chrispuxley Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 I decided (maybe mistakenly) to try and improve the syncronisation between lighting and sound cues for an upcoming dance show. In the past I have cued the lighting from the time display on the CD player - hardly a precise solution. I have previously tried to plot a string of cues with follow-ons and triggering the playback and first cue simultaneously. The problem with this is that if the position of one cue has to move then the timings for all the others in the same song have to be adjusted which is very time consuming. This year I have been experimenting with a show control solution (QLab) playing the music and sending MIDI to the lighting desk. It all looked like it was going well until I looked at the back of the Strand 300 and it doesn't have MIDI in or out, and neither does the other desk available to me (Fat Frog). I can't find an expansion card available for the Strand 300. I could hire a Strand 520 to do the job but don't want to! Could I use the MIDI ports on a SN102 node to do the job? Or does anyone have any other clever suggestions? Many thanks in advance, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody74 Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 Or does anyone have any other clever suggestions?If it's possible on your console, link all the cues together with follow timing that matches where on the CD it's supposed to fire off. -w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispuxley Posted May 22, 2008 Author Share Posted May 22, 2008 Or does anyone have any other clever suggestions?If it's possible on your console, link all the cues together with follow timing that matches where on the CD it's supposed to fire off.I have previously tried to plot a string of cues with follow-ons and triggering the playback and first cue simultaneously. The problem with this is that if the position of one cue has to move then the timings for all the others in the same song have to be adjusted which is very time consuming.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody74 Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 It pays to read the whole paragraph...touche' Chris. -w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peternewman Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 Surely if you've got follow on cues and you need to move a particular cue five seconds closer to the start of the track, subtract five seconds from the follow on time of that cue, and add five seconds to the time of the next one (or the cues before each, I can't remember the specifics of which cue the follow timing needs to be in). Which doesn't sound too complicated to me. Alternatively what other external inputs does the 300 have? Can you go from a computer keyboard (P/S2?), DMX, GPIOs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispuxley Posted May 22, 2008 Author Share Posted May 22, 2008 It isn't that difficult but if there are 20 cues in a particular track then it is an unnecessary tedium to go through and alter all of them - and the synchronisation is never going to be spot on. There is a keyboard input so could solder a relay across the relevant keyboard shortcut for go and trigger that - but surely there must be a better way! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peternewman Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 Surely your follows follow each other though, so there would only be two follow times to edit to move a cue within the track, admittedly it doesn't resolve the synchronisation though. I think its possible to add MIDI to the Fat Frog, although that may be a factory only job. There are also slightly neater ways to do the keyboard shortcut, but it would basically be that. Although it should be possible to rig something that sends a keyboard press when it receives a MIDI note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 Get any of the decent PC based integrated sound and light packages and the appropriate dongle, program, sit back, enjoy show to show perfection. I, of course, would recommend PCStage, 'cos thats what I do for this exact thing, but there are several other packages out there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispuxley Posted May 22, 2008 Author Share Posted May 22, 2008 Get any of the decent PC based integrated sound and light packages and the appropriate dongle, program, sit back, enjoy show to show perfection. I, of course, would recommend PCStage, 'cos thats what I do for this exact thing, but there are several other packages out there...I get the impression that it might not be the easiest option for programming a clutch of moving lights... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 PCStage, no, movers are hard work. ShowMagic or LightFactory, yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianknight Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 The 300 does have MIDI IN/THRU but unless you have the Communique software enabled on the console you won't be able to use them (from memory the software details window will confirm whether it's enable or not). If it isn't enabled you could try an eMail to GenLyte Strand Support, I have seen other posts here suggesting that GenLyte will still issue unlock codes for option packs on GeniusPro (at what cost I don't know). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispuxley Posted May 23, 2008 Author Share Posted May 23, 2008 The 300 does have MIDI IN/THRU but unless you have the Communique software enabled on the console you won't be able to use them (from memory the software details window will confirm whether it's enable or not). If it isn't enabled you could try an eMail to GenLyte Strand Support, I have seen other posts here suggesting that GenLyte will still issue unlock codes for option packs on GeniusPro (at what cost I don't know).The console has Communique software installed but it does not have physical sockets for SMPTE and MIDI IN/THRU which are fitted on an expansion card. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianknight Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 Ahh - fair enough! Give White Light a call - they might have an expansion card on a shelf somewhere that they can sell you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispuxley Posted May 23, 2008 Author Share Posted May 23, 2008 Ahh - fair enough! Give White Light a call - they might have an expansion card on a shelf somewhere that they can sell you.Sadly not - nor do Stage Electrics or usedlighting.co.uk The SN102 has midi ports on it but nobody seems to know if the software is implemented to be able to utilise them - newer nodes do not have these. I do not have one to try but they are more readily available than the expansion cards and might be a good option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bleasdale Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 hi, you could try David Cusworth at www.nstage.co.uk He has helped me with problems with strand products before as he used to work for them. hthjoe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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