basicily I have been looking at the new Sound Cue System for the touring company I am working with and I see that they can take Midi as a trigger, is there anyway to convert a DMX channel to a Midi channel.

 

Thanks

[goochr96]

yup there is, pricey though

http://www.artisticlicence.com/item192.htm

[Bryson]

I'm going to fix the thread title so its the right way round.

 

from...to...

[andylights]

Basicily I have been looking at the new Sound Cue System for the touring company I am working with and I see that they can take Midi as a trigger, is there anyway to convert a DMX channel to a Midi channel.

 

Thanks

 

 

or this one....

 

ooops...wrong way round -sorry

[Tomo]

Which console is controlling the system - can you generate the MIDI event(s) with it?

 

Many (perhaps most) lighting consoles can both receive and generate MIDI events, often via a macro.

[DavidLee]

Basicily I have been looking at the new Sound Cue System for the touring company I am working with and I see that they can take Midi as a trigger, is there anyway to convert a DMX channel to a Midi channel.

If you have the programming skills then you can buy a DMX512 (RS485) interface complete with sample code that will enable you to input channel information from DMX. Once you have this then it is fairly easy to output MIDI data via a USB-MIDI interface using something like Visual Basic or C++. I haven't quite done that but I do use MIDI programmed in VB to interface a PC with a Zero88 XLS lighting desk, both in and out.

David

[dbuckley]

Agreed, most consoles have MIDI triggering capability, if you can do that it'll simplify enormously.

 

If you're not comitted to product yet and have a bit of time before you go out, then what you could do is pop over to the PCStage mailing list and ask for a feature request to generate triggers from DMX input (you'll need to be a bit more specific about what characteristics of DMX you're interested in, for example, crossing a threshold), then you could use PCStage as the sound machine. Which would cost lots less (250UKP for the DMX interface) than the Artistic License box on its own (>1000UKP), let alone the cost of the box plus an SCS licence, and PCStage will do just about everything that SCS can do and more. PCStage already knowns how to handle DMX input and do some useful lighty things with it, but not triggers :P

 

And another thought: You could ask on the LanBox forum if the box can be programmed to do DMX to MIDI conversion. I would think it can, it does do lots of odd things, and although more expensive than PCStage (350-550Euros), its again a lot les than the AL box. I seem to remember that there's also a LanBox fan on this forum who may have an opinion.

 

Finally, DMX relay and a dry contact to MIDI input or the far more useful MidiTron, but its all a bit of a bodge.

 

Depending on how heavy your lighting needs are, either PCStage or LanBox could do the lighting for you and dispose of the desk, solving the MIDI problem in the process :( But that may be a bit too heretical for the lighting forum :blink:

[dbuckley]

Just as an afterthought; I noticed today that PCStage can be triggered from DMX, its presumably been able to do that since the USB interface was launched as thats got a DMX input socket. So no need to ask, its there already.