any ideas appreciated regarding external trigger for desk

[strandgsx]

Here is one which I have been trying to work out for a few days, thought id throw it open to discussion.

 

Here is the prob:

 

 

Local band we supply sound for have bought their own lx rig.

 

The guitarist wishes to trigger scenes/chases etc from a foot switch of some description.

 

The have quite a muddled setup, a few dimmers, some cheapo movers and scans plus DMX colour changers.

 

The budget is around the 400 quid mark.

 

So far I imagine supplying a desk (which can be midi triggered) and maybe a midi footswitch, but I really dont know.

 

Any thoughts>?

[kikabyte]

I've just mentioned this in another topic thats floating around at the minute called 'Some Recommendation's, but I'll touch on it here again.

 

I run Freestyler DMX software on my laptop at the side of the stage ( http://www.freestylerdmx.be/ ) and you can program up with 20 sequences. This can then be set up and triggered by midi. I recently bought myself the Behringer FCB1010 Midi foot controller. Hey presto, I can control trigger all the sequences to operate all the bands moving head, colour changers, scanners etc all from my feet while my hands are left to play my guitar. You can even program in tap tempo, blackout etc so you have complete control over your show.

 

The footpedal has 10 switches on it, and then I think it has 10 banks. So I set mine up with 1 - 8 as sequence triggers, 9 as tap tempo, and 10 as blackout. Then I have another two banks set up the same, but obviously controlling different sequences from 1 - 8. I then just remember that bank one is for slow songs, bank 2 covers quick disco songs, and bank 3 is for heavy rock, and on every bank, I always know that tap tempo and blackout are 9 & 10..

 

Let me know if you want more info. It works for me coz I'm a bit of a tech head, but if the band don't really know what their doing, setting up the laptop etc is a bit more complicated than plugging in a desk, and connecting it to a foot pedal!

[jfitzpat]

At $399 USD we are probably over budget, although you can automate us via MIDI quite a few different ways - direct recall of sequences as described above (though 1000+, not 20), a 'go' button in more sophisticated pre-programmed shows, and so on.

 

Although it sounds like we are not suitable, I wrote a simple whitepaper on MIDI->Lighting awhile back that covers some of the different approaches used you might find helpful. I used us for the examples, but the concepts are generic.

 

Good Luck,

-jjf

[paulears]

If the desk can receive MIDI, then a cheap behringer footswitch can be programmed to send whatever you need.

[smcdo02]

That is exactly the remedy for my bands situation. I'm trying to program the FCB1010 with Freestyler. I can see the note displayed in Freestyler, but when I try to call up a scene nothing happens. I could really use some help if you have time. Thank you.

 

Scott